Investigation Of 'Burry My Heart At Wounded Knee'

Part A- Plan of Investigation

The focus of this investigation is to try to answer this question: To what extent was the Sand Creek massacre of November 29, 1864, a product of Colonel John Chivington’s ambitions for land and personal hatred towards the Natives? The aim of this investigation is to evaluate how Chivington’s army was called the ‟Bloodless Third’’ which might have led him to massacred the Native Americans to get rid of the name and it will evaluate Chivington’s excuse to attack.

Two texts that will aid the investigation are ‟Burry my Heart at Wounded Knee’’ by Dee Brown, a book that illustrates the massacre through the eyes of the Native Americans and also exposes the personal hatred of Colonel Chivington. The second text is Stan

Chief Black Kettle and another four hundred Cheyenne and Arapaho, settled in the area of Sand Creek, which was an area designated by the treaty. Early on the morning of November 29, 1864, Colorado troops attacked the Cheyenne campground. At this time of the morning most of the worriers were out hunting so the Indian village was full of elders, women and children. As soon as the attacked started Chief Black Kettle stood with his arms closed under a pole with the United States Flag and a white flag that symbolized peace, and refused to attack because he said that ‟the white men were friends’’. He had been counseled to do so by American officers if such a scenario happened. The attack was carried out under the mandate of Colonel John Chivington. Chivington had an army of 675 volunteer-soldiers wearing federal uniforms and carrying federal weapons. Colonel Chivington was a well-known pro-slavery preacher and a de facto law enforcement officer. Chivington took advantage of the situation in Colorado in order to escalate the social ladder. The problem of Colorado was that they needed land for the new settlers which meant that they needed the natives to move out of the Colorado territory. The result of the attack was that three hundred people were killed, two thirds of which were women and children. The massacre was

The purpose of this chapter was to illustrate what had happened prior to the Sand Creek Massacre and explain the process of retaliation that the Indians had against the United States government. As well as to tell the story of Sitting Bull, one of the most known Native American leaders. The value within this source includes that the author included background information about the people involved in the Sand Creek Massacre. Another value of this source is the amount of explanation about the people involved, this source gives details of the relationship between Indians and the Chiefs of Fort Lyon. The limitations include that the author only focused on the perspective of the Native Americans and neglected the perspective of the volunteer army or Colonel Chievington. Another limitation was that the author focused on the retaliation rather than in what happened at Sand Creek, which was not relevant to the