Meeker Massacre, or Meeker Incident, White River War, Ute War, or the Ute Campaign
), took place on September 29, 1879 in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
. Members of a band of
Ute Indians (
Native Americans) attacked the Indian agency on their reservation, killing the
Indian agent
In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the government.
Background
The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the United States first included development of t ...
Nathan Meeker
Nathan Cook Meeker (July 12, 1817 – September 30, 1879) was a 19th-century American journalist, homesteader, entrepreneur, and Indian agent for the federal government. He is noted for his founding in 1870 of the Union Colony, a cooperative ...
and his 10 male employees and taking five women and children as hostages. Meeker had been attempting to convert the Utes to Christianity, to make them farmers, and to prevent them from following their nomadic culture. On the same day as the massacre,
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
forces were en route to the Agency from
Fort Steele
Fort Steele is a heritage site in the East Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. This visitor attraction lies on the east shore of the Kootenay River between the mouths of the St. Mary River (British Columbia), St. Mary River and Wild H ...
in Wyoming due to threats against Meeker. The Utes attacked U.S. troops led by
Major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
Thomas T. Thornburgh at Milk Creek, north of present day
Meeker, Colorado
Meeker is the Statutory Town in and the county seat of Rio Blanco County, Colorado, United States, that is the most populous municipality in the county. The town population was 2,475 at the 2010 United States Census.
Description
The town is ...
. They killed the major and 13 troops. Relief troops were called in and the Utes dispersed.
The conflict resulted in the Utes losing most of the lands granted to them by treaty in Colorado, the forced removal of the
White River Utes
White River Utes are a Native American band, made of two earlier bands, the Yampa from the Yampa River Valley and the Parianuche Ute people, Utes who lived along the Grand Valley (Colorado-Utah), Grand Valley in Colorado and Utah.
Historic bands ...
and the
Uncompahgre Ute
The Uncompahgre Ute () or ꞌAkaꞌ-páa-gharʉrʉ Núuchi (also: Ahkawa Pahgaha Nooch) is a band of the Ute, a Native American tribe located in the US states of Colorado and Utah. In the Ute language, means "rocks that make water red." The band ...
s from
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
,
and the reduction in the Southern Utes' land holdings within Colorado. The expulsion of the Utes from Colorado opened up millions of acres of land to white settlement.
Background
In 1879, the Ute Reservation included most of western Colorado and in 1868 had been granted the Utes for their "absolute and undisturbed use and occupation" by a Treaty. The Treaty also stated that the U.S. government would prevent any persons from trespassing on Ute lands without authorization.
[Katherine Retzler, Review: Peter Decker, ''The Utes Must Go'']
''San Juan Silver Stage'' online However, in the 1870s miners encroached upon the Ute Reservation. There was little effort by the U.S. to prevent the encroachment. From 1875 to early fall 1879, members of the
9th Cavalry were the only Army troops near the Reservation. By 1879, most of the 9th Cavalry troops were fighting
Apaches
The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño and ...
in
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
in
Victorio's War
Victorios War, or the Victorio Campaign, was an armed conflict between the Apache followers of Chief Victorio, the United States, and Mexico beginning in September 1879. Faced with arrest and forcible relocation from his homeland in New Mexico t ...
, and only two troops were stationed in Colorado. K Troop was escorting surveyors who were marking the Colorado-Utah border. D Troop patrolled between
Fort Lewis and
Fort Garland
Fort Garland (1858–1883), Colorado, United States, was designed to house two companies of soldiers to protect settlers in the San Luis Valley, then in the Territory of New Mexico. It was named for General John Garland, commander of the Military ...
.
In 1878,
Nathan Meeker
Nathan Cook Meeker (July 12, 1817 – September 30, 1879) was a 19th-century American journalist, homesteader, entrepreneur, and Indian agent for the federal government. He is noted for his founding in 1870 of the Union Colony, a cooperative ...
was appointed United States (US)
Indian Agent
In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the government.
