Black Kettle | |
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| Born | Mo'ohtavetoo'o c. 1803 |
| Died | November 27, 1868(1868-11-27) (aged 64–65) Washita River, near present-dayCheyenne, Oklahoma |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wound |
| Citizenship | Southern Cheyenne |
| Known for | Colorado War Sand Creek massacre Treaty of Medicine Lodge Battle of Washita River † |
| Title | Tribal chief |
Black Kettle (Cheyenne:Mo'ohtavetoo'o)[1] (c. 1803 – November 27, 1868) was a leader of theSouthern Cheyenne during theAmerican Indian Wars. Born to theNorthern Só'taeo'o / Só'taétaneo'o band of the Northern Cheyenne in theBlack Hills of present-daySouth Dakota,[2] he later married into theWotápio / Wutapai band (one mixed Cheyenne-Kiowa band withLakota Sioux origin) of the Southern Cheyenne.
Black Kettle is often remembered as a peacemaker who accepted treaties with the U.S. government to protect his people. On November 27, 1868, while attempting to escape theBattle of Washita River with his wife, he was shot and killed by soldiers of the U.S.7th Cavalry.
Black Kettle was born around 1803 in South Dakota into the Cheyenne Nation.[3] Little is known of Black Kettle's life prior to 1854, when he was made a chief of theCouncil of Forty-four, the central government of theCheyenne tribe.[4] The Council met regularly at theSun Dance gatherings, where they affirmed unity.
After 1851, relations between the Cheyenne and the U.S. government were nominally conducted under theTreaty of Fort Laramie.[5] Still, the U.S. government remained unwilling to control white expansion into theGreat Plains, particularly after thePike's Peak Gold Rush began in 1859.[6]European Americans displaced the Cheyenne from their lands in violation of the treaty, and consumed important resources of water and game. Increasing competition eventually led to armed conflict between the groups.
Chief Black Kettle was a pragmatist who believed that U.S. military power and the number of immigrants were overwhelming and unable to be resisted. In 1861, he and theArapaho surrendered to the commander ofFort Lyon under theTreaty of Fort Wise, believing he could gain protection for his people. The treaty was highly unfavorable to the Southern Cheyenne. Black Kettle visitedWashington, D.C., where PresidentAbraham Lincoln gave him a large American flag.[7]
The Cheyenne led their bands to the Sand Creek reservation, which occupied a small corner of southeasternColorado Territory about 40 miles fromFort Lyon. The land was not arable and was located far away frombuffalo, their major source of meat. Many Cheyenne warriors, including theDog Soldiers, did not accept the treaty and began to attack white settlers. Whether Black Kettle opposed these actions, tolerated them, or encouraged them remains controversial among historians.
By the summer of 1864, the situation had reached a boiling point. Southern Cheyenne hardliners, along with alliedKiowa andArapaho bands, raided American settlements for livestock and supplies. Sometimes they took captives, generally only women and children, to adopt into their tribes as replacements for lost members. On June 11, 1864, indigenous people killed a family of settlers, an attack which the white people called theHungate massacre after the family. Pro-war white people displayed the scalped bodies inDenver. Colorado governorJohn Evans believed tribal chiefs had ordered the attack and were intent on a full-scale war.
Evans issued a proclamation ordering all "Friendly Indians of the Plains" to report to military posts or be considered "hostile". He sought and gained from theWar Department authorization to establish theThird Colorado Cavalry. ColonelJohn M. Chivington led the unit, composed predominantly of "100-daysers", who enlisted for limited 100-day terms specifically for fighting against the Cheyenne and Arapaho.
Black Kettle decided to accept Evans' offer and entered negotiations. On September 28, he concluded a peace settlement atFort Weld outside Denver. The agreement assigned the Southern Cheyenne to the Sand Creek reservation and required them to report toFort Lyon, formerly Fort Wise. Black Kettle believed the agreement would ensure the safety of his people. After he went to the reservation, the commanding officer at the fort was replaced by one who was an ally of Chivington.
