John Milton Chivington
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Colonel John Chivington was celebrated as the hero of the 1862 Battle
of Glorieta Pass and later became infamous for his role in the 1864
Sand Creek Massacre.
1821-1892
Chivington was born in Lebanon, Ohio. Drawn to Methodism, Chivington
decided to become a minister and was ordained in 1844. During 1853,
he worked in a Methodist missionary expedition to the Wyandot people
in Kansas. Because of his outspoken hatred of slavery, Chivington
received a threatening letter from pro-slavery members in his
congregation in 1856. As a result the Methodist Church transferred
Chivington to a parish in Omaha, Nebraska.
In 1860 Chivington moved with his family to Denver, Colorado, having
been made the presiding elder of the Rocky Mountain District of the
Methodist Church. In 1861 he received a commission as a Major in the
1st Colorado Volunteers under Colonel John P. Slough. His heroics as
the Battle of Glorietta Pass in the New Mexico Territory earned him
great praise and he was appointed colonel of regiment in April 1862.
In November, 1862 he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers
but the appointment was withdrawn in February, 1863.
After stemming the Confederate advance, his unit was increasingly
deployed against Native Americans in the conflicts that erupted on
the Colorado Eastern Plains during the U.S. Civil War. In November
1864 he led the 1st Colorado Cavalry into southeastern Colorado from
Bent's Fort to supervise the movement of Arapaho and Cheyenne bands
under Black Kettle that were in the process of relocating from their
previous reservation along the Arkansas River to a new reservation in
Indian territory in present-day Oklahoma. The events during the
expedition remain a controversial topic to this day because of the
brutality of the raid by Chivington's troops against largely unarmed
Native Americans along Sand Creek.
While many of Chivington's men were fiercely loyal, one of his
captains, Silas Soule refused Chivington's orders to attack a
Cheyenne settlement at Sand Creek. Soule, believing the Indians to be
peaceful, commanded his men to hold their fire. Chivington's forces,
however, committed atrocities against women and children.
Chivington declared that his forces had fought a battle with hostile
Indians and the action was initially celebrated as a victory, with
some soldiers displaying Indian body parts as trophies. However, the
testimony of Soule and his men forced an investigation into the
incident, which concluded that Chivington had acted wrongly.
Soule and some of the men that he commanded testified against
Chivington at his Army court martial. Chivington denounced Soule as a
coward, and Soule was later murdered by a soldier who had been under
Chivington's command at Sand Creek. Some believed Chivington may have
been involved.
Chivington was condemned for his part in the massacre, but the
general post-Civil War amnesty meant that criminal charges could not
be filed against him. However, an Army judge publicly stated that
Sand Creek was "a cowardly and cold-blooded slaughter, sufficient to
cover its perpetrators with indelible infamy, and the face of every
American with shame and indignation." Public outrage at the brutality
of the massacre, which included the mutilation of corpses, was
intense and it may have convinced the U.S. Congress to later reject
the idea of a general war against the Indians of the midwest.
Although not punishable Chivington was forced to resign from the
Colorado militia. Public outrage forced him to withdraw from politics
and kept him out of Colorado's campaign for statehood. In 1865 he
moved back to Nebraska and became an unsuccessful freight hauler.
After living briefly in California Chivington returned to Ohio to
farm, later becoming editor of a local newspaper. In 1883 he
campaigned for a seat in the Ohio legislature, but when his opponents
drew attention to the Sand Creek massacre he was forced to withdraw.
He then returned to Denver where he worked as a deputy sheriff until
shortly before his death from cancer in 1892.
In 1887, the town of Chivington, Colorado was established and named
after John Chivington, as a railroad town on the Missouri Pacific
Railroad line, fairly close to the massacre site. It was deserted
during the dust bowl days of the 1920's & 1930's, some buildings
still remain.
