The Beginning Of The End The Indian Peace Commission Of 1867~1868
Oman, Kerry R. (Creator)
In 1867, in an effort to avoid the high costs of war and protect overland transportation routes, Congress passed a bill authorizing a commission to establish peace with the Plains Indians. In less than two years, what proved to be the last major commission sent out by the government to treat with the Indians met and signed treaties with the Kiowa, Comanche, Kiowa-Apache, Northern and Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho, Crow, Navajo, Eastern Shoshone and Bannock, and the Brule, Oglala, Miniconjou, Yanktonai, Hunkpapa, Blackfeet, Cuthead, Two Kettle, Sans Arc, and Santee bands of Lakota Sioux. Their efforts helped end Red Cloud's War upon the Northern Plains, and, as a result of their reports and recommendations, they greatly influenced federal Indian policy. Yet, despite these accomplishments, Congress failed to quickly fulfill the treaty stipulations, and instead of initiating an era of peace, the commission commenced a decade of war and bloodshed throughout the Plains.1 The origins of the Peace Commission can be traced to the early morning hours of 29 November 1864, when the Third Regiment of Colorado Volunteers, led by the reckless Col. John M. Chivington, massacred a friendly band of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians along the banks of Sand Creek in eastern Colorado. As military and newspaper accounts spread concerning the nature of the attack and the horrific mutilation of the bodies that followed, several governmental agencies launched investigations into the incident.2 One such investigation, created by Congress in March 1865, called for a special joint committee, headed by Sen. James R. Doolittle, to inquire into the condition of the Indian tribes and the actions of the civil and military authorities of the United States. The "Doolittle Report," as it came to be called, took nearly two years to complete and contained a mass of documents over 500 pages in length. Among its findings, the committee described in detail the deterioration of the Indians' condition and the ca
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