The best way for a male to gain integrity and prominence was through warfare. The quality most highly esteemed among the Indians of the plains was bravery, and the warrior who displayed the utmost valor was who brought back most glory from the warpath (Grinnell 29). From the start, boys and adolescence were taught that “the most important thing in life was to be brave” and that “death was not a thing to be avoided” (Grinnell 12). It was better for a man to go down fighting rather than waiting until he was old enough, then all of his youthful abilities were gone to waste. The Cheyenne fought for the wholesome satisfaction and not only to gain appreciation of their fellow tribesman.
The Cheyenne tribe split into two separate groups in 1832 as they dispersed near the Black Hills, and other living areas south of Colorado which neighbored the Arkansas River. The Indians that migrated to the Arkansas River soon clashed with the Kiowa tribe, who first claimed the territory with the Comanche’s. Many battles took place until an alliance was formed
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Chivington to an attack on Sand Creek which was a location of a Cheyenne and Arapaho camp. When Chivington’s men attacked, Black Kettle, the Cheyenne leader, had just finalized negotiations on a new peace treaty, meaning “they had no reason to expect an attack”. Chivington’s army consisted of over seven hundred men, all heavily armed with guns. The Indian village only had about five hundred people and most were innocent women and children. Unfortunately, two hundred Native American men, women, and children were killed in the ambush and their body parts were mutilated and brought back to Denver to be put on display by Chivington’s men. This horrifying example of the white’s superiority becomes known as The1864 Sand Creek Massacre, one of the most catastrophic examples of military advantages and overkill in all of the American Indian Wars