The Massacre at Sand Creek: Narrative Voices (The American Indian Literature and Critical Studies Series , Vol 16)

In the dawn of November 29, 1864, a Colorado militia unit attacked a peaceful encampment of Cheyennes by Sand Creek in southeast Colorado Territory and murdered almost two hundred men, women, and children. In The Massacre at Sand Creek, Bruce Cutler retells, in a powerful narrative, the events surrounding this atrocity. We hear the voices of the white participants, such as Colonel John Chivington, who planned and led the surprise attack, and Captain Silas Soule, the only officer who refused to attack. We are also given the voices of the Cheyennes - voices that historical documents do not record - with particular focus on Black Kettle, the chief who trusted the promise of protection he had received from white officers and who waved the white flag of peace even as the attacking army approached. A fictionalized account of the massacre by the U.S. Army of a Cheyenne village after it had raised the white flag. The event occurred in 1864 in Colorado. The commander, Colonel John Chivington, was never brought to justice, while Captain Silas Soule, who with his company refused to participate, was killed as a traitor. Five hundred people died. By the author of The Dark Fire This is a retelling, in the form of a novel, of the events of November 29, 1864, when a Colorado militia unit attacked a peaceful encampment of Cheyennes and murdered almost two hundred men, women and children. The story gives voice to the Cheyenne as well as the white participants. They're camped in short-grass country, but it isn't theirs.