Santiago, Yes, I know about all of the Indian affairs in Oklahoma. I lived for a year in Tahlequah, the International Headquarters of the Cherokee Nation, and did some work in Muskogee, which is the Indian name for what the whites call the Creeks. I sometimes laugh when I realize that the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chikasaw, and Seminole are called the 5 civilized tribes, but when I was there, the primary chief of the Cherokee was named Wilma Mankiller, a real estate company is called Six Killer, and that lake is called Ten Killer. From what I have read, there are 23 separate tribes in Oklahoma, and a few remnants of the Iriquois Federation. How they got there, I will never know.
The battle you speak of was at Sandy Creek. Black Kettle and his band of Southern Cheyenne, and some Arapaho, were camped there waiting to meet with the authorities to sign a peace treaty. The Colorado Militia, commanded by a Col.Chivington, none were regular army, came upon the camp, and fired salvo after salvo of cannon fire down on the village, then rode through the camp with sabers slashing, and guns firing, killing over 500 of the people. All the while, Black Kettle stood in the middle of the camp waving both the American, and white, flag as symbols of their peaceful intent, until he, too, was gunned down. Further investigation by the army showed that the only ones in camp were women, children, and old men.
I do not know about the "casino" bit as to who reaps the benefit, but some tribes are gaining wealth in other, legal, ways. When we have more time, I can relate some of the enterprises I have seen, and/or read about.
Almost all of the trouble between Indians and whites began because the whites would not recognize the difference in the two cultures, especially because the Indians had no concept of land ownership, and felt that it all belonged to the Great Spirit.
~;=;o --haqi |
