Black Kettle : The Cheyenne Chief Who Sought Peace but Found War [Hardcover]

Thom Hatch (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471445924 | ISBN-13: 978-0471445920 | Publication Date: August 25, 2004 | Edition: 1

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

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Hatch, a former reporter, offers a fresh and comprehensive reassessment of Black Kettle, a charismatic nineteenth-century Cheyenne chief who advocated for peace with white Americans. A member of the Bowstring Society (a warrior caste), Black Kettle negotiated for tribal land protection and lessons in farming. Why did this particular warrior recognize that peace was the only way for his people to survive? Hatch tentatively suggests that Black Kettle regarded himself as a prophet and was motivated by more than military concerns. In spite of repeated betrayals by the U.S. Army--including the 1864 massacre at Sand Creek, in which one-third of Black Kettle's group were killed--the elder statesman continued to pursue a nonviolent compromise. But in 1868 Black Kettle and many of his fellow villagers were killed by George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry in the Washita River massacre. Although not as skillfully written as titles by Dee Brown, this biography is a welcome addition to studies of the American West. Rebecca Maksel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Inside Flap

Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Geronimo. Their names ring down through history as symbols of noble defiance against overwhelming odds. These great warrior chiefs challenged the might of the U.S. Army in desperate and doomed attempts to end white encroachment on their land and preserve their traditional ways of life. We honor their memories not for their success, but for their courage. There was another great chief, no less courageous, who believed that the only way to save his people was by waging peace instead of war. His name was Black Kettle.

This is the first biography of one of the most intriguing figures in the history of the American West. It traces the life of Black Kettle from the days of his youth, when he proved his courage and leadership skills in battles against enemy tribes, through his elevation to chief of the Cheyennes–and his realization that, for the good of his people, he must become a statesman rather than a warrior. It documents his ceaseless efforts to achieve just treaties with the United States, even in the face of death threats from members of his own tribe, and describes his ultimate betrayal by the very authorities with whom he struggled to make peace. Black Kettle survived one betrayal, the notorious Sand Creek Massacre, but the controversial battle at Washita Creek four years later cost him his life.

This fascinating journey through the life of Black Kettle and the early days of the Cheyennes explores the social, political, cultural, and historical factors that shaped every interaction between the Cheyennes and white settlers. Author Thom Hatch analyzes important treaties, examines race relations in the nineteenth-century American West, and recreates the battles and the massacres that marked the Cheyennes’ rise and fall. He also takes a fascinating look at tribal histories and customs and presents a memorable cast of characters, both famous and lesser-known, who played a role in shaping the frontier at this crucial time in history.

Complete with sixteen stunning period photos and more than a dozen helpful maps of Cheyenne territory, Black Kettle tells a compelling and tragic story that is essential to understanding the history of the Plains Indians and the truth about how the West was lost by Native American tribes.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (August 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471445924
• ISBN-13: 978-0471445920
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,612 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Biography About An Important Man, October 16, 2004

By 

Bob Reece (Frederick, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Kettle : The Cheyenne Chief Who Sought Peace but Found War (Hardcover)

It has been 140 years since that dark dawn rose over the eastern plains of Colorado bathing the land in blood and gore at Sand Creek. Countless books have been written about the subject, and its story has been recounted in film. Today, there are those who believe it was a massacre, others it was a battle that turned into a massacre, but to all academic historians Chivington's attack upon a sleeping village of Cheyenne and Arapaho was nothing but a massacre turned into a blood bath of unspeakable horror.

A new book by Thom Hatch is now available entitled, "Black Kettle: The Cheyenne Chief Who Sought Peace But Found War" The book is the first ever written biography about the Cheyenne leader. And, Sand Creek is at the center of Black Kettle's life.

Black Kettle is more than a story of one man's life. The story Hatch shares is rich in Plains Indian culture focusing on the Cheyenne people along with their form of government, laws, religion, courtship, and military society. The narrative follows the Cheyenne relationships with other tribes that were both productive and destructive. Hatch also describes life for the Cheyenne after the white man enters the scene. Hatch's passages about the warrior societies are filled with pageantry, color, and ritual.

