Wayside: A Chief's Village

An interpretive sign on the hill overlooking the Big Sandy Creek

NPS Photo - Teri Jobe

Quick Facts

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Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Chief’s Village at Sand Creek

The Cheyenne and Arapaho Village at Sand Creek was a Chief’s village with 33 chiefs and headmen present. To be a chief in the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes is to undertake
a responsibility so vast only the greatest and most morally restrained are considered. Chiefs were advised above all else to be peace makers. The Chiefs gathered here believed they
brought their people to a place of safety. 

Several of the lodges display flags – gifts from American envoys, who desired peace with the Cheyenne and Arapaho in 1860. On the morning of November 29, 1864, as soldiers
approached the village and fear spread through the camps, Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle tied a white flag of truce beneath his American flag and held it aloft – a sign that those gathered here were peaceful. Despite this gesture, the soldiers opened
fire. 

Many Chiefs were killed at Sand Creek, some of whom include Yellow Wolf, Little Robe Sr., White Antelope, Big Man, Two Thighs, Lone Bear (One Eye), Warbonnet, Niwot (Left Hand),
and Bear Robe. Some of the chiefs who survived the massacre include Black Kettle, Whirlwind, Seven Bulls, Sandhill and Little Wolf (Big Jake).