Sand Creek Massacre: The Real Villains

 | Wild West  | one comment  |  Print This Post  |  Email This Post

In late November 1864, Colonel John M. Chivington arrived at Fort Lyon, Colorado Territory, with the 3rd Colorado Cavalry. Major Scott Anthony joined him there with six companies of the 1st Colorado Cavalry, and at dawn on the 29th, about 700 soldiers attacked Black Kettle’s village of 500 Cheyennes and Arapahos at Sand Creek, 35 miles northeast of the fort. Some 120 Indians were killed, while the soldiers took about 70 casualties.

The fight has most commonly been called the Sand Creek Massacre or Chivington’s Massacre. It is depicted as an epic struggle between good and evil. Interpretation of almost every historical event will change over time, but the portrayal of Sand Creek has remained remarkably static. It had bad reviews from the beginning. The historical villains are Colorado Territorial Governor John Evans and Colonel Chivington and his 3rd Colorado Volunteers. Further examination, however, finds that the white hats and black hats were more often shades of gray, and that the hat colors of some of the characters should be completely reversed. The depiction of Sand Creek as a massacre stems from the machinations of a half-dozen people, three of whom were not even there. These six are the real villains of the affair.

Scoundrel number one is Major Edward W. Wynkoop, who had traveled a winding road before joining the Colorado Volunteers. Born in Philadelphia in 1836, ‘Ned,’ as he liked to be called, reached Leavenworth, Kan., in 1858. He was soon appointed sheriff in Arapahoe County in what would become Colorado. In 1859 in Denver, he took a second job in a saloon/brothel to supplement his income. Wynkoop was described as ‘intelligent, tough, cunning, perhaps a mite too wild.’ The Denver Inter-Ocean called him `a bad man from Kansas,’ who wore buckskin breeches and carried a Bowie-knife and revolver in his belt.’

In April 1861, Ned Wynkoop lost the election for city marshal, but the Civil War gave him new employment. As a captain in the 1st Colorado on March 26, 1862, Ned Wynkoop bravely rode in the Battle of Apache Canyon, part of the three-day fight known as Glorieta Pass, New Mexico Territory, and won Major Chivington’s admiration, plus a promotion to major. Wynkoop’s expedition to subdue the Utes in 1863 was lackluster, and he spent much of the year in camp near Denver.

In 1864 Wynkoop took over command at Fort Lyon. Boredom at the post caused many men and officers to go to Denver for excitement, and Chivington, now a colonel and in charge of the Military District of Colorado, cautioned Wynkoop about his conduct. Major General Samuel Curtis wrote Chivington a letter regarding Wynkoop’s penchant for sending scouting parties far out of his district, of which Curtis disapproved. Chivington tried to cover for Wynkoop’s behavior, but the major’s indiscretions kept drawing unwanted attention to him and his colonel. That July Curtis created the District of the Upper Arkansas, which severed Fort Lyon from Chivington’s jurisdiction and placed it under Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt. This change caused Wynkoop future trouble.

While at Fort Lyon, Wynkoop got acquainted with Sand Creek villains two and three: John S. Smith and Indian agent Samuel G. Colley. Smith had been known and distrusted by the Indians for 25 years; they called him ‘Lying John.’ With Sam Colley and Sam’s son Dexter, he had been cheating the Indians for years. Ex-agent William Bent was onto them. They withheld government goods, meant as annuities for the Indians, until the Indians traded something of value for them. Bent figured the Colleys made nearly $30,000 in three years swindling the Cheyennes and Arapahos. John Smith acted as the Indian trader and was considered a partner in the business. Bent said that some Cheyennes told him they had no confidence in Colley, knowing the agent was swindling them out of goods. All the time he was raking in money, Sam Colley continued to paint a pessimistic picture in a letter to Governor Evans. ‘The Indians are very troublesome,’ he said. ‘I have made application to Major Wynkoop for troops….It looks at present as though we shall have to fight them all.’

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to

Tags: 19th Century, American Indian Wars, Historical Conflicts, Native American History, The Wild West, Wild West

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.