Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Trouble Brewing



[RMN, Feb. 23, 1865.]

Spring 1865. Sand Creek-spawned revenge campaign on the Platte road raises the price of everything in Denver.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

RMN Correction not an example of clear journalism

[RMN, Feb. 24, 1865]



I have very little idea what he's getting at, and I think that was the plan. Didn't mention the name of the prisoner? Indeed they did. It was the title of the article referred to in the correction.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mining Journal reports that Soule has been shot at several times.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Escape of Jack Peppers 2

More on the alleged 'absquatulation' of Jack Peppers.

The animosity between Byers and Hunt (territorial marshal) goes back at least to the messy land speculation around Denver and Auraria in '59 and '60.



[RMN, February 23, 1865]




[DMJ, February 27, 1865]

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Veterans' Battallion

The 1st Colorado Cavalry was consolidated into the Veterans' Ballalion, field and staff listed below as appeared in the RMN in February, 1865. Soule had been Lieutenant in Co. K, now Captain Co. D.



[Click to enlarge.]

The Escape of Jack Peppers



"...Absquatulated..."

[RMN, Feb. 17, 1865, p.3.]

Friday, January 22, 2010

K Company

From a list of First Regiment personnel, as of Feb. 28, 1863, in The Trail, May 1909.

Seeing the name of Ham Hunt among K Co. enlisted men was a real eye-opener. Must be pioneer lawyer and brother of A. Cam Hunt (People's Court judge, territorial marshal, territorial governor and Indian agent). Could be an important dot in our little connect-the-dots here. Ham n' Cam Hunt. Don't say it three times fast.

Samuel M. Robbins, Captain
Silas S. Soule, 1st Lieutenant
John Oster, 2nd Lieut.
John E. Hill, 1st Sergeant
Thos. H. Gibbons, Q.M. Sergeant
Harrison W. Bell, Com. Serg.
Jno. A. Charters, 1st Duty Serg.
W.M. McOmber, 2nd Duty Serg.
Thos. H. Wales 3rd
Graham Nash, 4th
E.M. Quimby, 5th
John Simcox, 1st Corporal
Henry Hardy, 2nd
Orren H. Henry, 3rd
Louis Percival, 4th
James Donaldson, 5th
W.F. Eichbaum, 6th
Oswin G. Morley, 7th
Jac. D. Bonham, 8th
James Durkee, Blacksmith
Almon Burns, Farrier
Charles J. Eaton, Saddler

Armstrong, Al. W.
Thos. P. Arble
Jonas. Anderson
Joseph Bovee
Norris N. Bell
John Burgess
Hiram C. Brock
E.C. Bently
Lyman A. Carr
John Creech
Morris S. Christy
H.D. Chase
R.F. Cole
Lorenzo D. Debolt
Patrick F. Dailey
David E. Dodge
Antohny W. Davis
H.C. DeHaven
John Daun
W.E. Fairbanks
Michael Grealish
James Grealish
Peter Gray
Hamilton R. Hunt
Francis Harthorn
William Jones
George Klebe
Jno. S. Kirkpatrick
John Little
Harman Laidig
G.W. Morris
A. McDonald
Hugh McDonough
Arch. W. McBeth
Charles McBride
Wm. W. Oglesby
George Pool
Manfred M. Patch
Isaac Routh
Louis Reading
William Strait
D. W. Sowash
Wm. Sherman
Michael Tobin
Elias Veatch
Ed. C. Vanderbaugh
Robert B. Wallace
James Wynn
Richard Wilson
Wm. R. Wilson
Ona H. Woodward
George Woolbert
George Yarrow

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Family Heirlooms

While encamped in the Western History Department the other day I ran across an old article in the Colorado Magazine about Hal Sayr (or Sayre) written by his son Robert. As you might imagine, it's a sympathetic account of Sayre's oddysey as a Colorado pioneer, miner and volunteer Indian fighter. Among many other interesting items (for instance, that Sayre and his partner Parmalee [Parmelee?] founded LaPorte, near Fort Collins) is the revelation by the author that "we still have a scalp taken by Major Sayre in this battle [Sand Creek]."

This confirms the testimony taken by the Tappan commission from a soldier who claimed to see Major Sayre dismount to carve a scalp on the afternoon of November 29, 1864. Many others were doing the same thing, but Sayre as First Major was one of the top ranking officers in the field. The testimony was presented as evidence of a breakdown in the command structure, or complete lack of one in the first place.

I wonder about that conversation, if there was one.

Son, I want you to have this. I've been saving it for you.

Ah thanks, dad. Uh ... Wow.

Maybe someday, you know, you can pass it on to your son.

That's great dad.

[shiver]

The multi-generational Curse Potential on that is off the charts.

Hal Sayre lived to old age in a mansion at 815 Logan.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Territorial Officers

Here is another good reference. Territorial Officers, as printed on the front page of the Rocky Mountain News in 1865. A.C. Hunt is Territorial Marshal, will be governor in a few years. Judge Harding has been under the gun in Feb. 1865, widely suspected of being the culprit who narrated the horrors of Sand Creek to lawmakers back in the States. A clear division emerges -- Evans, Elbert, Chiv and Byers, among others, face off against Tappan, Hunt, Browne, Harding, among others.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Calling all invalids, toddlers, and middle-aged ladies

Reading the News alone will drive you nuts. it's good to throw in a little Black Hawk Daily Mining Journal to remind oneself of varying points of view that prevailed at the time. On Wednesday Feb. 8 1865 the Journal has a great deal of fun with the alleged Indian threat and martial law, declared by Col. Moonlight to begin on that day. The clipping below refers to the fire of '63 and the flood of '64.





