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Black Kettle was the chief of the Cheyenne tribe in America from the mid-1850s until his
death in 1868. He was a peaceful Native American with a different perspective of the world than
the white man. White men saw the world and the people in it as a place to be conquered, taken,
and owned. Like many Native Americans, Black Kettle did not believe in ownership and
possession of the earth or its animals, he saw it more as a living whole, to be shared, cherished,
and explored. The life of Black Kettle is important to American History because his interactions
with Americans shape the course of history and contributed to the expansion of America. His
belief system and relationship with nature is a concept Americans can learn from to this day. His
interactions with Americans demonstrate the corruption in glorified concepts of America and
Americans. America was seen as a place of freedom where Europeans immigrated to escape
the tyrannical and unfair rule of the British government. However, as soon as these people came
to America they immediately adopted British systems of power, control, and possession. British
immigrants began pushing Native Americans off of land they had been living on and sharing for
centuries. Instead of learning from these people and trying to adopt a new style of living, white
Americans forced the Native people onto tiny reservations and took the land for themselves.
Black Kettle was born in the early 1800s near the Black Hills in South Carolina. When
Black Kettle was about 20 years old, he left his homeland to travel south and become a member
of the Cheyenne tribe. Like many Native American tribes, the Cheyenne people were peaceful,
they lived a nomadic lifestyle and built teepees for shelter as they moved throughout the country.
They were hunter gatherers that killed animals only when necessary for survival.
The Native people of America identified in tribes. Culture and lifestyle was tribal based,
but many Natives held similar beliefs. The earth was a sacred place to many Native Americans.

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The Cheyenne tribe Valued their freedom and relationship with the created world
(Indians.org), they did not wish to conquer, possess or destroy the natural world.
Approximately twenty years after Black Kettle joined the Cheyenne tribe, the tribe signed
the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. This treaty confined the Cheyenne tribe to living and exploring
in western Kansas and Eastern Colorado territories. It was around this time that Black Kettle
became the chief of the Cheyenne tribe. Motavato (legendsofamerica.com), as his friends and
family called him, advocated peace and friendship between his tribe and the white American
men. In the late 1850s, white gold- seekers (nps.gov) began intruding on the land designated to
the Plain Indians, which included the Cheyenne Indians, in the Fort Laramie Treaty. In July of
1858, several Southern Cheyenne chiefs, including Black Kettle, told Agent Robert C. Miller
that they wished to make a new treaty (Historynet.com) that would secure lands where the
Cheyenne people and other Plain Indians could live peacefully. In 1861, Chief Black Kettle
signed the Fort Wise Treaty, hoping the white men would be satisfied with the land they were
given and would seize to take more. This treaty promised the Cheyenne tribe the Sand Creek
reservation. Unfortunately, the white men continued to intrude and take more land reserved for
the Native Americans.
In 1863, Black Kettle and chief Lean Bear met with President Lincoln in Washington
D.C. He presented them with peace medals to wear and papers stating that they were good
friends of the United States (archive.adl.org), however Black Kettle knew this would not stop
Americans from intruding on the reservations.
In 1864, Colonel John Chivington led a surprise attack on Sand Creek
(archive.adl.org). Chief Lean Bear rode up to the militia showing his peace medal and papers
from President Lincoln, but the soldiers shot and killed Lean Bear as soon as he was in range.

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After the first shots were fired, warriors instantly began digging pits for defense. Black Kettle
immediately flew the America flag and white flag, given to him by Major Anthony, above his
teepee as another symbol of peace (thefamouspeople.com). This would also be ignored by the
Americans. Over six hundred people were hiding in the ravines at the beginning of the battle,
many were women and children. The warriors managed to keep the Americans at bay for eight
hours, and four hundred natives were able to flee to safety. Sadly, two hundred Natives were
murdered in what became known as the Sand Creek Massacre, most of the victims being women
and children. The American soldiers did not stop there. They scalped, bashed in the skulls, and
mutilated the corpses of the Natives in disgusting ways. Among those killed was Black Kettles
wife and best friend, but the Chief continued to act with nonviolence. All we ask is that we have
peace with the whites The sky has been dark ever since the war began,
(lastoftheindependents.com) Black Kettle says to Colorado Governor Evans, Colonel Chivington
and other American officials. Although Black Kettle wanted peace, his people were outraged by
this massacre and retaliated by attacking whites for several months.
Black Kettle was determined to come to peaceful terms with the white men, and in
October of 1865, he met with the U.S. government on the Little Arkansas River where he signed
the Little Arkansas Treaty promising peace if the Cheyenne tribe moved south. The treaty denied
the Cheyenne tribe access to Kansas hunting grounds, and left the Cheyenne people on a much
smaller reservation where food was limited. Many of Black Kettles people disagreed with his
decision to sign the treaty and went to join the Northern Cheyenne in Lakota territory
(kawvalley.k12.ks.us). The U.S. government failed to hold up their end of the bargain to supply
the Cheyenne people with the weapons and tools to aid in hunting like they were promised. The
Natives did not have the resources or means necessary to support themselves and they were

