In
the mid-1800s white settlers came to the West in great numbers, claiming lands
where Native Americans lived. Some Indian chiefs like Crazy Horse, Geronimo and
Sitting Bull led their tribes to try to stop the settlers. But Black Kettle, a
Cheyenne chief, knew that the Indians would not be able to militarily defeat the
white man. He tried to avoid bloodshed by urging the Indian tribes not to fight
the settlers and gathered chiefs to sign peace treaties with the white leaders.
As more settlers flooded into Colorado, the American government broke the treaties,
demanding the Indians give up the land guaranteed in earlier treaties and live
on smaller and smaller reservations. Even when one military leader broke his promise
in 1864 and massacred two hundred mostly women and children in his tribe, nearly
killing him as well, Chief Black Kettle continued to try to get the Cheyenne tribes
to agree not to retaliate. Indians throughout the west were revolting as Indian
lands were being taken everywhere with the surviving Indians forced to live on
small reservations, but still Chief Black Kettle tried to find ways for Indians
and white man to live peacefully. In 1868, Black Kettle's village was again attacked,
this time by General Custer's troops and the chief and his wife were among those
massacred. Chief Black Kettle's heroic story is a tragic reminder of how inhumane
people can be and how difficult it often is to work for peace.
