The articles on this page have been submitted by Mary Marble of Chivington Colorado, local historian.
Mary was the Postmaster at Chivington for many years.
Chivington,CO Post office
To Celebrate Centennial
October 16 1987
The town of Chivington, named after Col. John M. Chivington, who led troops in the (Sand Creek Massacre) Sand Creek Battle, was incorporated in 1884. In the late 1800, Chivington was a booming town with a population of several thousand. The Missouri-Pacific Railroad had a roundhouse there at the time.
There were 18 eating places and fully that many saloons in town as well as a barbershop, Taylor shop, Chinese Laundry, a tin shop and a drug store with Dr. W. H. Druery fully engaged in the practice of medicine housed on the Railroad front north of, the depot.
The pride of Chivington at that time was the mighty Queen Ann style, three story Kingdon Hotel and railroad eating house with a 4Ox50 foot dining area and 60 sleeping rooms. The sign above the entrance of the Kingdon Hotel tells us that the Post office was housed there in 1887. The sign also tells us that meals and lodging was 20 cents and that groceries, flour and feed as well as drugs and patent medicines were available there too.
One of the establishments in Chivington in 1887 was a grocery house owned by Demorest and Liggett.
C. Frost Liggett was appointed the second postmaster of Chivington after the post office was established.
The Chivington Post office was established in what was then Bent County on Oct.24,1887 and later changed to Kiowa County May 18,1889.
Ten Postmasters have served in the existence of the Post office with the present postmaster, Mary Marble serving well over one-third of the time.
Together the late Everett Newsom, Wes Brown and Brenda Robertson. the present carrier, make up the past 50 years in contract delivery to the rural patrons.
SAND CREEK BATTLE Or MASSACRE?
The Sand Greek Massacre sometimes called the "Battle of Sand" by those who would
Imply it. was not a massacre, or the "Chivington Massacre" by those who would
emphasize the responsibility of Colonel John M Chivington is one of our
most controversial Indian conflicts. For very nearly a full century, the
complete story of the massacre has remained unchronicled largely because of the
enormous prejudices which surround the matter. Even today the site is
dedicated by a compromising historical marker which reads ‘Sand Creek 'Battle '.
or “Massacre’’.
In the fail of 1864, following a. summer' s outbreak of war between the Indians
and the whites of Kansas and Colorado territory a band composed of Cheyenne's
led by Chief Black Kettle, came to make peace with the whites.
They were to meet J Evans, governor of the Colorado territory, to try to find a
basis for peace. Major E.W. Wynkoop (commandant; at Fort Lyon, Colorado) assured
Black Kettle before he was replaced on November 2, 1864, that the Sand Creek
area- thirty miles from Fort Lyon- was a safe camping site. Wynkoop’s
replacement's; , Major Scott Anthony, repeated this promise to the Cheyenne
Meanwhile he was constantly writing to district headquarters stating that there
was a small band of Cheyenne within forty miles of Fort Lyon and that if he had
the force to do so, he would go out and attack them, This shows clearly that he
told the Cheyenne's to camp on Sand Creek only in order that he might have them
within reach if he could get a chance to attack theme
In good faith Black Kettle camped at Sand Creek with about 700 people, of which
200 were warriors; the rest were women , children and the aged.
Toward the end of November Colonel John M Chivington, a former minister-
blacksmith, posted guards at William Ben's :stockade so that none of Bent °s
half-breed family could warn the Indians of the coming attack. Then he took Bob
Bent as a guide and continued on to Fort Lion with his 600 cavalry men. As soon
as Chivington's men arrived, Anthony, one of Chivington's former officers, armed a
troop of about a hundred men, and marched toward Sand Creek. This made a total
of about 700- 750 cavalry and artillery, marching eastward across the plains
below Fort Lyon.
Bob Bent reluctantly and tearfully led Chivington to where his Indian mother and
two brothers were camped at Sand Creek. Just before dawn surrounding the Indian
village so that there was no chance of escape except through a narrow
opening between the bluffs, the regiment led by Colonel Chivington, closed in on
the horses, running them down to the south side of a creek behind the soldiers,
Colonel Chivington addressed his men telling them to take no prisoners. As the
attack began the unarmed Indians, not understanding what was happening, ran to
Black Kettle, who hoisted an American Flag, But as the firing continued, the old
chief raised a. white flag of surrender, to no avail.,
White Antelope, one of the chiefs, was among the first to go down. Soon after
the firing began he had advanced from his lodge toward the troopers with both
hands upraised, palms forward in the traditional sign of peace He was shot down
chanting his death song, ‘Nothing lives long, except the earth and the
mountains.
Suddenly going berserk, soldiers committed atrocities they had never dreamed of.
Women, children, and infants were massacred.
