page_title: Chipeta
section_title: Ute leader and wise woman
hierarchical_section_title: Chipeta / Ute leader and wise woman
caption_attribution_description: English: In 1880, Chief Ouray and other Utes traveled to Washington. D.C. to negotiate a treaty that would result in the removal of the White River and Tabeguache Utes from Colorado to the Uintah Basin in present day Utah. Chief Ouray died at age 47 shortly after this trip. Seated from left to right: Chief Ignacio of the Southern Utes, Carl Shurz, Secretary of the Interior, Chief Ouray and his wife, Chipeta. Standing are Woretsiz and General Charles Adams. This photo was shot in Washington, D.C. in 1880 when a delegation of Ute Indians traveled to Washington to negotiate a treaty with the U.S. government.
context_page_description: Chipeta or White Singing Bird was a Native American woman, and the second wife of Chief Ouray of the Uncompahgre Ute tribe. Born a Kiowa Apache, she was raised by the Utes in what is now Conejos, Colorado. An advisor and confidant of her husband, Chipeta continued as a leader of her people after his death in 1880.
  She was an Indian rights advocate and diplomat. She used diplomacy to try to achieve peace with the white settlers in Colorado and in 1985, Chipeta was inducted into Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.
context_section_description: Chipeta sought to live peacefully with the white settlers in Colorado. Tensions were rising as the settlers drove off game the Utes needed to survive. In addition, the government, through the White River Indian Agency, was pressing the Utes to take up farming, give up racing their horses, and convert to Christianity. The Ute resentment boiled up in an uprising in September 1879, marked by the Meeker Massacre at the Agency, where the Utes killed 11 white men and took three women and two children captive. In a related battle at Milk Creek, the Utes pinned down forces from Fort Steele for several days before reinforcements arrived.
  The Uncompahgre did not take part in the uprising.  General Charles Adams, a former US Indian agent, negotiated release of the captives. One of the captives was Josephine Meeker, adult daughter of the late Indian agent Nathan Meeker. The captives were brought to Chipeta and Ouray's home after their release. Adams held an inquiry into the events in Colorado.
  On January 7, 1880, Chipeta and Chief Ouray led a delegation of Utes to Washington, DC to negotiate a treaty regarding reservation resettlement.  They also had been asked to testify before a congressional inquiry into the Ute uprising. As Chipeta and the other Utes attempted to board a train at Alamosa, they were almost lynched by an angry mob of white people, who believed them associated with the Meeker Massacre.
  On March 7, 1880, Chipeta was welcomed as a delegate by Secretary of Interior Carl Schurz at the US Capitol. She testified before a Congressional inquiry into the Meeker Massacre. At the hearing, she took the witness stand and answered, through an interpreter, the 10 questions put to her.
  The Utes ratified a treaty with the US government; however, they were forced to leave Colorado and resettle on a reservation in Utah. Both the White River and Uncompahgre Utes were forced out.  Following passage of the Ute Removal Act of 1880, Chipeta and other Utes were removed to the Uintah Indian Reservation in Utah. Chief Ouray died in Ignacio, Colorado earlier that year. After his death, the reservation was renamed to honor him.  Chipeta continued as a leader of the Utes and was highly respected as a wise woman.
caption: Ute delegation in Washington, D.C. in 1880. Chipeta is seated in the front row beside her husband.
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