Archeology: Uncovers homeland US massacres

[Mari333]

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

[hippiechick]

1. GAWD ! This is incredible !

And we call ourselves 'God's chosen people' ?
How embarassing !

:hippie:

[Yupster]

2. I would add the New York City Draft riots of 1863

to the list.

[Yupster]

9. And Wounded Knee too

should have thought of that one.

[proud patriot]

10. Yep lots of Irish died then

I was just watching a documentary about this

[Arianrhod]

3. Places

"These events all raise different issues and debates on the place of archaeology, and its helpful or damaging effect." < end quote >

The place of archaeology, like all the sciences, is to reveal the truth. Whether that truth be pleasant or shocking is not archaeology's concern. Those people who would stifle science because it doesn't support things they want to believe are the ones doing the real damage.

[Devlzown]

4. Thanks for the link!

They're awful stories, but are wonderfully educational. It's important for people to know the extent that ignorance and violence have played in our history.

[QC]

5. I would add Ludlow and Matewan.

Info on Ludlow: http://www.umwa.org/history/ludlow.shtml
Info on Matewan: http://www.umwa.org/history/matewan.shtml

It's amazing how little discussion of labor history there is in this country. Or maybe not.

Edited to add links.

[maggrwaggr]

7. gee, liberals who died for what they believe in

how many republicans have done that?

I try to tell people it's liberals who have given them everything they take for granted, including this country's very existence.

[QC]

8. Good point.

I like to point that out to my students, who are generally very surprised to find out that a 12-16-hour workday used to be the norm, child labor was common, there was no minimum wage, people injured on the job were fired, etc.

The public's ignorance of labor history is a serious problem, because people who do not know how hard it was to get basic protections for working people will not fight for them. They think these things just always existed, or for those of the wingnut persuasion, that they just came out of nowhere, unnecessary government regulations imposed on employers for no reason.

You know, when I was an undergrad I took 42 hours in history, most of it American, and never learned much about labor history. Aside from an occasional paragraph in a textbook mentioning the Wobblies or something, it just never came up. Over time, I have come to believe that the main reason for that is that the myth of America as classless society is so powerful that few can abide to see it contradicted.

[SilasSoule]

6. My DU name is in Honor of A very brave and honorable Army Captain

who was ordered to massacre some Cheyenne at Sand Creek by a bloodthirsty Colonel Chivington, recognized what he was being ordered to do -- calling it outright murder of peaceful people, mostly women and children. He tried to stop it and was ignored. Captain Silas S. Soule a truly forgotten hero in U.S. History.

"In the end, Soule's arguments failed and one of the worst massacres in American history followed. Ordered to accompany Chivington, Soule remained steadfast in his opposition to the assault. When the colonel gave the order to charge, Soule checked his men, forbidding them to fire upon the village. Other commanders obeyed Chivington, and their soldiers killed and mutilated more than 200 Cheyenne, mostly women and children. Later, when Chivington publicly branded him a coward, Soule's men came to his defense, praising his courage in the face of Chivington's infamous order.

The Sand Creek atrocities shocked the nation, even in the midst of the Civil War. The army convened a committee of inquiry in Denver to investigate Chivington's actions. Westerners loyal to the "fighting parson" threatened anyone they thought might testify against him, and the hearings were held in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. Nevertheless, Soule testified forcefully against Chivington. His comments were crucial to the committee's findings. When the hearings ended, the committee branded Chivington's raid at Sand Creek "a cowardly and coldblooded slaughter, sufficient to cover its perpetrators with indelible infamy, and the face of every American with shame and indignation."

Soule was not alive to hear the committee's vindication of his actions. Following his testimony, there was a disturbance near his home in Denver, where he was serving as the city's provost marshal. When Soule investigated, he was shot down by Charles W. Squiers of the 2nd Colorado Cavalry, who may have been hired to kill him by forces loyal to Chivington. Squiers eventually fled to California and was never tried for the crime.

Soule's description of the events at Sand Creek produced a wave of indignation in the East. By the end of 1865, widespread revulsion at the Army's tactics produced a peace offensive on behalf of the Indians. Congress derailed the Army's plans to campaign against the Indians with thousands of troops no longer needed to save the Union. The subsequent Indian wars were brutal enough by anyone's standards, but the Army did not fight a "war of extermination." Silas Soule's testimony had helped save lives.

read more about Silas Soules earlier career as a Massachusetts Abolitionist

This was Captain Silas Soule.

[REP]

11. Mountain Meadow is Forgotten?

It's not spoken of in Utah, of course, but it was mentioned at length in CJR a few issues ago.