Show story of ble meeker elcer and I 1 massacres Apparent ley there are but a few local rI rodents dents who are not as far familiar nillar as they might be with tome some ot of the acts facts in our early loci local before the ute indians indian were removed from this region by the uni united i states government to nuke make room tor for the early settlers to come and be gin bulldog bull dl their cities says the grand junction colo sentinel recently several of the suggestions li 11 the moot question of changing chang trig ot of grand junction junctions name have utilized that ot of Chi chiapeta peta the name ot of the ute chief who was her husband this havig ben taken ions long aco ago tor for ouray members ot of the local chapter of the daughters of the american revolution spearing sp eating of the r plans to make money for a marker on an old ranch near mesa in the plateau plater u valley bot brie spoken of this as a a historic place because it was there that hornen taken captive alter after the famous meeker massacre were held until their rescue re ichel b bi chapeta oe ce eral conurs atlon established the fact that a good many local people do not know the etory story tha lies back of these illusions for I 1 their b befit the story of the warlike of this section may bo b interest inc taken from arthur chapman a story ot of colorado ears says the sentinel rt lists the of stock as having caused the irrea test amount of c trouble to the whites in uie the history of the state I 1 affat historic awe As the buffalo were ere killed off and the idiano thus lost their main source of it food supply and as white settle indents increased to such a degree that successful armed resistance became more and more difficult the red men were forced to occupy reservations agents of the government were sere ip AP pointed to look litter after indians on these sometimes the agents were able men more often they were sere baho tt st or incompetent and again though honest they kne knew nothing of the character of the indian and tried ta to make the red men abandon the life they had pursued tor for cen and at once be become orne farmers 1 sometimes the more warlike of the indian tribes revolted when told that they must give up hunting wild game and must stay on ther their reservations and settle down on farms such was the me case amone among the utes whose agent was nathan C meeker formerly at the head of the greeley agricultural colony tn in colorado meeker was given charge of the white river benc agency y near the present town of meeker colorado lie ile tried by every mean MOM to make the utes take up farms fd ad to kite glie up the hunting expeditions which lock toft them to eim part of western colorado and caused the settlers much uneasiness some we lible mm there were several troublesome in diaff among the leading utts on the white river reservation at the time among them were colorow alp captain alln jeck and dolglas who were ere bold and df delant lant these thime braves and many others protested very loudly then when the agent ordered them to day stay on their ad become farmers those sho ho were ere not willing to work the agent silent insisted Inel sted should not expect to 10 receive tn in equal proportion to others who were industrious the trouble on the reservation was nt mt altogether due to meeker s order orders the indians had not been re ceifie their promised supplies from rom the government there was a supply station at ngi wyo and blanket blankets provisions and trinkets were to t be distributed nc cordin accordi nr to promise at stated times but these promise promises were ere frorer ig ored and the indians who were cold and hungry were furious at net retti petting nir their batons albiny bom wd and the indian indiana were vell armed and neww they were sere joined by trouble from the uncompahgre reservation reer and altogether they mus terra a ler firnung feree force they undertook raids of off the reservation and kp k IW 4 a ettla r named louls loula maclean in Fl astern colorado and burned another feair in middle park they llred fired i wn vorn agency employ emp loyes who wire were at wit in the fields and nd openly pil akers life 1 ii i response to an appeal for help from Mee meeker who refused to leave the reserva tim wor major thwing T thornburg who wa was in command at tort fort steele Wrom tot had three companies of cal valry ard one of infantry and marched irom from toward the reservation the infantry was left at old fortification as a reserve force the ile indiana indians were wishing the soldiers all the way at bear raver river over sixty five mile miles from the agency jack and a few ot of his braves entered thor bures buries camp and offered ered to guide the soldiers but were refused however jack ard his braves learned the full strength of Thom burgs command and laid plans for an in ambush at milk creek twenty five mile miles from the agency where the soldiers were in a very unfavorable position the indians nade their attack the utes threw thern themselves selves between the soldiers and the wagon train almost a mile to the rear ad poured a deadly fire upon