THE MEEKER MASSACRE AND THE BATTLE OF
MILK CREEK
The rush to
Colorado began in the turbulent days of the Kansas-Nebraska Territory
preceding the Civil War. After finding gold at Cherry Creek (present day
Denver) miners moved on to establish the
legendary mining towns of Central City and Blackhawk.
In the 1870’s during
the economic depression following the Civil War, white miners and
settlers in covered wagons, on horseback, and on foot, encouraged by the
Homestead Act, and
drawn by news of mineral wealth, again followed the long trails to gold
in the Colorado mountains. By now the Union Pacific Railroad was
completed and others were penetrating the Front Range of Colorado.
Miners rushed west
over the high passes where they created other legendary mining towns in
the areas of Summit County, Leadville and Silverton. These mining
successes heavily penetrated Ute territory. The Ute Indians, who
considered the whole of Colorado their home for generations, resented
their diminishing hunting ground and the white men resented and
distrusted the Indian.
Colorado Statehood
came in 1876. Newspapers of the day demanded the removal of Utes off of
land that could be mined, farmed or ranched. The attitude of many
Coloradans, at the time, was, “The only good Ute was a dead Ute”.
Into this mix of
tensions was injected Nathan C. Meeker who sought and was appointed
Indian Agent at the White River Indian Reserve in 1878. His actions were
to precipitate a cultural and military explosion.
Meeker was an
idealist who owned a store in Ohio and he was also a newspaper farming
reporter. Later Meeker moved to New York City where he worked for
Horace Greeley on the New York Tribune. Meeker asked Greeley for his
help in starting a utopian colony. They conceived of the Union Colony
(present day Greeley, Colorado) which was to be located in the eastern
foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Though the project was ultimately a
success, Meeker believed he had failed and that he owed Greeley’s heirs
money. He managed to obtain the job as Indian Agent at the White River
Ute Reserve (Reservation) in an effort to pay off the debt. His contact
with Indians had been minimal and when he finally did meet the Ute
people he did not listen to his wards, nor was he sensitive to their
long established cultural patterns.
Meeker, unwisely, in
retrospect, brought his wife Arvilla, daughter Josephine, his young
master farmer, Shadrach Price, Flora Ellen Price and their two children
Johnny and May plus other working men from the Union Colony to help set
up the agency and begin the farming at Powell Park.
He had moved the
agency 11 miles down the White River to Powell Park which is three miles
west of present day Meeker. Both the move and Meeker’s ideas were
unpopular with the Indians since they pastured their large herds of
ponies in the lush meadows of Powell Park and proved their worth by
racing their ponies and hunting for their families; just as the Ute
women job was to gather native plants, do some gardening, feed their
families and move their camp.
At the time, White
River Ute leaders were Johnson (Canalla or Canavish), Douglas (Quinkent),
Colorow, a Comanche and Jack (Nicaagat), who was leader of the younger
men. Chief Ouray, famous as the government appointed leader and chief
of all the Ute tribes in Colorado, believed in ultimate peace and
compromise with the Federal Government; a belief based on his visit to
Washington D.C. after the Civil War and his having viewed 200,000
American troops camped around Washington. Ouray was, in fact, only
leader of the Uncompahgre Ute Tribe near present day Delta. His views
of coexistence were not accepted by many other Ute tribal leaders,
although they tried to avoid arguing with him as he was both intelligent
and tough.
To gain some
understanding of Meeker’s problems would involve knowing that at the
time Meeker was appointed, the Bureau of Indian Affairs adapted a strict
policy that included the provision that if adult Indian males did not
participate in agricultural efforts, their food, given to them by the
government, would be withheld. The Utes did not believe Meeker as they
knew this mandate was not in their treaty. There began a complete lack
of trust on the part of the White River Utes who believed Meeker was
not telling the truth regarding such policies. Although, Meeker induced
the Indians to help his men build an irrigation ditch, which is still
being used in Powell Park today; this did not mean the Utes wanted to
farm, furthermore it has been related that Meeker paid the Utes for this
work.
