Archaeology is opening the lid on American massacres

[starroute]

http://www.archaeology.org/magazine.php?page=online/features/massacre/index

Battlefield sites are considered noble places in the landscape of American history. Gettysburg, Bunker Hill, and Normandy stand as monuments honoring the people who fought and died there. Massacre sites, no less a part of our history, are often hidden. Vaguely worded road signs might give some indication of the tragedy, but visitors are not greeted by museums as they are at battlefield sites, and there are no official cemeteries in which the victims lie. Because they are shameful episodes in our past, massacres are not commemorated and the innocent dead are not honored. The Mountain Meadows Massacre, Sand Creek Massacre, and Tulsa Race Riot do not usually come up in history class, but over 500 people were brutally killed in these events.

<snip>

In 1857, Alexander Fancher and John T. Baker loaded 140 men, women, and children into 40 wagons at Caravan Springs in northwest Arkansas and headed west. They were more than halfway through their journey to California on September 7, when they set up camp for the night in Mountain Meadows in the southwestern corner of Utah. Then the emigrants were brutally attacked, and all but 17 children were killed. Who attacked the group is an ongoing debate, but historical accounts tell of a combined force of local Mormon militia and Paiute Indians.

<snip>

Not long after the massacre at Mountain Meadows came another savage attack, this time against a peaceful village of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians living under Chief Black Kettle in southeastern Colorado Territory. Methodist preacher and Civil War hero Colonel John M. Chivington led approximately 700 volunteer soldiers almost 40 miles in harsh winter conditions from Fort Lyon to attack the community along Sand Creek.

<snip>

In Tulsa, Oklahoma a black man named Dick Rowland was accused of assaulting Sarah Page, a white elevator operator. Although Page later dropped all charges, this event sparked one of the worst race riots in American history. On May 31, 1921, the Tulsa Tribune allegedly ran an article with the headline "To Lynch Negro Tonight," gathering an angry mob of white men downtown. Not long after, a crowd of blacks, mostly World War I veterans, gathered around the courthouse to ensure Rowland's safety. At 10:30 pm a fight broke out, a shot was fired, and the riot began. For nine and one-half hours the riot raged, and the black business district and community of Greenwood went up in flames. An estimated 1,256 buildings were damaged or destroyed including homes, businesses, hotels, churches, and schools. Reports claim that public officials provided white residents with firearms, and witnesses tell of bodies "stacked like cordwood" and buried in mass graves.

<snip>

In shedding light on these tragic events, archaeology can help commemorate them, bringing them out of the shadows and into the mainstream of American history and honoring those who perished by telling their stories.

[Brucey]

1. Very interesting. Thanks.

kick.

[madrchsod]

2. thanks for the link

i pick up the mag every issue but i forgot to bookmark it.

[brook]

3. American Massacre...

by Susan Denton was one of the featured books on C-span this weekend. It deals with the Mountain Meadows event. Thought that might be of interest to you.