the soldiers from every poe possible sible place of concealment tf ornburn hulm early major thornburg was killed almost at the beginning of the battle 89 were many of h ha a soldiers the survivors barricaded themselves the best they could behind the wagons which they fin flolly illy reached their position was wu de desperate every officer except one lieutenant bed had been shot more than a ti hu hundred dred and fifty mules had been killed the indians set fire to the grass near iho the wagons and dense clouds of smoke rolled roiled upon the to d dars ers there as no water but with b bankets the soldiers managed finally to smother the flames as 94 they approached pro pron ached ched the wagons toward the close of day jark jack ordered a charge but the soldiers put up such a gallant defense that this attack proved unsuccessful and as was the case at beecher island the andia t z settled down for fori a siege here anothy scout proved hs t heroism under the screen ot of burning grass and sagebrush joe rankin dashed out of camp and through the indian lines and rode to a distance of a hundred and sixty miles in twenty eight bourse cavalry from the pirk on the morning of the fourth day of the siege captain dodge i with a company of colored cavalry who ap sp ched thed from middle park reached the scene of the battle but this force was not large enough to d alve ave off the indiana indians dodge and his men strengthened Thom burgs little comma d but the indians kept up the siege upon goaring ane news brought by scout rankin general central wesley 16 ferritt gathered a large force from the nearest poets posts ard made a foicey march to th scene of the disaster he ile reached the troops of thornburg and dodge on an the moning mo ning of october ath Thom Thorn burgs men had been peen besieged tor for six dayi days the wounded were suiter suffer ng greatly and those mho ho were unhurt were in need of food and water the indians told general merritt that orders had come trun frum their chief ouray to stop fight the soldiers had lost thirteen men killed and forty sevet wounded after the dead had been burled buried and the wounded cared for general tier iter ritt pushed on to the indian agency it at meeker where it was found that all the men telie in number including meeker had been tilled killed and mrs meeker her daughter miss josephie Joseph le ad and mn mrs arwe wife we 9 the faw with her three year om oid daughty had bea been carried away tot this attack hd had been led by ahw dougia douglas who V with ith twenty men had cow to the after the fighting on mite crac hod had started the women shut themselves in the mUk mulhouse house but wa re forced when ur the buLl bullying ding wu was not t on an fire fife nith their castim the indians muted for the orand river behrig told of the th proved of the fight 1119 with ahm burc burgs men the new baving been brought by runners sent I 1 by jack ouray areat tire 1 braer it we w in str P nt t this t me that the atos ut were not all under sip ie d reet of their greatest in eaket toader on oti alt at the time of the meeker BUU mag sacre biray WM was llvine on the river cartr the arese prese t city of montrele eje he ife WM was one of the wisest chief amon westan tribe tribes and his volke in the lodge council wae was always for POWs the son of a ute father andi and an n mother he was born at taa 1 oe 09 and was as a sheepherder he lie spoke spanish flue tir at the age of only years he joined the utes and fought with thein them against agal ns their heredi tiry tary t rie niles becoming beco calef 11 the fhe uce uto tribe ouray realized that Is wa folly for his people to tight fight the white men and he lie and hb his wife chapeta dd all they could to keep the tribes in peaceful natha paths he the momen when ouray heard ot of the er against thornburg he sent an order I 1 to stop fighting lie ile also sent calept to to douglas camp on the grand now the colorado river to inform the utes that general adams former uto ute agent bould come for tn ane captives BURN eugene neld who was a 1 new newspaper paper nun man in deliver soon aft r the indian troubles which have ix en wrote a poem hide I 1 in which he told of the journey ot of this brave indian woman through gla a wild and rugged country to tave her white slaters sisters thanks to ouray a influence the captives were released end and were wera taken to the chief bains home ot 01 tho the uncompahgre where chapeta wept over the women aiho hod had suffered great hardships hards hp says ml meeker I 1 ti her published story we found carpet carpets on an the floors floor at the windows impe on the tables stoves taves in the rooms end fam buring we WV were given the whole house to ourselves there was an inquiry which lasted long lonz and amounted to nothing in la the way war ct of inflicting direct punishment upon the utes who sho were responsible fur th no individual ute was ever punished but after by act of contress congress con tress the entre entze tribe was removed from colorado tar fat from their favorite orlle hunting grounds all of 0 them were made to suffer tor for the acts of the cuilty |