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December 21 marks the 145th anniversary of the Fetterman Massacre, which took place near Fort Phil Kearny, in present-day Wyoming.
Map of Fort Phil Kearny
Memorial near where Capt Fetterman died
Fort Kearny was built along the Bozeman Trail, although the establishment of a fort here was never agreed to by Red Cloud at the 1866 council at Fort Laramie.
The fort’s commanding officer was Colonel Henry Carrington, a member of the 18th US Infantry during the Civil War. With him at Fort Kearny were his wife, Margaret and their son. (Click map to enlarge) [Click to read more]
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Site of the Sand Creek Massacre
On November 29, 1864, 650 Colorado volunteers under the command of John Chivington attacked a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians camped along Sand Creek. Over 150 Indians were killed in the attack, most of whom were women, children, or elderly. The tales of the atrocities committed are legendary and well-documented. You can read details about the events at Wikipedia and PBS Documents of the Sand Creek Massacre.
The location of the Sand Creek Massacre site was obscured through time even to descendents of massacre survivors. The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Study Act of 1998 directed the National Park Service to identify the location the massacre area and evaluate the suitability designating the site as a national park unit.
An excellent book about the search is Finding Sand Creek, History, Archeology, and the 1864 Massacre Site, by Jerome A. Greene and Douglas D. Scott. [Click to read more]
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