Background
The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the United States first included development of t ...
at the
White River Ute Indian Reservation
An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...
, on the western side of the
Continental Divide
A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...
, near the present day town of
Meeker, Colorado
Meeker is the Statutory Town in and the county seat of Rio Blanco County, Colorado, United States, that is the most populous municipality in the county. The town population was 2,475 at the 2010 United States Census.
Description
The town is ...
. He received this appointment, although he lacked experience with
Native Americans. While living among the Ute, Meeker tried to impose his policy of religious and farming reforms, but they were used to a
hunter-gatherer
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
lifestyle with seasonal bison hunting, as opposed to one which would require them to settle on a particular piece of land.
In addition to forcing agriculture on the White River Utes, Meeker had been attempting to
convert
Conversion or convert may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman''
* "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series
* "The Conversion" ...
the White River Utes to
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
. He angered the Utes by plowing a field they used to graze and race horses.
In addition,
Frederick Walker Pitkin
Frederick Walker Pitkin (August 31, 1837 – December 18, 1886), a U.S. Republican Party politician, served as the second Governor of Colorado, United States from 1879 to 1883.
Life and career
Frederick Pitkin was born in Manchester, Connecti ...
, the recently elected Governor of Colorado, had campaigned on a theme of "The Utes Must Go!" The Governor, other local politicians, and settlers made exaggerated claims against the Utes in their efforts to evict them from Colorado.
[
]
The conflicts
Attack on White River Agency
Nathan Meeker had a tense conversation with an irate Ute chief. This occurred after Meeker began to insist on a change of lifestyle for the Utes. Meeker wired for military assistance, claiming that he had been assaulted by an Indian, driven from his home, and severely injured.
On September 29, 1879, the Ute attacked the Indian Agency, killing Meeker and ten men working at the Indian Agency. The attack on the Indian Agency occurred almost simultaneously with the Ute ambush of Major Thomas T. Thornburgh's soldiers near Milk Creek. The dead included: Nathan Meeker, Frank Dresser, Henry Dresser, George Eaton, Wilmer E. Eskridge, Carl Goldstein, W.H. Post, Shaduck Price, Fred Shepard, Arthur L Thompson, and "Unknown teamster" ulius Moore[ Jacob Piatt Dunn, ''Massacres of the Mountains: A History of the Indian Wars of the Far West''](_blank)
Boston: Harper & Brothers, 1886, p. 704, accessed 20 Dec 2010 Ute members of the raiding party took some women and children as hostages. These hostages were used by the Ute Raiders to bargain with Government Representatives in order to secure a better outcome for the Ute raiders. The hostages were held by the Ute raiders for 23 days. Two of the women taken captive were of Meeker's family: his wife, Arvilla, and daughter, Josephine, who had just graduated from college and had started working as a teacher and physician.
Chief Ouray
Ouray (, 1833 – August 24, 1880) was a Native American chief of the Tabeguache (Uncompahgre) band of the Ute tribe, then located in western Colorado. Because of his leadership ability, Ouray was acknowledged by the United States government as ...
of the Uncompahgre Ute
The Uncompahgre Ute () or ꞌAkaꞌ-páa-gharʉrʉ Núuchi (also: Ahkawa Pahgaha Nooch) is a band of the Ute, a Native American tribe located in the US states of Colorado and Utah. In the Ute language, means "rocks that make water red." The band ...
, who had not been involved in the uprising, attempted to keep the peace after the massacre at the Indian Agency and attack on Army forces. Chief Ouray and his wife, Chipeta, helped negotiate the release of the women and children who had been taken hostage.
Attack on U.S. Army troops at Milk Creek
Major Thomas T. Thornburgh led a command of 153 soldier
A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer.