An observer tells this account of a child of about three years, perfectly naked,
toddling along the creek bank. A soldier saw it, fired at about seventy-five
yards distance , and missed it, Another dismounted, and said “Let me try, the
little..........;I can hit him,” He missed too but a third dismounted. with a
similar remark, and at his shot The child fell.
The reasoning behind this senseless killing was that if squaws and papooses were
spared, it would only be a few years until they would have more uprisings and
raids,
"Nits make lice !" Chivington declared,
The attack lasted from about four hours in one account, to about eight in
another.
No two observers or later day experts have ever agreed on the total number of
Indians in the camp when the fighting began, or the number of Indiana killed.
Jubilant about his victory Chivington reported between 400 end 500 Indians
killed, most of whom were women and children.
Chivington lost only ten men and: thirty-eight wounded,
After the battle, the dead lay unburied for Chivington had threatened. to hang
any.................... who would bury their bodies or bones. The soldiers
looted the teepees and mutilated the dead cutting more than one hundred scalps
and exhibiting them weeks later in a theater in Denver.
But Chivington act did not bring him the glory be expected.
When. the horrors of Sand Creek were made public, protest was loud.
The Republican party denounced him as a bloodthirsty traitor.
Kit Carson himself a battler of Indians, called it the action of a coward or
dogs.
General Halleck, chief of staff of the army, at once ordered Chivington's
conduct investigated, and General Curtis attempted to have him court-martialed,
but Chivington's a term of service had expired; he had been mustered out of the
service and therefore was beyond the reach of military court
Four years after the massacre at Sand Creek, a congressional commission, which
included three army generals , said referring to Sand Creek, It scarcely has its
parallel in the records of Indian barbarity." The government decided to pay
Black Kettle's band or what remained of it & large sum of money. By that time,
money and words of regret meant little to the Cheyenne.
Chief. Black Kettle, speaking about tIe occurrence at Sand Creek, said, ...My
shame is as big as the earth. It is hard for me to believe the white man
anymore.”
In Colorado, the Sand Greek. affair became a political issue, Colonel Chivington
said his course had saved Denver from an attack by the allied tribes. The result
of the massacre merely infuriated the Indians and led them to more deadly
attacks than they had made before this time.
Concerning the Sand Creek affairs there has been much exaggeration, much
misunderstanding, and many wholly unfounded statements.
Few historians uphold the massacre. Among those who consider (Chivington a
savior and hero is Reginald S Craig, who wrote a biography On Colonel John M
Chivington. Craig referred to Chivington as the "fighting parson”.
The details of the conflict at Sand Creek must still be uncertain in the minds
of historians because they differ on such facts as the number killed. whether or
not prisoners were taken whether or not a court martial was held on behalf of
Colonel Chivington, what the Indians did with their dead, bow many fighting
braves were at Sand Creak etc.
Because of these differences in accounts we in the 20th century may never know
whether or not the conflict at Sand Creek was a battle or a massacre. We can
only draw our own conclusions.
A town in southeast Colorado was named in honor of Colonel Chivington because
many Coloradoans considered him a hero at the time of the Sand Creek massacre.
This town (Chivington, Colorado) being a division point of the mainline Missouri
Pacific Railroad, boomed for a while but now the town of Chivington, where I
live is scarcely noticeable to cars hurrying by it on highway 96. The
ghostliness of the town is symbolic of the reputation with which Colonel John M.
Chivington is now endowed.
WORKS CITED:
Brown, Dee Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. New York: Holt Rinehart & Winston,1970
Chapman, Arthur The Story of Colorado .Chicago: Rand McNally & Col,1931
Driggs, Howard R. The Old West Speaks .New York: Bonanza Books; .1956
Dunn, J.P. Jr. Massacres of the Mountains. New York: Archer House, Inc. 1886
Ellis, Amanda M., Pioneers Colorado Springs: The Denton Printing Co., 1955
Grinnell, George Bird. The Fighting Cheyenne
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1956
(from Encyclopedia Britannica's Library Research Service)
Hall, Frank. History of the State of Colorado IV I63. (from State Historical Society of Colorado)
Helmers, Dow. Sand Creek: Battle or• Massacre? Pueblo Star Joirnal and Sunday Chieftain, November 30, 1969
Hoig, Stan, The Sand Creek Massacre. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1961
Rachlis, Eugene. Indians of the Plains. New York: American Heritage Publishing Co. 1960
Straight, Michael. A Very Small Remnant. New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1963
Taylor, Ralph C. Colorado South of the Border. Denver: Sage Books, l963
Ubbelohde, Carl. A Colorado History. Boulder, Colo Pruett Press, Inc 1965
Ubbelohde, Carl. A Colorado Reader. Boulder: Colo.: Pruett Press Inc. 1964
Werstein, lrving. Massacre at Sand Creek New. York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1963
Marker
of Sand Creek Battle Ground placed 1950; Chivington: Colorado