Chivington’s personal responsibility for Sand Creek does not diminish Evans’s institutional responsibility, which does not diminish the systemic failures of American Indian policy.

Black Kettle’s death is the product of all three levels simultaneously.

The immediate cause was Custer’s dawn attack.

The enabling cause was Sheridan’s winter campaign strategy.

The underlying cause was a political system that consistently failed to honor its commitments to the people with whom it made those commitments.

What the Flags He Raised Meant

The most powerful image in Black Kettle’s story — the American flag raised over his lodge at Sand Creek — deserves extended reflection, because it encapsulates everything that his story represents.

The flag had been given to him by Governor John Evans at the council in Denver that preceded Sand Creek.