John Chivington
former Methodist pastor and colonel in the United States Volunteers
(Redirected from John Milton Chivington)
John Milton Chivington (January 27, 1821 - October 4, 1894) was a former Methodist pastor who served as colonel in the United States Volunteers during the Colorado War and the New Mexico Campaigns of the American Civil War. In 1862, he was in the Battle of Glorieta Pass against a Confederate supply train. Chivington gained infamy for leading a 700-man force of Colorado Territory militia during the massacre at Sand Creek in November 1864. An estimated 70–163 peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho – about two-thirds of whom were women, children, and infants – were killed and mutilated by his troops.
Quotes
edit- Kill all the Indians you come across.
- Brown, Dee (2001) [1970]. "War Comes to the Cheyenne". Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Macmillian. p. 83.
- Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians! ... I have come to kill Indians, and believe it is right and honorable to use any means under God's heaven to kill Indians. ... Kill and scalp all, big and little; nits [referring to infants] make lice!
- Brown, Dee (2001) [1970]. "War Comes to the Cheyenne". Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Macmillian. pp. 86–87.
About John Chivington
edit- As to Colonel Chivington, your committee can hardly find fitting terms to describe his conduct. Wearing the uniform of the United States, which should be the emblem of justice and humanity; holding the important position of commander of a military district, and therefore having the honor of the government to that extent in his keeping, he deliberately planned and executed a foul and dastardly massacre which would have disgraced the verist [sic] savage among those who were the victims of his cruelty. Having full knowledge of their friendly character, having himself been instrumental to some extent in placing them in their position of fancied security, he took advantage of their in-apprehension and defenceless [sic] condition to gratify the worst passions that ever cursed the heart of man. Whatever influence this may have had upon Colonel Chivington, the truth is that he surprised and murdered, in cold blood, the unsuspecting men, women, and children on Sand creek, who had every reason to believe they were under the protection of the United States authorities.
- United States Congress Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, 1865 (testimonies and report). University of Michigan Digital Library Production Service.
