Sand Creek Massacre
Why do you think Chivington was never court-martialed? Consider in composing your post the Saint Leo core value of Integrity.
At first, Col. Chivington was praised for the Sand Creek ‘ battle’; in fact, a parade was organized in his honour and attended widely. The parade was done in the Denver streets only two weeks after the massacre. However, it was not long before rumours began to spread from drunken soldiers that the massacre involved butchering unarmed children and women. At first, these rumours seemed legitimate as Col. Chivington arrested 6 of his soldiers on charges of cowardice in battle. Among the 6 was Silas Soule, a Captain in the army and a close friend of Chivington. Soule had fought with the Colonel at Glorietta Pass. The 6 were members of a militia that had refused to participate in the massacre but had witnessed the carnage by Chivington’s men. The U.S. Secretary of War ordered the release of the six men soon after they had been arrested. The U.S. Congress began to prepare for a formal investigation into the massacre (Townsend, 2018).
Do you need an original version of “Sand Creek Massacre”? Get in touch with us.
Kellman (2013) points out that Soule himself could not give witness testimony during the investigation because soon after he was released from incarceration, he was shot on the streets and died. Although court-martial charges were eventually brought up against Chivington, he was not a part of the U.S. army; hence, he could not be punished for his involvement in the massacre. There were no criminal charges that were ever brought against Chivington. A judge in the army made a public statement regarding the massacre stating that it was “a cowardly and cold-blooded slaughter, sufficient to cover its perpetrators with indelible infamy, and the face of every American with shame and indignation.”
Col. Chivington, however, still did pay a price for his participation in the Sand Creek massacre. He was forced to tender his resignation from the Colorado militia, keep off statehood campaigning, and withdraw entirely from the country’s politics (Kellman, 2013).
Other Related Post: Advantages and Disadvantages of Bringing in a Private Management Company
References
Kelman, A. (2013). A misplaced massacre: Struggling over the memory of Sand Creek. Harvard University Press.
Townsend, K. (2018). First Americans: A History of Native Peoples, Combined Volume: A History of Native Peoples, PowerPoints. Routledge.
ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE
We’ll write everything from scratch
Question
The Sand Creek Massacre
The massacre at Sand Creek, Colorado, of Cheyenne and Arapaho tribe members (mostly old men, women, and children) and the subsequent mutilation of their dead bodies irreparably damaged the image of the frontier soldier defending innocent white settlers from the “perfidious” Indians.
As indicated by the authors on pp. 315-316 of the text, “reams of evidence” proved that COL Chivington knowingly and maliciously planned the massacre. Yet, Chivington was never prosecuted for this dastardly deed.
- Why do you think Chivington was never court-martialed? Consider in composing your post-Saint Leo’s core value of Integrity.