Troops Approach the Village

Troops Approach the Village. . Pony Herds Threatened , First to see soldiers approaching were two young men, King Fisher and Little Bear, who were tending the horse herds grazing to the south. In 1906, Little Bear described that fateful day: “As I was going up on hill I met King Fisher (Matsénéstse) running back towards the camp. He told me lot of white men were driving off herds of ponies... Then I knew soldiers were coming to attack the village.” , Chivington's orders to drive horses away from the village had already been given by the time King Fisher and others warned the village. While Lieutenant Luther Wilson's 'companies of 1st Regiment troops moved to the east, companies from Colonel George Shoup's 3rd Regiment swung west. Their goal – drive the pony herds away from the village and toward 2nd Lieutenant Jose Autobee's Hispanic soldiers of Companies H. , "Lieutenant Wilson's boys commenst (sic) shooting volley after volley and advancing as they shot into about five or six hundred chiefs, braves, squaws, papooses which all huddled together in one crowd.” , Private Jesse S. Haire, Company D, 1st Regiment Cavarly, Colorado Volunteers (From: Jesse S. Haire: Unwilling Indian Fighter by Pam Milavec) , A Courageous Stand , In response to the advance under Major Anthony and Lieutenant Wilson, Cheyenne Chiefs White Antelope, War Bonnet, and Standing Water walked out to face the soldiers. Steadfastly, the leaders stood their ground along Sand Creek's north bank, trying to calm frightened women and children. Within moments, all three were shot, their bodies later scalped and mutilated. , “By tribal law, the 44 Chiefs Societies must protect their people and give their lives so their people can escape... That is why so many of the chiefs were killed (at Sand Creek)... The Chiefs stood their ground and troops concentrated their gunfire on the lodges.” , Laird Cometsevah, Cheyenne Chief, remembering his Great Grandfather Cometsevah's account of the massacre. ( Sand Creek Massacre Project, Site Location Study, Vol. I). , Caption: As a young man, Cheyenne Little Bear is one of the first to spot the approach of Colonel Chivington's troops to Sand Creek