American Indian Victims Celebrate

DENVER (AP) â€” Kahyo Magpie climbed atop a statue of a Civil War soldier at the end of the four-day Sand Creek Massacre Healing Run, claiming a symbolic victory. <br><br>``It's a good day to die,''

Monday, November 27th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

DENVER (AP) â€” Kahyo Magpie climbed atop a statue of a Civil War soldier at the end of the four-day Sand Creek Massacre Healing Run, claiming a symbolic victory.

``It's a good day to die,'' shouted about 100 Cheyenne descendants of massacre survivors in their native tongue as some pounded drums.

They had reason to celebrate the end of the second annual 187-mile run. On Nov. 7, President Clinton signed a bill creating the Sand Creek National Historic Site.

To American Indians, Sand Creek was the My Lai of the 19th century. But most Americans have never heard of it.

On Nov. 29, 1864, a cavalry unit led by Col. John M. Chivington launched an unprovoked raid on a sleeping Indian village, killing more than 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho, mostly women, children and elderly men.

The private parts of some of the victims were paraded through Denver, whose panicky residents had feared the Confederate army was inciting Indians to attack settlers.

Congress condemned the attack a year later and promised reparations, but none came. Twelve years of war followed on the plains, culminating in Custer's defeat at Little Big Horn.

Last summer, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., a descendent of massacre victims, introduced a bill to create the site. It will be the first national historic site commemorating one of the half-dozen massacres that occurred during settlement of the West.

Participants in the run, which began where the killings occurred, gathered on the steps of the Capitol Sunday, singing tribal songs, praying and listening to speeches by their elders.

Chief Lee Lone Bear said the attack is as fresh in the minds of his people as Pearl Harbor is to World War II veterans.

``Indian people grow up in the stories of their parents and their grandparents. To the Cheyenne people the Sand Creek Massacre is as if it happened to their grandparents. Those people who were murdered were their grandparents.''

``We started our spiritual run so people will never forget, and so we can have healing for all races,'' said Lone Bear, a descendant of two chiefs killed at Sand Creek.

Bill Dawson, the rancher on whose land much of the massacre occurred, joined in the celebration. ``I'm sad because I raised a family on that land, but it is good that the National Park Service is going to take it over so people can learn what happened there.''

David Halaas, Colorado state historian, said a memorial will also go up next year next to the Civil War statue. Some had wanted to remove Chivington's name and a reference to Sand Creek from the existing memorial.

``You cannot erase history,'' Halaas said. ``We will put up a marker next to it that tells the truth about Sand Creek.''

American Indian Victims Celebrate

Film Explores Navajo Family's Story

ON THE WEB

Smithsonian

RECENT STORIES

Scientists Dispute Book's Facts

Tribe Accused of Drug Program Abuse