USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The causes of the Sand Creek massacre were rooted in the long conflict for control of the Great Plains of eastern Colorado. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 guaranteed ownership of the area north of the Arkansas River to the Nebraska border to the Cheyenne and Arapahoe.

Detailed explanation-2: -In 1864, the U. S. Army carried out a surprise attack on a non-combatant encampment of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians along the Big Sandy Creek in southeastern Colorado, killing about 160 men, women, and children, including elderly or infirm.

Detailed explanation-3: -After finishing the massacre in the creek bed, the troops hunted for anyone who had escaped, then scalped and mutilated the bodies of the dead Indians, and destroyed the village. In all, roughly 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho died in the massacre.

Detailed explanation-4: -Sand Creek Massacre, also called Chivington Massacre, (November 29, 1864), controversial surprise attack upon a camp of Cheyenneand Arapaho people in southeastern Colorado Territory by a force of about 675 U.S. troops, mostly Colorado volunteers, under Col. John M. Chivington.