Ambitious, Chivington felt pressure from Governor Evans to make use of the Third Colorado Cavalry before their terms expired at the end of 1864. On November 28, Chivington arrived with 700 men at Fort Lyon. According to an eyewitness, John S. Smith:
[H]e stopped all persons from going on ahead of him. He stopped the mail, and would not allow any person to go on ahead of him at the time he was on his way from Denver city to Fort Lyon. He placed a guard around old Colonel Bent, the former agent there; he stopped a Mr. Hagues and many men who were on their way to Fort Lyon. He took the fort by surprise, and as soon as he got there he posted pickets all around the fort, and then left at 8 o'clock that night for this Indian camp.[8]
At dawn on November 29, Chivington attacked the Sand Creek reservation; the event became known as theSand Creek massacre. Most of the warriors were out hunting. Following Indian agent instructions, Black Kettle flew anAmerican flag and awhite flag from histipi, but the signal was ignored. The 3rd Colorado Cavalry killed 163 Cheyenne by shooting or stabbing. They burned down the village encampment. Most of the victims were women and children. For months afterward, members of the militia displayed trophies in Denver of their battle, including body parts they had taken for souvenirs.[9]
Black Kettle escaped the massacre and returned to rescue his severely injured wife, who suffered nine bullet and shrapnel wounds. He continued to counsel pacifism, believing that military resistance was doomed to fail. The majority of the Southern Cheyenne chiefs disagreed. Allied with theComanche andKiowa, they went to war against U.S. civilians and military forces.
Black Kettle said of that time:
Although wrongs have been done me, I live in hopes. I have not got two hearts.... I once thought that I was the only man that persevered to be the friend of the white man, but since they have come and cleaned out our lodges, horses, and everything else, it is hard for me to believe white men any more.[10]
Black Kettle moved south and continued to negotiate with U.S. officials. He signed theTreaty of Little Arkansas River on October 14, 1865. By this document, the U.S. promised "perpetual peace" and lands in reparation for the Sand Creek massacre. However, its practical effect was to dispossess the Cheyenne yet again and require them to move toIndian Territory (present-dayOklahoma). Black Kettle's influence continued to wane.Roman Nose and hisDog Soldiers took a prevailing hard line and continued warfare.
Black Kettle's dwindling band proclaimed their desire to live peacefully alongside European Americans. Black Kettle signed yet another treaty, theMedicine Lodge Treaty, on October 28, 1867. The Dog Soldiers continued their raids and ambushes across Kansas, Texas, and Colorado.
The relationship between the two groups is a subject of historical dispute. According toLittle Rock, second-in-command of Black Kettle's village, most of the warriors came back to Black Kettle's camp after their attacks.[citation needed] White prisoners, including children, were held within his encampment.[citation needed] By this time Black Kettle's influence was waning, and it is unclear whether he could have stopped the younger warriors' actions.
In response to the continued raids and massacres, GeneralPhilip Sheridan devised a plan of punitive reprisals. He planned to attack Cheyenne winter encampments, destroying both supplies and livestock, and killing any people who resisted. At dawn on the morning of November 27, 1868, Lieutenant ColonelGeorge Armstrong Custer led his7th Cavalry Regiment to attack Chief Black Kettle and his village along theWashita River in what is now westernOklahoma. Custer's troops killed more than 100 Native Americans, mostly Southern Cheyenne.
While trying to cross the Washita River, Black Kettle and his wife were shot in the back and killed.[11]
The Cheyenne have recognized Black Kettle as a peacemaker.Black Kettle National Grassland inRoger Mills County, Oklahoma andHemphill County, Texas[12] is named after him.[13] Near the site of his death, in present-dayCheyenne, Oklahoma, the Black Kettle Museum commemorates his legacy.[14]
Black Kettle was a recurring character in the CBS family dramaDr. Quinn, Medicine Woman for its first three seasons, played byNick Ramus. Black Kettle plays a key role for the series in the pilot episode. Dr. Quinn saves Black Kettle's life by performing atracheotomy and removing a bullet lodged in his neck. She later receives a Cheyenne name from Black Kettle meaning "Medicine Woman".
Black Kettle and the fate of his village are featured in Episode 4 of TNT miniseriesInto the West. Black Kettle is portrayed byWes Studi.
Onska bandFive Iron Frenzy'sOur Newest Album Ever!, the song "Banner Year" is about Black Kettle, how he was betrayed, and his eventual murder at the hands of Custer.
Deathcab for Cutie's 2022 albumAsphalt Meadows references Black Kettle during the Sand Creek Massacre in the song/spoken word piece "Foxglove Through The Clearcut."
In the 2021 documentary miniseriesExterminate All The Brutes, directed byRaoul Peck, Black Kettle and his wife Ar-no-ho-wok are both portrayed as walking alone to the regiment, harboring awhite flag as a sign of peace, before getting shot without warning.
In "My Life on the Plains" G. Custer states that while talking to Black Kettle's sister as one of the captives...he states that "Black Kettle came out of his lodge at the first sound of battle fired the first or one of the first shots while raising his warriors with a war-whoop and was shot down by the opening volley of the cavalry."
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