Black Kettle (or "Moke-ta-ra-to") was an important
chief of the
Cheyenne Indians. His
tribe hunted in the area between the
Platte and
Arkansas rivers', including
Colorado,
Nebraska,
Kansas, and
Oklahoma. They at one time lived on a
reservation in
Colorado adjoining an allotment for the
Arapahos. However, Black Kettle spent much of his life trying to create a
peace between the
Cheyennes and
Arapahos, and the settlers. Black Kettle is most famous for his part in the
Sand Creek Massecre.
Black Kettle and a few of his people escaped the carnage at Sand Creek only to relive the nightmare again about four years later on the Washita river. He and somewhere between 40 and 100 others, largely women and children were killed during an attack General George Armstrong Custer. Black Kettle died November 27, 1868.