Etymology
The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...
s, and twenty-five militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
men, to the White River Indian Agency from Fort Steele
Fort Steele is a heritage site in the East Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. This visitor attraction lies on the east shore of the Kootenay River between the mouths of the St. Mary River (British Columbia), St. Mary River and Wild H ...
on September 21, 1879, in response to a request for assistance by the Nathan C. Meeker, U.S. Government Indian Agent. The force consisted of Company E, 3rd Cavalry; D and F Companies, 5th Cavalry; and Company B from Thornburgh's own 4th Infantry.
On September 29, 1879, Ute warriors simultaneously ambushed Thornburgh's forces and, at the Indian Agency, killed Meeker and Meeker's employees. Ute warriors, led by Chief Colorow, attacked Thornburgh's forces at Milk Creek on the northern edge of the reservation, about 18 miles from the White River Indian Agency. Within a few minutes, Major Thornburgh and 13 men were killed, including all his officers above the rank of captain. Another 28 men were wounded. Three-quarters of the horses and mules were killed at leisure by the surrounding Utes. Surviving troops dug in behind the wagon trains and animals' bodies for defense. One man rode hard to get out a request for reinforcements. The US forces held out for several days. Chief Colorow joked with his band of warriors about the smell of dead animals the troops had to endure. The troops were reinforced by 35 African-American cavalrymen known as Buffalo Soldiers
Buffalo Soldiers originally were members of the 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This nickname was given to the Black Cavalry by Native American tribes who fought in t ...
from the 9th Cavalry at Fort Lewis in southern Colorado, who got through the enemy lines on October 2. Captain Francis Dodge and Sergeant Henry Johnson were among the reinforcements. Over the next three days, thirty-eight of the forty-two animals that Captain Dodge brought with him were killed, and the other four were wounded. Dodge focused on securing encampment and gathering drinking water. Henry Johnson, who was responsible for the guards in the outposts, made rounds of the outposts under heavy fire to check on his men. In gathering water for the troops from the nearby creek, there were some accounts that the Utes would not shoot at black soldiers.
Troops rescued at Milk Creek
Larger U.S. Army relief columns were sent from two forts, Fort Steele and Fort D.A. Russell. Both forts were established in the adjacent Wyoming Territory
The Territory of Wyoming was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 25, 1868, until July 10, 1890, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Wyoming. Cheyenne was the territorial capital. The boun ...
after the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
and related to efforts by the Army in the Dakota Territory. Colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
Wesley Merritt
Wesley Merritt (June 16, 1836December 3, 1910) was an American major general who served in the cavalry of the United States Army during the American Civil War, American Indian Wars, and Spanish–American War. Following the latter war, he became ...
commanded five columns of troops from the 5th Cavalry Regiment, or about 350 troops, who traveled by train and marched to reach the surviving forces on Milk Creek on October 5. By the time Colonel Merritt arrived, the Utes had already dispersed. Subsequently, the 9th Cavalry returned to New Mexico to fight Chief Victorio, but the other regiments wintered at the site of the former Indian Agency. In the spring, US Army forces built a Camp on the White River, which the Army occupied until 1883. A few buildings remain of the Army Camp.[ Several of the Ute escaped and wintered in North Park, where their wickiups still stand.
]
Aftermath
Meeker and his ten associates were killed. The army and militiamen lost thirteen dead and forty-four wounded, most of them in the first twenty-four hours of the engagement. Eleven soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
and approximately thirty were decorated for heroic conduct in one of the most decorated battles of the Indian Wars. The Medal of Honor awardees included Sergeant Henry Johnson and Captain Francis Dodge. Chief Jack estimated that nineteen Ute warriors were killed and seven were unaccounted for, though other sources say the Ute lost thirty-seven killed in both the Meeker incident and the battle.[Miller, Mark E, ''Hollow Victory,'' University Press of Colorado, 1997]
Hostility
After the Milk Creek and White River incidents, there was intense hostility toward the Utes, both within Colorado and the American army, and mounting pressure to drive them entirely from the state, or to exterminate them altogether. There had already been a desire to move the Utes off their land prior to the outbreak of the war, so the fighting added fuel to the fire.
