Ft. Leavenworth, October 7, 1864.
Major-General Halleck, Chief of Staff:
General Blunt came upon a party of Arapahoes and other hostile Indians supposed to be four thousand, with fifteen hundred warriors, on the twenty-fifth ultimo. This was about one hundred miles west of Larned on Pawnee fork. The Indians overpowered the advance, but the main force coming up routed and pursued them. Ninety-one dead Indians were left and we lost two killed and seven wounded. General Blunt's force was less than five hundred. He pursued for several days.
S. R. Curtis, Major-General.
The place where this battle occurred was about one hundred and thirty miles east of the Sand Creek battle-ground, and probably some of the same Indians were in both encounters.
The telegrams I have quoted indicate that General Curtis was fully alive to the situation. Evidently he believed the Cheyennes and Arapahoes were hostile and was not in favor of making peace with them until they had been punished.
On account of his limited force, Colonel Chivington could do little more than protect the lines of travel; consequently, all that summer and fall the frontier settlers were compelled to take care of themselves. And it was not until after the Third Colorado had been organized and equipped that he was able to strike a decisive blow. In his deposition presented at the investigation by the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, among other things, Colonel Chivington has the following to say concerning the battle of Sand Creek and the conditions leading up to it.
"On the 29th day of November, 1864, the troops under my command attacked a camp of Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians at a place known as Big Bend of Sandy, about forty miles north of Fort Lyon, Colorado Territory. There were in my command at that time about (500) five hundred men of the Third Regiment Colorado cavalry, under the immediate command of Colonel George L. Shoup, of said Third Regiment, and about (250) two hundred and fifty men of the First Colorado cavalry; Major Scott J. Anthony commanded one battalion of said First regiment, and Lieutenant Luther Wilson commanded another battalion of said First regiment. The Third regiment was armed with rifled muskets, and Star's and Sharp's carbines. A few of the men of that regiment had revolvers. The men of the First regiment were armed with Star's and Sharp's carbines, and revolvers. The men of the Third regiment were poorly equipped; the supply of blankets, boots, hats, and caps was deficient. The men of the First regiment were well equipped; all of these troops were mounted. I had four 12-pound mountain howitzers, manned by detachments from cavalry companies; they did not belong to any battery company.
"From the best and most reliable information I could obtain, there were in the Indian camp, at the time of the attack, about eleven or twelve hundred Indians; of these about seven hundred were warriors and the remainder were women and children. I am not aware that there were any old men among them. There was an unusual number of males among them, for the reason that the war chiefs of both nations were assembled there, evidently for some special purpose...."
"What number did you lose in killed, and what number in wounded and what number in missing?"