Meeker’s imperative
was to teach the Utes to become self-sufficient farmers. When the Utes
would not stay on the reservation and farm, but instead continued
following their age old lifestyle of extended hunts, Meeker tried to get
them to stay on the reservation and work; at first in a kindly way and
as that failed he applied more pressure.
He threatened to
have the troops from Ft. Fred Steele at Rawlins, Wyoming come put the
Utes in chains and take them away to the Indian Territories in Oklahoma.
A threat he did not have the authority to make. The Utes did not
believe that he had the authority to do this and Meeker was widely
accused of lying to them in this regard.
The newly formed
State of Colorado and the Federal Government did not have coordination
regarding the situation at the White River Agency. Meeker had advised
the Major Tipton Thornburg, at Fort Steele, and the Bureau of Indian
Affairs that he would need military presence to achieve the policy of
strict agriculture work. His request was ignored. However, the
citizens of northwest Colorado, when requested from the state, received
military support from US Army units headquartered at Ft. Garland. These
soldiers reported to a different chain of command from those at Fort
Steele where Agent Meeker, by policy, sought support.
Citizens from around
Beyer’s Canyon near present day Kremmling, Colorado complained of the
White River Utes being off the reserve and causing problems. Meeker
asked Major Thornburg, commandant of Ft. Fred Steele, to investigate and
Thornburg found little cause to be alarmed. However, it must be noted
that Thornburg in a letter to Gen. George Crook, commander of the Dept.
of the Platte at Omaha Barracks stated he had never received any orders,
from his superior, to cause the Indians to remain on the reservation at
the request of the agent, but that he was ready to send his men if
ordered to do so.
The Governor of
Colorado asked for military presence from Fort Garland. At his request
a cavalry unit of Buffalo Soldiers, under Captain Dodge, were stationed
at Troublesome Creek, east of present day Kremmling, Colorado; in the
summer of 1879.
In
the late summer of 1879, the situation began to come unraveled. Meeker,
believing the ponies to be the major problem had conceived the idea of
plowing up the Ute racetrack. At this point there is a lot of
conjecture about what happened that precipitated the following events.
One story is that upon hearing about his idea Jane, Arvilla’s
housekeeper, confronted him about plowing up her land. The frustrated
Meeker argued with her and told her that the land did not belong to the
Utes and they could lose it if they didn’t obey him, which, of course,
he realized, immediately, had been a serious mistake. Another story
relates that Jane turned her back and
walked away, which was frustrating to the agent. Yet another account,
according to Josie Meeker, Mr. Meeker built Jane a house and dug her
well in compensation for the land. Whichever is true, Shaman Johnson
came to Meeker furious about Meeker’s statement to Jane and/or the
plowing of the racetrack; the two argued. Some stories related that
Meeker, told Johnson he would need to kill half the ponies, while he,
Meeker, would have Shadrach Price plow up the Indian race track. The
fact is Meeker did indeed have Mr. Price start plowing until one of the
Indians shot over his head. Another version is that Johnson and Meeker
started arguing about the irrigation ditch, the plowing and the ponies;
whatever the argument was about; there was shouting, according to
Meeker’s wife Arvilla’s account, but she made no mention of Meeker being
accosted. Meeker said Johnson shoved him against the wall of the agency
and then over the hitching rail, where he sustained injury. The Ute
Indians say this never happened. This argument appears to be the final
insult as far as the Indians were concerned, as their ponies were their
wealth and they believed the reservation was theirs.
The
Utes, were further upset because Meeker sent a telegram to Washington
D.C. and they could not get Meeker to tell them the content of the
message.
