The Indians of the Pike's Peak Region: Including an Account of the Battle of Sand Creek, and of Occurrences in El Paso County, Colorado, during the War with the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, in 1864 and 1868Howbert, Irving
History
The Indians of the Pike's Peak Region: Including an Account of the Battle of Sand Creek, and of Occurrences in El Paso County, Colorado, during the War with the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, in 1864 and 1868
Howbert, Irving
El Paso County, Colo. -- History; Indians of North America -- Colorado; Sand Creek Massacre, Colo., 1864
Hartsell estimated that there were about seventy Indians in the band, all
of whom were fully armed and amply supplied with ammunition. The savages
told him of their victory over the Utes, showed him the scalps they had
taken, and the boy they had captured. Finally, after keeping Hartsell
in suspense for more than three hours, the Indians allowed him to go
without injury, and then departed eastward in the direction of Colorado
City. The people of Colorado City and its vicinity knew nothing of this
occurrence until some time afterwards. Notwithstanding the assurance of
the Governor and the Indian agents, the settlers continued to be very much
alarmed at the presence of the savages, and knowing their treacherous
nature, maintained a sharp lookout in order to prevent being attacked
unawares. About eleven o'clock in the morning three or four days after
the savages disappeared up Ute Pass, three Indians appeared at H. M.
Teachout's ranch on Monument Creek, eight miles northeast of Colorado
City. They claimed to be friendly Utes, but Teachout, being familiar
with the Indian tribes of the region, knew that they were not Utes.
After staying five or ten minutes, during which time they seemed to be
intent on taking in the surroundings, and especially the corral where
Teachout's large herd of horses was kept at night, they left, following
the main road towards Colorado City. Mr. Teachout and his brother, who
lived on the Divide, owned about one hundred and fifty horses, all of
which were kept at this Monument Creek ranch.
After the Indians had disappeared, Teachout, being alarmed, rounded up
his horses and drove them into the corral, where he kept them during the
daytime thereafter, letting them out to graze only at night, thinking
that the safest plan. Apparently, the Indians, having obtained all the
information they desired concerning the settlements around Colorado City,
disappeared, and a day or two later were heard of raiding the frontier
settlements east of Bijou Basin and on the headwaters of Kiowa, Bijou,
and Running creeks, during which raid they killed several people and
ran off much stock.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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