An End to the Slaughter

An End to the Slaughter. . Sand Pits Offer Life and Death , Chief Black Kettle and George Bent sought shelter in a sand pit with almost one hundred others. South of them another hundred survivors sheltered in two other sand pits, but soldiers brought up the cannon killing everyone there. Lack of ammunition for the cannon saved Black Kettle and George Bent from a similar fate. , “Thirty or forty squaws (were) in a hole for protection; they sent out a little girl about six years old with a white flag on a stick, she had not proceeded but a few steps when she was shot and killed.” , Fleeing the Carnage , Many Cheyenne and Arapaho escaped north, away from the village, while others fled northeast and northwest. For the cold, wounded, and frightened survivors, a long and difficult night in the prairie followed. Some succumbed to their wounds, others were met by relatives and rescued from their ordeal. , “That was the worst night I ever went through. There we were on the bleak, frozen plain, without any shelter whatever and not a stick of wood to build a fire with. Most of us were wounded and half naked.” , George Bent , Sunset over an Atrocity , As evening fell, soldiers returned to the village. They converted tipis into hospitals for wounded troops; others were used to house captives. A total of 18 soldiers lay dead, their bodies recovered for burial at Fort Lyon. , On the morning of December 1, soldiers set fire to the tipis and executed several prisoners before leaving. As the soldiers rode away from the destruction at Sand Creek, some felt elated, others sickened and disgusted. The Cheyenne and Arapaho dead were left where they had fallen. Many of their bodies horribly mutilated, their spirits forever entwined with the landscape. , “This morning (Dec. 1) I went over the battle ground and saw the ground in places covered with men, women and children." , Excerpt from the diary of Quarter Master Sergeant Herry Blake, Company D. Regiment Cavalry, Colorado Volunteers