Meeker’s telegram read, “I HAVE
BEEN ASSULTED BY LEADING CHIEF, JOHNSON, FORCED OUT OF MY HOUSE AND
INJURED BADLY, BUT WAS RESCUED BY EMPLOYEES. IT IS NOW REVEALED THAT
JOHNSON ORIGINATED ALL THE TROUBLE STATED IN LETTER SEPT. 8. HIS SON
SHOT AT PLOWMAN AND OPPOSITION TO PLOWING IS WIDE, PLOWING STOPS: LIFE
OF SELF, FAMILY AND EMPLOYEES NOT SAFE: WANT PROTECTION IMMEDIATELY:
HAVE ASKED GOVERNOR PITKIN TO CONFER WITH GENERAL POPE. N. C. MEEKER,
INDIAN AGENT.
Employee,
Fred Shepard, had written a letter to his mother, which had been picked
up just before the outbreak of hostilities which said, “IN REGARDS TO MY
GETTING OUT OF HERE SOON, I HAVE NOT FELT AS IF I WAS IN ANY DANGER SO
FAR AS MY LIFE IS CONCERNED SINCE I HAVE BEEN HERE ANY MORE THAN EVER I
DID IN YOUR DOOR-YARD. I DON’T BLAME THE UTE FOR NOT WANTING HIS GROUND
PLOWED UP. IT IS A SPLENDID PLACE FOR PONIES AND THERE IS BETTER
FARMING LAND, AND JUST AS NEAR, RIGHT WEST OF THIS FIELD, BUT IT IS
COVERED IN SAGE BRUSH. DOUGLAS SAYS HE WILL HAVE THE BOYS (The Ute
Indians) CLEAR THE SAGE BRUSH IF N. C. (Nathan Cook Meeker)
WILL ONLY LET THE GRASS ALONE. BUT, N. C. IS STUBBORN AND WON’T HAVE IT
THAT WAY AND WANTS THE SOLDIERS TO CARRY OUT HIS PLANS. DON’T KNOW HOW
IT WILL TURN OUT, BUT YOU CAN BET IF THEY TOUCH ANYBODY IT WILL BE THE
AGENT FIRST.” (Mr. Shepard died in the conflict).
The
subsequent action of the government in sending Major Thornburg and his
troops from Ft. Steele only upset the Indians further, as they did not
want soldiers on their reservation. The soldiers did not want to be on
the reservation anymore than the Indians wanted them there; after all,
this was after the Little Big Horn and the Sand Creek Massacre; but
orders were orders.
Jack and some of
his men met Thornburg at Fortification Creek and asked what he was going
to do. All Thornburg could tell them was that he had to assess the
situation before he could answer. Jack again met Thornburg at near
Peck’s Trading Post (at present Craig, Colorado) and Thornburg,
when pressed for information, could only give the same answer. Around
this time the Utes started having war dances in the evening at the
agency.
Meeker had
certainly been right when he asked Thornburg to investigate and even
close Peck’s Trading Post because as there was little or no coordination
between the Indian Service and the military; no one was policing Peck’s
store where Jack bought 10,000 rounds of ammunition for rifles better
than those carried by the U.S. Army. Jack bought these at the same time
the soldiers were camped on the Yampa River, in the same valley as
Peck’s Trading Post. Thornburg
unwisely had not shown interest in Meeker’s request when it was made to
him earlier in the summer. Meeker just as unwisely refused to meet
Thornburg at edge of the reservation, but in that desperate day, history
records him to have said that to leave the Powell Park site would have
left it to likely looting by the Indians.
On
September 29, 1879 an unfortunate meeting between soldiers and the Utes
at the crest of a ridge just after they crossed Milk Creek into the
reservation was sparked into a battle by a single gun shot; by which
group is unknown. Major Thornburg was killed while the soldiers were
fighting their way back to the circling mule wagons near Milk River
(Creek). Trenches were hurriedly dug and the soldiers were then
pinned down. The Indians were killing horses to keep the soldiers from
getting away and the soldiers were piling those dead horses between
themselves and the bullets. Theirs was a harrowing tale for the men and
for the help who arrived in the form of Captain Dodge and his few
buffalo soldiers, days later.