Much of what Hatch discusses in this portion of the book has been written before, but Black Kettle finally becomes a human being instead of just a symbol of the wrongs committed against the Indians. After Black Kettle witnessed the peace gathering between his people and the Kiowas, Hatch explains its effect upon the Cheyenne leader.

"Perhaps this event made enough of an impression upon Black Kettle that it served as a lesson in shaping his future role as a man who believed that peace with any enemy - even the white man - was attainable if both parties were honorable and sincere with their promise to become friends."

The centerpiece of any story around Black Kettle has to be the Sand Creek Massacre and Hatch does not disappoint the reader. There can be no honest telling of Sand Creek that doesn't move the reader, and the story of Black Kettle at Sand Creek is powerful. Black Kettle leads as many of his people as he can to safety to the Sand Pits except for his wife, Medicine Woman Later, who is shot down near the creek in a hail of bullets.

At twilight, Black Kettle returns to find his wife as the soldiers commit the atrocities around him. Finding Medicine Woman Later still alive, Black Kettle carries her on his back for miles until he catches-up with the survivors, who by now are moving northeast away from the killing field. Putting his wife on a horse, Black Kettle leads his people to the Dog Soldier camps.

So ends the Sand Creek Massacre, but far more of the life of Black Kettle follows. A true leader is one that stands up for what he believes, never wavers, and makes decisions based solely on the betterment of his people, not for how it might make his life better. Black Kettle was such a leader. Black Kettle continued to sue for peace from the white man, even after Sand Creek, even though many of his people chastised him for it, even though the intimidation of the Dog Soldiers tried to stop him. Black Kettle knew his people would be doomed if they continued to fight the people moving into their lands. He believed peace was the only choice the Cheyenne had to save what they could of their way of life.

Tom Hatch brings us the complete life of Black Kettle -- his analysis of the man's life and the events surrounding it is fresh, bold, and provides new challenges for future researches.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One American's Most Shameful Episodes, February 7, 2005

By 

Granni Jani (lone tree, colorado USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Kettle : The Cheyenne Chief Who Sought Peace but Found War (Hardcover)

The title should read, "Black Kettle, the Cheyenne Chief who Sought Life and Found Only Death". This is a difficult book to read because the story is not only true but shameful. As someone from Colorado, I was horrified to learn many of our streets and city areas are named after men who were often theives, liars, opportunists and some even condoned the murder of the Native Americans. One tries to frame the story in the context of the time and the ignorance and the misunderstandings of the of white America, yet in 2005 the site of the Sand Creek massacre is a minor footnote that most Coloradians are unaware and The Black Hills still have not been returned to the Souix, so has our sense of justice towards Native Americans really changed? The book does a excellent, informative telling of the story of a very shameful part of Colorado and American history.This is the story of an exceptional man who rightly always believed in peace but wrongly believed in the U.S. government. We should be reminded of this past and never forget the genocide that was carried out in the country in the name of westward expansion. Black Kettle should be remembered as man who was as great in statue as any American hero.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sad Commentary On Our Nineteenth Century Westward Expansion, August 29, 2005

By 

Don Butler - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Kettle : The Cheyenne Chief Who Sought Peace but Found War (Hardcover)

This work explores the efforts of a great Cheyenne chief who, despite his betrayal by the white man, continued his search for peace, only to lose his life in the process. It reveals how Black Kettle stood in stark contrast to Chivington, Sherman, Sheridan, Custer and others, who enthusiastically effected our government's policy of destroying the culture of the Plains Indians and killing, with little or no excuse, innocent tribal menbers. Make no mistake, there were elements within the tribes who were no better. However, one cannot read this well-written account without coming away with a sense of revulsion toward those members of the white power structure and our military who made so little effort to understand a people who were different and to treat them with the respect they deserved. Read this book if you want to know more than one will find within the usual histories written by the victors.