[DMJ, Feb 8, 1865, p.3]

Friday, January 8, 2010

Citizen Meeting

This is good stuff. I've been looking for this one. I didn't know the exact date.

February 8, 1865. Wednesday. Colonel Moonlight has declared martial law in the Territory. As in August of the previous year, Denver City will be basically shut down until it fills its quota of recruits for a new 'volunteer' regiment of Indian fighters, this time for ninety-days service. The inquest into the Sand Creek Massacre is just about to start in Denver. 'Citizen Meetings' take place that day and evening at the Denver Theater, pep rallies to whip up fervor and pull in recruits, money, horses and guns from the citizenry. The News reports the theater packed and the crowds frenzied -- never a more 'healthy' energy displayed in town, according to the paper.

Chivington is wildly cheered as he offers $500 for the killing of Indians and their 'sympathizers' or 'confederates' according to two reports of varied tone on page 2 of the Feb 9 RMN.




Both reports say 'put me down for $500.' Wonder if he ever paid off.

Captain S.S. Soule has been provost marshal for about one week.



[RMN, Feb. 9, 1865, p. 2-3.]

'Miscegenation'


[RMN, Feb. 2, 1865, p. 3.]

The Rumor Mill

On Feb. 1, 1865 the RMN pokes fun at Indian rumors, forgetting that many such false rumors were credited by the paper over the previous year.





Also on page three of that issue we find the letter from the former Major Anthony turncoating on Chivington (which prompted the response from 'D.' on Feb. 4), as well as the order marking Soule's stint as provost marshal.



[RMN, Feb. 1, 1865, p. 3.]

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

News to White People: We're on Your Side

But Soule is like the whitest dude in town. He even rode a silver horse. That's seriously white.



[RMN, March 2, 1865, p.3]

"...half breeds, Indian traders and sympathisizers..." Some feel that Sand Creek was not just about wiping out the Indians there but about wiping out a whole way of life that had been established before the gold rush, in which white traders and ranchers on the Santa Fe trail interacted and inter-married with the Indians. That whole situation was disgusting to Byers and Chivington and their Brothers. Actions during the campaign, from the house arrest of Prowers to the murder of Jack Smith, tend to support the view that this unique sector of the regional culture was targeted along with the Indian camp.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Anthony fires first to spite Soule


This tidbit appears in a letter in the Feb. 4, 1865 News attacking Major Anthony's well-known tendency to change his tune back and forth between two seemingly incontrovertible positions. Anthony was the commander at Ft. Lyon after Wynkoop was sent away for jacking up the program. The anonymous writer 'D.' reports that Anthony was the first to fire upon some group of Indians (it's unclear to me which engagement the writer is referring to here, perhaps to the Sand Creek massacre itself), and did so to spite Soule. It seemed strange to some folks when he later spoke against Chiv/Sand Creek as the tide of opinion turned. Anthony is one of those epic bootlickers who doesn't seem to hold any of his own convictions. That made him the man for the job at Ft. Lyon in the fall of '64.

It's true that Soule 'commenced sympathizing' with the Indians. But only after he had 'walked through the fire.' Most of the rest of the officers at Ft. Lyon sympathized with Black Kettle's band as well, and are on record supporting Wynkoop and speaking out against the massacre, although none followed through in quite the same way when the shit was going down.

Maybe somebody knows who this 'D.' is, but I sure don't. It could simply be Byers making stuff up. It could be his co-editor John Dailey, who had enlisted in the 3rd. It might be Downing, whose opinion Byers seemed to value highly. It could also be Dee from What's Happenin for all I know. Later the Daily Mining Journal joked about tweedledum and tweedledee.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Shot at in the suburbs

The Feb. 24 1865 issue of the Journal is important. In it they lay out their opinion about Sand Creek and the subsequent investigation. They would like to emphasize that they think it's mighty fine to kill Indians, but that these particular Indians were unjustly slaughtered, mainly to benefit the careers of Evans and Chivington, and that the massacre set off a costly wave of violence that otherwise would not have occurred. Toward the end of the article they reveal something about Soule's assassination attempt history at this time:



Then on March 2 the RMN offers this curious response on page 3, with page 2 substantially devoted to their opposing view of Sand Creek and the investigation:

Friday, January 1, 2010

The Ponies

The Indian ponies were a primary focus of attention and a major source of controversy. Various factions among the soldiers connived to make off with sizable portions of the captured herd immediately after the massacre, the first attempt foiled by a do-gooder Lieutenant named Hewitt. Some or most of the Indian ponies may have been driven to a ranch north of Denver; many individual ponies were sold off by soldiers to ranchers along the road between Fort Lyon and Denver. (According to one source, one of these ponies went to Hersa Coberly.)

The profoundly bitter Capt. Soule as provost marshall spent a lot of energy trying to round up these horses, ostensibly on behalf of the US government, but mainly I think to deny the hundred days men any material gain from their campaign, which in his mind was illegitimate at the start and disgusting at the end. He was doing whatever he could do within his power. This effort to take back horses would have engendered a lot of resentment, especially as recruiting posters for the 3rd stated that soldiers would be entitled to any property taken from massacred Indians, including horses. That's to say nothing of the horses issued the 3rd before the massacre. The vast majority of those horses had not been returned by this time -- but the men had not been paid yet either.

The Rocky Mountain News, February 25, 1865 offered snidely:



And the ad in question:



[RMN, Feb. 25, 1865, p. 2]