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becoming desperate. Black Kettle signed the Treaty of Medicine Lodge in 1867 when the
Cheyenne people were once again promised peace if they gave up their land and moved to a
smaller reservation in Oklahoma. Promises of provisions were not kept by the army and the
government (Manataka.org). The next summer when the U.S. government was still not holding
up their side of the bargain, some Cheyenne people attacked white farmers and settlers, despite
Black Kettle urging for peace. It was becoming winter, and Black Kettle wondered what would
happen to his people without the promised help of the government. Nevertheless, he advocated
for peace between his people and white men.
In November of 1868, an Indian War Campaign was led by George Armstrong.
Armstrong led his militia to Black Kettles camp. Armstrong ignored the fact that the tribe was
peaceful and located on government land. Early in the morning on November 27, he opened fire
on the Cheyenne tribe. Black Kettle was shot dead by American troops. Armstrong bragged in
his report about murdering over one hundred Indians, capturing women and children, and
destroying the camp. Black Kettle and his tribe died at the hands of those he trusted, sought
peace with, and believed in. (Manataka.org). From 1868 to present day, Black Kettles way of
life and course of death is a lesson every American can learn from.
Black Kettles life is important to American History because it shows how unwilling
Americans were to live in amity with the native people of this country. His effort to remain
peaceful with white men was taken advantage of time and time again. All he wanted was for his
people to live in peace and safety, coexisting with the white men, sharing the land. The PostCivil War era was a time that brought hope for racial equality, but this equality would not come
for over a century for African Americans and would never come for Native Americans. The
white men continued to attack Black Kettles tribe, break contracts and build new ones,

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demanding the Indians give up the land guaranteed in earlier treaties and live on smaller and
smaller reservations (doonething.org). The American government failed to provide the
Cheyenne people with the provisions they were promised that were necessary for their survival.
Game was scarce and people were starving, but the U.S. government did not care. Tribes were
forced to assimilate to American society, even though these people were the ones indigenous
to America. If the white men could have stopped running the idea of power, possession, and
wealth through their heads for one moment when speaking to Black Kettle, maybe they would
have learned something extremely valuable, or at least realized how corrupt their concepts of
freedom and the American Dream were. The end of the Civil War did not bring equality like
Lincoln had hoped, instead it brought Native Americans peril, hardships, and no choice but to
give up their cherished relationship with nature.
The noble chief of the southern Cheyenne tribe could have taught the white men a very
important lesson, the notion that nature is not here to be owned, dominated, and oppressed. This
includes land, animals, and other humans. From 1776 to this day, Americans pride themselves on
the idea of freedom and living in a free country, yet from the 1850s into the 1900s, they
prided themselves on oppressing Native Americans and African Americans. Military leaders
boasted about slaughtering hundreds of Natives and then mutilating their bodies further.
Although Black Kettle was only one of the millions of Natives killed by whites, he is important
to American history because of his interaction with the American government and white settlers.
He personally signed treaties with the American Government and continually kept his word
while the white men continually did not. This is a significant part in the establishment of
America and possessing ownership of all the land in this country. If Black Kettle, and other tribes
like his, had not peacefully and willingly given up access to land they once roamed free and

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accepted the continuous downsize in reservation area, the history of America may be written a
little differently.

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Works Cited
Weiser, Kathy. "Chief Black Kettle- A Peaceful Leader." LegendsofAmerica.com. Legends of
America, Sept. 2012. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
United States. National Park Service. "Biography of Black Kettle." National Parks Service. U.S.
Department of the Interior, 28 Oct. 2015. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
Staff, Historynet. "Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle." Historynet.com. Historynet, 25 July 2006.
Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
"Black Kettle - Cheyenne Chief at the Sand Creek Massacre." Lastoftheindependents.com. Last
of the Independents, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2015
"Black Kettle, Cheyenne Chief." Archive.adl.org. Anti- Defamation League, 2005. Web. 25 Oct.
2015.
Eyes, Dancing. "Chief Black Kettle." Manataka.org. Linda Wommack, 2000. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
"Black Kettle Biography." TheFamousPeople.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
"Chief Black Kettle." Doonething.org. The Emily Fund, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
Martinek, Katelyn. "The Life of Black Kettle." Kawvalley.k12.ks.us. N.p., 2002. Web. 25 Oct.
2015.
"Cheyenne Tribe." Indians.org. American Indian Heritage Foundation, 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.