Black Kettle: The Cheyenne Chief Who Sought Peace But Found War

by Thom Hatch

The Compelling, Tragic Story of a Great Cheyenne Chief

As white settlers poured into the west during the nineteenth century, many famous Indian chiefs fought to stop them, including Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Geronimo. But one great Cheyenne chief, Black Kettle, understood that the whites could not be stopped. To save his people, he worked unceasingly to establish peace and avoid bloodshed. Yet despite his heroic efforts, the Cheyennes were repeatedly betrayed and would become the victims of two notorious massacres, the second of which cost Black Kettle his life. In this first biography of black Kettle, historian Thom Hatch at last gives us the full story of this illustrious Native American leader, offering an unforgettable portrait of a chief who sought peace but found war.

Praise For Thom Hatch

The Blue, the Gray, and the Red

"Clear and even-handed. . . . This popular history recounts grim, bloody, lesser-known events of the Civil War. . . . The slaughter of Black Kettle's Cheyennes at Sand Creek . . . forms a devastating chapter."
-Publishers Weekly

The Custer Companion

"Highly recommended . . . a reliable and impartial guide to the subject and literature."
-Library Journal

Custer and the Battle of Little Bighorn

"A work that is readable by itself, meticulously researched and clearly written."
-The Tulsa World

Genres: Biography, Native American, American, History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Josephine Burks · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me some time to finally finish reading this book. I purposely spread out the time, as the content of the book is tragic. I was left feeling a lot of rage, anger, sadness and complete disgust mixed with shock at how Black Kettle and his tribe were treated at the hands of the white man. Although it's a sad book, it is one that is important and needs to be told and studied to fully comprehend America's dark and troubled history with Native American people. A must read for all.

[Barney · Rating 3 out of 5]

"We have been travelling through a cloud. The sky has been dark ever since the war began." - Black Kettle

Black Kettle was a Cheyenne Chief, part of the Cheyenne Peace Council of 44 chiefs, who lived through the 1800s as white settlers began to overwhelm the Cheyenne traditional homelands.

He was a key advocate of peace, realizing the power of the U.S. Army and the sheer numbers of white settlers was overwhelming, and that the Cheyenne had to make peace if they wished to survive. Sadly, he - along with his tribe - were betrayed on countless occasions, subjected to the ravages of murderous and sadistic army generals, and swindled out of land by Colorado and U.S. officials alike. The Sandy Creek Massacre, of which I knew nothing about prior to reading this book, is honestly sickening and horrific and Thom Hatch does a good job of driving the awfulness of it home with gut-punching eye-witness accounts which leave one reeling and furious.

That being said, this book could certainly do with a good edit - both with proofreading and helping with the pace of the book. Certainly some sections dragged a bit and were a little light on details. Hence the 3 stars.

Overall, however, this book does a good job of bringing an important - and largely forgotten -part of American history to life. Black Kettle was truly a heroic and tragic man.

[Steve Whitworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book, depicting the life of the Cheyenne Chief, Black Kettle. His approach and attitude toward trying to peaceably reconcile the problems between whites and Indians was quite remarkable for the day. But, unfortunately, the whites were not all that interested in peace, breaking treaty after treaty, and repeated betrayal of the Indians, to the point of murdering peaceful Indians and noncombatant women and children. A must read for anyone interested in the settling of America and the westward movement of whites in the mid 1800s.

The Black Kettle Museum is in Cheyenne, Oklahoma, and I look forward to visiting it at some point. He believed the only way to save his people (the Cheyennes) was to make peace with the white man. It seems he was an admirable man and a capable leader of his people, and unfailingly (to his unnecessary death) believed the white man wanted peace as much as he did. Although there were some good and trustworthy white men, by and large it seems as though the white man just wanted the "Indian problem" to go away.

[Robert Friedt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this primarily because I like any books that discuss the history of my Cheyenne tribe and it helped me write history papers in college.

I will say that this is a tragic story of a Southern Cheyenne chief that contrasted the Northern Cheyenne ones in that he preferred attempts at peace against the U.S. rather than war like my faction did. Unfortunately, mass confusion and hatred on all sides of the Indian Wars resulted in terrible and sickening tragedies, especially for Black Kettle and his southern faction.

Beware of reading stories like this one for they don't tell the entire story and it is easy to get a one sided view of these events and of all American Indians. No one was innocent during these times, but I don't think that everyone was entirely evil either for there was much bravery and beauty to be had on all sides. Tread carefully...

[Rufus Medrano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book. It’s very disappointing how the government and army kept lying to to native Americans. They didn’t even care if it was the right tribe.

[Efrem Sepulveda · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the coming of the Europeans to America's shores, it was only a matter of time before the settlers whose ancestors were from the Old World would lock horns with the many Native American tribes that roamed across the Great Plains. With only a small amount of traffic going across the Santa Fe Trail beforehand, the discovery of gold near preent-day Denver sparked a rush of miners and others who would profit from the new discoveries. The resulting antagonsim from the influx of settlers into Indian lands resulted in attacks depredations by the Indians as well as counterattacks from the whites.

This book is about the life of the Cheyenne chief, Black Kettle, who saw that the combined forces of the Indians of the plains would be no match for the might of the United States Army and tried to resolve the conflicts between the two races peacefully. Not only did he face opposition from the new settlers, but also from members of his own tribe, especially the fierce Dog Soldiers.

The story is told brilliantly by the author and it illustrates the conflict, the betrayal of the Indians by corrupt Indian agents and U.S. soldiers through fraud and broken treaties and the needless killing of innocent women and children at Sand Creek, CO in 1864 and along the Washita River near present-day Cheyenne, OK in 1868 where Black Kettle would meet his tragic demise at the hands of General Custer.

Despite the harshness of his life, Black Kettle fervently sought peace for his people and did what he could to keep violence at a minimum to his last days. He learned from his experiences that peace was possible, for his tribe the Cheyenne made peace with their previous enemies, the Kiowas and the Comanches. It is a shame that it has been only in the past few years that a biography of any kind has been created for Black Kettle. Mr. Hatch does a yeoman's job of bringing to life the career of this peaceful man who tried to minimize the sorrow of his people that still exists unto this day.

The book is a quick read at around 270 pages with a good biblipgraphy, endnotes and index. I recommend this book to anybody who wants to drop the old myths and tales about the original inhabitants of this land.

[Claudia Mundell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book at Washita National Site and books in National Park and Historic Site book stores are always good. This one was no exception. It was a bit pricey but worth it. Hatch takes us through Black Kettle's life and readers wonder how a man could continue to seek peace when he had been lied to and betrayed so many times. At the end, one realizes that the Whites were never going to have it any way but theirs at any cost. Hatch minces no words in revealing the characters of Chivington and Evans in Colorado. How can any man, one a Methodist minister, go after another human (one seeking peace and not at war) with intent to kill and then mutilate the bodies in such disgusting ways? The story of the Indian Wars (misnomer in my book) is an old one, but Hatch really tells the other side of story for a change.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story. Could have used a proofreader.