The Attack

The Attack. . A barrage of arms fire was leveled against the Cheyenne and Arapaho. Amid the wild confusion, soldiers noticed people at the village “... going slowly away in a sort of listless, and dazed, or confused manner ...” Throughout the morning and into the afternoon, Volunteers pursued the Indians up Sand Creek and across adjacent plains and bluffs. The scene became chaotic as troops advanced up both sides of the creek. A member of the 3rd Colorado remembered, “After a short dash we halted and dismounted ... events succeeded each other so rapidly now, that no one could look about much to see what the other companies did.” , , The people’s bloody trek northwards continued for miles. Women and children stopped only long enough to dig pits along the stream’s dry banks and channel. A young woman, White Horse, mother of Chief Kias, “... was hit on the calf of a leg. She rushed toward the flag at first, but fled when the soldiers began firing. She fell down when the bullet struck her leg, but got up and made her way toward Sand Creek. As White Horse ran along Sand Creek she passed many dead people, from babies on up ... White Horse even passed a woman bearing a child ... White Horse came across some Cheyennes digging trenches ... She went into the trench and was saved that way ...” , , By evening, Volunteers made their way back to the village. Here, some of the lodges were used to doctor the wounded while buffalo robes and other abandoned possessions were taken for bedding and “souvenirs.” Later, the village was burned and its contents destroyed. A Cheyenne eyewitness stated, “About 53 men were killed and 110 women and children killed, 163 in all killed. Lots of men, women and children were wounded.” Accounts also state “Two Cheyenne women with their children (and) one Arapaho woman with her grandson ...” were taken prisoner. “... Measure Woman with her child (Mrs. White Frog) and White Girl with her son, White Eyes, stayed in One Eye’s lodge and were taken out ... by soldiers. An old Arapaho woman and Tom White Shirt were taken from hole near the village.” , , , (Photo Caption) , George Bent was the son of Owl Woman, a Cheyenne, and frontiersman William Bent. George and his younger brother Charles were in the Cheyenne village at Sand Creek. Bent wrote hundreds of letters detailing Southern Cheyenne history. George Bent passed away at Colony, OK., 1918. In the photo with George Bent is his wife Mapgie. Magpie passed away May 10, 1886. Her father, Cut Lip Bear, was killed at Sand Creek. Magpie’s mother was called Nis-ti-nah.