RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Saturday, November, 29 2014, officially marked the 150 Anniversary of one of the most tragic and sad events in the American experience namely, the wanton and wholesale massacre of a peaceful encampment of Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes wintering at Sand Creek, Colorado Territory; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago City Council has been informed of this milestone by Alderman Edward M. Burke; and
WHEREAS, This atrocity was carried out against an estimated 150-200 peaceable Native Americans, of whom at least two-thirds were women and children, by volunteer cavalrymen from the Third Colorado Cavalry Regiment under the command of Colonel John Chivington; and
WHEREAS, The Native encampment had placed themselves under the protection of the military garrison at Fort Lyon on the Arkansas River and had previously agreed to do so under the direction and authority of Territorial Governor John Evans; and
WHEREAS, Upon reaching Fort Lyon, Colonel Chivington was informed that the Sand Creek inhabitants were protected by the garrison and posed no threat to the safety and well-being ofthe Territory or its settlers, but nevertheless chose to embark upon this genocidal mission; and
WHEREAS, With his ranks bolstered to 700 troopers with the addition of First Regiment Cavalry was unaware of the details ofthe mission, Colonel Chivington disregarded protests, and set out for the encampment; and
WHEREAS, The resulting slaughter and attending depravities stirred national outrage that prompted the Chicago Tribune to describe it as "an act of hideous cruelty garnished with all the accessories of fraud, treachery and bestiality;" and
WHEREAS, The question of culpability arose during the official inquiry and Governor Evans, a philanthropist and founder of Northwestern University in the Chicago suburb of Evanston that bears his name, and the University of Denver, disavowed personal responsibility as he was in Washington D.C. on official business at the lime of the massacre; and
WHEREAS, U...
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