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]