The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1905-11-23

One of the battles which occurred
during the period of the civil war, and
about which little has been said or writ
ten, is known as THE Sand Creek AZ
fair This was a fight between United
States troops and Indians, and not a
massacre of the red men, as has been
enormously stated by some persons. 1t
occurred Nov. 81, 1864, in what was
known as the Sand Creek region of
Colorado.
: An account of the fight has been pre-
pared for The National Tribune by
Comrade Cornelius j. Ballou, of the Sol
dierS' Home at MonteviSta, Colo, who
was participant in the battle and is
today cripple as result of wounds
he received in that action. Comrade
Ballou was at the time a member of the
1st Colo. Cav. and while charging the
Indians succeeded in stopping two of
their arrows. one of which pierced his
right kidney. Comrade Ballou is a
typical Western fighter, and says he
drove three yokes of bulls into the
then town of Denver. Colo, on May
Is, 1859. AT that time Denver was
little more than a struggling village.
In September, 1861, he enlisted in
the 1st Colo. Cav. In 1854 all the
plains Indians. including the Sioux,
Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kiowas and
Comanches, went on the war path. They
were led by white renegades, cut
threats and outlaws, some of whom
claimed to sympathiZe with the South
and some with the North. But Com
rade Ballou says they were all in it
for what booty and plumber they could
secure. The year 1854 in that section
was marked by murder, rapine and
plundering, committed by these In
dams and their white allies with the
cooperation of the partly-educated
halfbreeds
Young Jack Smith, a halfbreed, had
c. hot
Spring, and Immediately went on the
war path as the leader of a band of
Cheyennes. His father, old Jack Smith,
a white man, had lived with the In
dams a great many years, and had ac-
CURED considerable wealth trading with
them.
During 1854 the Indians had pretty
much their own way on all roads lead
ing to the Missouri River, the Platte,
the Smoky Hill and the Arkansas. They
did not miss an opportunity to attack
and capture small outfits of emigrants.
They scalped and mutilated men, wOm-
en- and children of all ages. The edu-
Gated halfbreeds had imbibed much of
the military spirit, and the bands they
led carried their respective flags. When
a train was captured the leader of the
band capturing it rode forward and
planted his flag at it's head as a token
that the outfit was their particular
prize.
Martial law reigned at Denver at that
time, and no train that had an es-
cort of less than so well-armed men
was permitted to leave that city, and
then, too, the armed men had to be or
ganized and the Captain received his
commission from the Provost-Marshal
Scores of trains were captured and
many ranches taken by the redskins
and the people barbarously slain. In
the Summer of 1865 three to five men,
bers Of Comrade Ballou's company were
detailed to guard the stage stations be-
tween Camp Collins and Fort Halleck.
Serg't Cooley, with an escort of 10 men
and two wagons loaded with provisions
to distribute between the guards at the
different stations. was attacked. Serg't
Cooley was killed at the first fire and a
number of the men wounded One Of
the guards, named Davis, who was
driving team, was captured alive. He
was stripped, scalped and chained by
the ankles to the forewheel of his wag-
on and burned to crisp.
In the latter part of 1864 a man
named Perkins galloped his horse into
our camp one night and reported that
the Indians had captured the American
Ranch and burned all the buildings. He
said the few whites had been fighting