In giving so much space to a defense of the battle of Sand Creek, I am impelled by an earnest desire to correct the false impression that has gone forth concerning that much maligned affair. Statements of prejudiced and unreliable witnesses concerning the battle were sent broadcast at the time, but except through government reports, that only few read, never before, to my knowledge, has publicity been given to the statement of the Governor of the Territory, telling of the conditions leading up to the battle, or to the sworn testimony of the colonel in command at the engagement, or of the officer in command of the fort near which it was fought. That the battle of Sand Creek was not the reprehensible affair which vindictive persons have represented it to be, I believe is conclusively proven by the evidence which I present. I. H. COLORADO SPRINGS, November 1, 1913. The Indians of the Pike's Peak Region CHAPTER I THE TRIBES OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION It would be interesting to know who were the occupants of the Pike's Peak region during prehistoric times. Were its inhabitants always nomadic Indians? We know that semi-civilized peoples inhabited southwestern Colorado and New Mexico in prehistoric times, who undoubtedly had lived there ages before they were driven into cliff dwellings and communal houses by savage invaders. Did their frontier settlements of that period ever extend into the Pike's Peak region? The facts concerning these matters, we may never know. As it is, the earliest definite information we have concerning the occupants of this region dates from the Spanish exploring expeditions, but even that is very meager. From this and other sources, we know that a succession of Indian tribes moved southward along the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains during the two hundred years before the coming of the white settler, and that during this period, the principal tribes occupying this region were the Utes, Comanches, Kiowas, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and Sioux; and, further, that there were other tribes such as the Pawnees and Jicarilla Apaches, who frequently visited and hunted in this region. The Jicarilla Apaches are of the Athapascan stock, a widely distributed linguistic family, which includes among its branches the Navajos, the Mescalaros of New Mexico, and the Apaches of Arizona. Notwithstanding the fact that they were kindred people, the Jicarillas considered the latter tribes their enemies. However, they always maintained friendly relations with the Utes, and the Pueblos of northern New Mexico, and intermarriages between members of these tribes were of frequent occurrence. The mother of Ouray, the noted Ute chief, was a Jicarilla Apache.