Chief Ignacio (c. 1828–1913) was a chief of the Weeminuche band of the Ute tribe of American Indians, also called the Southern Utes, located in present-day

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

north of the San Juan River. He led the band through many difficult years in the late nineteenth century, when they were being encroached on by European-American settlers. In January 1880, Chief Ignacio was part of the Ute delegation that traveled to Washington, DC to testify before the US Congress about the 1879 Meeker Massacre and the Ute uprising among the northern Utes on the White River. Although the Weeminuche had not participated in that violence, white settlers wanted to push all the Utes away from their areas. The Utes tried to negotiate for peace, but later that year Congress passed legislation forcing the Utes into reservations. Unlike the Northern and Central bands of Utes, who were forced to reservations in Utah, the Weeminuche and two other Southern bands managed to stay in Colorado. Together with the Muache and Capote Utes, the Weeminuche occupied the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in southern Colorado and named their capital

Ignacio Ignacio is a male Spanish language, Spanish name originating in the Latin name "Ignatius" from ''ignis'' "fire". This was the name of several saints, including the Ignatius of Antioch, third bishop of Antioch (who was thrown to wild beasts by emp ...

in the chief's honor. In 1887 the US Congress passed the General Allotment Act, better known as the Dawes Act. It was intended to regulate the breakup of the communal Native American lands and assign separate householder allotments of 160 acres each, with "surplus" land to be sold on the open market. This was another step in assimilating the Native Americans to European-American ways, based on individual landholdings. In 1895 the Southern Utes voted on the issue, narrowly passing a measure for allotment."Ignacio and the Southern Utes Tribe"
, Mountain Studies Institute, accessed 21 Dec 2010 Refusing to have their land broken up, Chief Ignacio and the Weeminuche people moved to the western part of the Southern Ute Reservation in 1896. Their descendants have occupied the

Ute Mountain Ute Reservation The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (Ute dialect: Wʉgama Núuchi) is one of three federally recognized tribes of the Ute Nation, and are mostly descendants of the historic Weeminuche Band who moved to the Southern Ute reservation in 1897. Their reservatio ...

with headquarters at Navajo Springs. Later they moved their capital to Towaoc. The Ute Mountain Ute are one of three federally recognized tribes of the Ute people.

References

* 1820s births 1913 deaths 19th-century Native American people Native American history of Colorado Ute people 20th-century Native American leaders People from pre-statehood Colorado Native American people from Colorado {{NorthAm-native-bio-stub