Ochinee

Ochinee, also known as Lone Bear and One-Eye, (died November 29, 1864) was a Native American Peace Chief of the Cheyenne tribe, who was the father of Amache Prowers, a full-blooded Cheyenne who married a trader who became a rancher, legislator, and businessman. Ochinee, who had worked to create peace for the Cheyenne, died during the Sand Creek massacre on November 29, 1864.

Ochinee of Cheyenne and Arapaho Delegation, Camp Weld, September 28, 1864

Attempts to broker peace

Ochinee, a sub-chief,[1] helped negotiate a treaty between the government, Cheyenne, and Arapaho to safely camp along Sand Creek during the winter of 1864–1865.[2] Ochinee went to Fort Lyon on September 4, 1864 with his wife to deliver a letter to Major Ned Wynkoop from Black Kettle and other chiefs. Nervous soldiers tried to shoot him when he approached the fort. The letter conveyed that Cheyenne people were fearful of raids and were starving. Black Kettle released white people that the Cheyenne had taken captive and asked to discuss a solution for peace.[3] Ochinee, his wife Minimic, and a man that had accompanied them, were put under guard and taken on a four-day ride with 127 soldiers and taken to an encampment of Arapaho and Cheyenne people on the Smoky Hill River.[3][4] Wynkoop encouraged tribal chiefs, including Black Kettle and Arapaho Chief Niwot (Left Hand) to travel with him to Denver to meet with Territorial Governor, John Evans and Colonel John Chivington.[3] The delegation left for Denver for the September 28 meeting at Camp Weld.[3]

Cheyenne and Arapaho Delegation, Camp Weld, September 28, 1864

With other members of the delegation,[3] he met with the Territorial Governor, John Evans. Colonel John Chivington certified that Ochinee was a man of good character and a "friendly Indian."[5] Before the attack, the John Wesley Prowers family, including his daughter Amache Prowers, were held hostage[2] to prevent them warning Cheyenne at the Sand Creek winter camp site of the eminent attack.[6]

Sand Creek massacre
Portion of winter count depicting Black Kettle at Sand Creek. (Buffalo Bill Center of the West)

On November 29, 1864, the Cheyenne encampment at the Sand Creek was attacked by 600 soldiers of the Colorado Volunteer Cavalry and Ochinee and 160 other people, most of whom were children and women, were killed.[7] The troops were led by Colonel John Chivington upon the orders of John Evans, the territorial governor of Colorado.[7]

Grandfather Ochinee (One-Eye) escaped from the camp, but seeing all that his people were to be slaughtered, he deliberately chose to go back into the one-sided battle and die with them.

— Mary Prowers Hudnal, daughter of Amache Prowers[8]

His wife was able to escape.[9] Amache went later to the Congress with her husband and testified to seek justice for the Cheyenne.[10] Cheyenne men sought retribution after the Sand Creek massacre. Called Cheyenne dog soldiers, they looted and terrorized the area.[11]

Ochinee's wife, Amache, and her two oldest daughters each received reparations by the United States government in the form of 640 acres of land along the Arkansas River, which she used to expand her family's cattle ranch.[7][10][12][lower-alpha 1] The rest of Ochinee's family moved to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma.[5][lower-alpha 2]

Further information: List of battles fought in Colorado

Personal life

Ochinee's wife was Minimic. He had a daughter, Amache, who married a white man, John Wesley Prowers.[1] Minimic taught Amache how to make tepees from buffalo hides; how to make and decorate clothing from hides, beads, and animal teeth; and how to select wild plants for medicine, dyes, and food.[11]

Legacy

The Achonee Mountain in the Indian Peaks Wilderness was named after him.[8]

Notes
  1. Although land owned by American women went to their husbands if they were married, but the treaty that Amache and her female family members were subject to meant that they owned the land gained through reparations.[10]
  2. Years later, Prowers was asked, as she was about to be introduced to Chivington at an Eastern Star meeting in Denver, whether she knew him. Her daughter Mary recounts that, "My mother drew herself up with that stately dignity, peculiar to her people, and ignoring the outstretched hand, remarked in perfect English, audible to all in the room, 'Know Col. Chivington? I should. He was my father's murderer!'[13] and turned her back to him.[7]

References
  1. Wynkoop, Edward Wanshear (1994). The Tall Chief: The Unfinished Autobiography of Edward W. Wynkoop, 1856-1866. Colorado Historical Society. pp. 17–18, 87.
  2. "General Information-Amache". www.du.edu. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  3. Crifasi, Robert R. (2015-10-29). A Land Made from Water. University Press of Colorado. pp. PT170. ISBN 978-1-4571-9719-2.
  4. Wynkoop, Edward Wanshear (1994). The Tall Chief: The Unfinished Autobiography of Edward W. Wynkoop, 1856-1866. Colorado Historical Society. p. 18.
  5. "Lone Bear's Family and the Sand Creek Massacre - Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. February 24, 2015. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  6. From the Grave: A Roadside Guide to Colorado's Pioneer Cemeteries. Caxton Press. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-87004-565-3.
  7. "Amache Prowers". Colorado Women's Hall of Fame. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  8. Nestor, Sandy (2015-05-07). Indian Placenames in America. McFarland. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-7864-9339-5.
  9. "Bent's Fort Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association" (PDF). Santa Fe Trail Association. December 2016. p. 2. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  10. Bear, Carson (August 15, 2018). "Archaeology Reveals the Hidden History of Amache Ochinee Prowers - National Trust for Historic Preservation". Saving Places, National Trust for Historic Preservation. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  11. Beaton, Gail M. (2012-11-15). Colorado Women: A History. University Press of Colorado. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-60732-207-8.
  12. Garrison, Robert (June 30, 2009). "Wife of John Prowers namesake of Amache Studio". Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  13. Hudnall, Mary Prowers (November 1945). "Early History of Bent County" (PDF). The Colorado Magazine. Vol. XXII no. 6. The State Historical Society of Colorado. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
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