Initial treaty negotiations
Treaty negotiations were the result of the intercession of Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to:
* Secretary of the Interior (Mexico)
* Interior Secretary of Pakistan
* Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines)
* United States Secretary of the Interior
See also
*Interior ministry ...
Carl Schurz, who stopped any movement of forces against the Ute until such time as the hostages were safely released. Former Indian agent Charles Adams, who had previously served at White River, managed to secure the hostages' release by the White River Utes. Negotiations began in November 1879 with a Peace Commission at the Los Piños Indian Agency
LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to:
Science and technology
* Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation
* Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers
* Level of significance, a measure of statistical significan ...
.
Ute Removal Act
After this commission failed to produce results, Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
summoned the participants to Washington in 1880. A treaty was agreed upon where the White River Utes agreed to be removed to Uintah Reservation
The Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation (, ) is located in northeastern Utah, United States. It is the homeland of the Ute Indian Tribe (Ute dialect: Núuchi-u), and is the largest of three Indian reservations inhabited by members of the Ute Tribe ...
in Utah, and the Uncompahgre Utes, who had not participated in the uprising, were to remain in Colorado, but on a smaller parcel of land. Later this plan was changed, and the Uncompahgre Utes too were removed to Utah. The Ute Removal Act denied the Ute of land that had formerly been guaranteed to them in perpetuity. Congress insisted that the Utes be forcibly removed from the "Shining Mountains" and relocated to eastern Utah.[Dr. Ted Fetter, "The Utes and the Unitarians", November 22, 2009 at the ]First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia
The First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia is a Unitarian Universalist congregation located at 2125 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a regional Community Center it sponsors cultural, educational, civic, wellness and spiritual a ...
The Southern Ute were also to be moved, although it proved difficult to find them land in neighboring states. Ultimately they remained on a reservation along the border of Colorado and New Mexico.
After removal the Uncompahgre Utes named their new land reserve Ouray Reservation after the late Chief Ouray, who died in August 1880, occurred on August 28, 1881. The Uncompahgres were moved under the accompaniment of the army, commanded by Colonel Ranald MacKenzie
Ranald Slidell Mackenzie, also called Bad Hand, (July 27, 1840 – January 19, 1889) was a career United States Army officer and general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was described by General Ulysses S. Grant as its ...
. The army was used to force the Utes to move, but it also served to protect the Utes from the wrath of the settlers who followed the exodus of the Uncompahgres.
The White River Utes were more difficult to move. The Indian Bureau
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and Al ...
lured them to the Uintah Reservation
The Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation (, ) is located in northeastern Utah, United States. It is the homeland of the Ute Indian Tribe (Ute dialect: Núuchi-u), and is the largest of three Indian reservations inhabited by members of the Ute Tribe ...
by sending their rations and land compensation payments there. The White River Utes remained largely nomadic, and remained a threat to return to Colorado. For that reason, the army, with the aid of the Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...
, planned a military post next to the Utah reservations. When Chief Jack and the White River Utes fled back to Colorado, the army tracked down and located them on April 28, 1882. Soldiers killed him while he was trying to avoid capture and being forced to return to Uintah Reservation. The removal of the Utes from most of their lands in Colorado effectively marked the end of the White River War.
See also
* List of battles fought in Colorado
This list of battles fought in Colorado is an incomplete list of military and other armed confrontations that have occurred within the boundaries of the modern US State of Colorado since European contact. The region was part of the Viceroyalty of ...
Notes
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sand Creek Massacre
1879 in Colorado
1879 murders in the United States
Massacres in 1879
Conflicts in 1879
September 1879 events
American frontier
Meeker
Indian wars of the American Old West
Massacres by Native Americans
Meeker
Rio Blanco County, Colorado
Ute people
Wars involving the indigenous peoples of North America