Dave Gibson, Colorado. Chief Niwot was a Southern Arapaho tribal leader who lived from 1825 until 1864. His name “Niwot” translates to “left-handed.” The community of Niwot, Niwot Ridge, Left Hand Canyon, and Left Hand Creek are named in his honor. A skilled diplomat and interpreter, he was well-versed in Arapaho, Sioux, Cheyenne, and English. He is famous for the “Curse of Boulder Valley” or “Niwot’s Curse” where he said, “People seeing the beauty of this valley will want to stay, and their staying will be the undoing of the beauty.”

Chief Niwot was the first Native American chief to encounter prospectors in present-day Boulder County during the fall of 1858 in violation of the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie where the Arapaho allowed safe passage of California gold-seekers and settlers in exchange for the rights to the land between the North Platte and Arkansas rivers. Chief Niwot and some of his people were camped at Valmont Butte when they received word of trespassers building log cabins at the mouth of Boulder Canyon. Accounts of that initial meeting vary. Called Settler’s Park today, Niwot and his warriors rode there, confronted the group of thirty from Fort St. Vrain, and advised them to move on. The men’s leader Capt. Thomas Aikens balked, countering that they merely wanted to winter at that spot and would be on their way in the spring. Party member John Rothrock concurred that Chief Niwot wasn’t welcoming at first, but after offering gifts, a meal of salt pork and canned beans, plying him with alcohol, and considerable cajoling, convinced Niwot to let them stay. Another version recounts that after leaving the encounter without resolution, the chief prepared for battle while consulting with his tribe before deciding what course of action to take. That night one of his deputies (Bear Head) is said to have had a dream in which there was a great flood that washed the Indians away but left the white man’s cabin standing. Taking that as a sign from the Great Spirit attesting to the white man’s inalterable power, Niwot and his men returned to the interlopers to make peace and tolerate their presence. Less than three months later, the Boulder City Town Company was formed and 4,044 lots were platted and offered for sale at $1,000 apiece. Bear Head’s dream was prophetic in the sense that the “great flood” was manifest destiny that would decimate his people.

Violent conflicts arose as other settlements sprang up in Indian Territory along the Front Range and elsewhere. In 1861, the signing of the Treaty of Fort Wise stripped indigenous people of their land and relegated Southern Arapaho and Southern Cheyenne to a reservation in what would become southeastern Colorado. With little game or favorable growing conditions and a dearth of promised government provisions, life became dismal. Renegade Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians known as Dog Soldiers intensified their raids on wagon trains along the Overland Trail and newly established towns facilitated by the Homestead Act. Abysmal relations worsened. In May of 1864, Cheyenne Chief Lean Bear was gunned down while presenting the peace medal he received during his visit to Washington D.C. the previous year and a document signed by Abraham Lincoln stating that he was peaceful and friendly to whites. Lean Bear was unaware that the First Calvary had been ordered by the governor to “kill Cheyennes whenever and wherever found.” A month later, twenty-five miles outside of Denver, 29 year-old Nathan Hungate and his family were murdered at Isaac Van Wormer’s ranch where Nathan worked as manager. They had moved to Colorado just three months earlier. The killings were especially grisly with Nathan’s corpse found desecrated and riddled with eighty bullet holes. His wife Ellen and their two young daughters (Laura, age 2, and Florence, age 5 months) were mutilated, bound together, and discarded in a shallow well. The perpetrators were never identified, but the coroner concluded their deaths had been most likely caused by Indians.

With the Hungates’ bodies on display in Denver, a call went out for revenge from the citizenry. In response, Territorial Governor John Evans formed the Third Colorado Cavalry regiment commanded by Colonel John M. Chivington and comprised of volunteers to “end the Indian problem once and for all.” War erupted between a coalition of several Native Americans nations and the U.S. Army, Colorado militia, and white settlers. In late September of 1864 Arapaho and Cheyenne leaders representing their tribes initiated a council with Colorado Territory Governor Evans and Col. John Chivington at Camp Weld to negotiate a peace. Acknowledging that the chiefs themselves were peaceful, Evans accused them of living amongst the enemy. He added, “The only way you can show friendship is by making some arrangement with the soldiers to help them.” As Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Evans relayed that he didn’t have authority to sign a treaty and reiterated they must negotiate with the military. Black Kettle said that he couldn’t speak for all of his people, but didn’t think there would be much difficulty in getting them to help the soldiers. Chivington added, “I am not a big war chief, but all soldiers in this country are at my command. My rule of fighting white men or Indians is to fight them until they lay down their arms and submit to military authority. They are nearer Major Wynkoop than anyone else, and they can go to him when they are ready to do that.” To prevent further bloodshed, the camps of Niwot, Black Kettle, and White Antelope merged in the reservation along the banks of Sand Creek after surrendering to Major Wynkoop at Fort Lyon. Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle flew American and white flags from his teepee as he had been instructed by Wynkoop to signal their peacefulness. Mockingly called the “Bloodless Third” for the lack of fighting they had seen during the campaign, the Third Cavalry was eager for action. Fully aware that the non-hostile encampment had been promised sanctuary, at dawn on November 29 the 700-man Third Calvary charged the unsuspecting villagers as they slept. Many of the warriors were away hunting buffalo. The 200 or so people left behind were mostly women, children, and elderly. After mercilessly slaughtering everyone in sight, the cavalrymen returned to Denver hailed as heroes brandishing the body parts of their victims like trophies. His family members all dead, Chief Niwot is believed to have escaped the carnage only to die of his wounds a few days thereafter.

Territorial Governor John Evans decorated John Chivington and his men for their “valor in subduing the savages.” The Joint Committee of the Conduct of War later investigated the massacre, condemning Chivington’s actions although criminal charges were never brought against him. John Evans was forced to resign his governorship in 1865 for his role in instigating genocide and allegations of a cover-up. A gravestone at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site commemorates the slain.         

(Originally published in the May 14, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)