When the Buffalo
Soldiers arrived they walked their horses through the Indians and
brought more food and ammunition to the entrenched soldiers. It is
speculated that he reason for their being able to come in so easily was
because they were about the same size as a forward scouting party and
the Indians were probably checking to see if there were more troops
behind them. Among the Buffalo Soldiers was Sgt. Johnson who took the
dangerous task of getting water from Milk Creek. Sgt. Johnson is the
first black man to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. There were
11 men in that company who received Medals of Honor for saving each
others lives.
Joe Rankin, the
scout, left the circle of wagons in the night and rode an epic 158.7
miles north to Fort Steel in twenty eight and a half hours; only
changing horses twice! He was carrying a message from Capt. Payne which
included this statement, “....AFTER A DESPERATE FIGHT SINCE 12:00 N.
WE HOLD OUR POSITION AT THIS HOUR”. These men were truly in a
terrible position and worked hard to keep each other alive. Col. Wesley
Merritt from Fort D.A. Russell gathered troops by train and started
south to come to the rescue. His march was such that it was used as an
example for years to come at West Point.
On the same day as
the battle the Utes had attacked the agency. Meeker ignored warnings
from Tom and Billy Morgan, ranchers who raced horses with the Utes, and
warnings from the Indians themselves; Meeker had signed a death warrant
for the 11 men at the agency including himself. The Ute burning of the
agency, and the capture of the women and children was also an
excruciating travail. It is assumed that it was Ouray’s sister, Susan
who sent a rider to Ouray to get help.
Chipeta, Ouray’s
wife, sent riders to find Ouray who was hunting on Grand Mesa and sent
the news to the Los Pinos Agency. Ouray, in turn, sent Mr. Joseph W.
Brady to Colorow and Jack at Milk Creek to stop them from fighting. On
October 8, Brady got there right at the time Merritt and his troops
arrived to rescue the trapped men. Merritt sent the men back to their
various forts and then rested at Milk Creek where he built up his troops
to over a thousand men.
A week later,
Merritt went over Yellow Jacket Pass and into Powell Park for the first
time. Needless to say, the White River Agency was a smoldering ruin and
the men’s bodies were still on the ground. Merritt and his men buried
the men and then were ordered not to chase the Indians any further, but
to stay in the vicinity.
Interior Secretary
Schurz had Merritt stop at Powell Park instead of pursuing the fleeing
Utes and at the same time set “General” Adams, a special Agent of the
Secretary, the task of rescuing the captives. Adams two companions
were Captain Cline, who had served as scout for the Army of the Potomac
and Mr. Sherman, Chief Clerk of the Los Pinos Agency. The White River
Utes were not happy about giving up the women and kept Adams in debate
until Susan broke into the tent and convinced the braves their safest
path was to send the captives home. Mrs. Meeker said, “We owe much to
the wife of Johnson. She is Ouray’s sister and like him she has a kind
heart.” The women were finally freed after 23 days of harrowing
captivity.
Col. Merrit (later
General Merrit) and his men spent the winter of 1879-1880 in tents and
built the cantonment (a temporary camp), at the site were Meeker now
stands, in the spring of 1880. The camp was called “Camp on the White
River”.
The log buildings
which now house the White River Museum and one private dwelling were the
officer’s quarters, housing two officer’s families in each building.
The area where the Rio Blanco County Courthouse and the Meeker
Elementary School now stand was the parade ground. Across the parade
ground facing the log buildings were the soldier’s adobe barracks which
is now the downtown portion of the town. Take note of the long narrow
buildings such as the Meeker Drug Store as it is on the land of one of
those long narrow barracks.
The extensive
collection, in the White River Museum, has been donated over a number of
years by the people who pioneered this valley after the Utes were
removed to Utah following Ouray’s death. The rest of the collection in
the other museum building, called The Garrison, has also been donated
and pertains to artifacts about the Milk Creek Battle and the Meeker
Massacre.
