Home > Back to Search Results >
Battle of Milk Creek & the Meeker Incident...
Battle of Milk Creek & the Meeker Incident...
Item # 719818
October 03, 1879
CLEVELAND WEEKLY HERALD, Oct. 3, 1879
* Meeker Massacre - Colorado
* Battle of Milk Creek
* Major Thomas T. Thornburgh
* United States Army
* White River Utes - Indians
The top of page 5 has a very early report on the "Battle of Milk Creek" with one column headings: "RED DEVILS" "The Milk River Fight--All Told, 17 Men Killed and 40 Wounded" Coverage takes up almost 1 1/2 columns.
Complete with all 8 pages, nice condition.
AI notes: The Battle of Milk Creek, fought from September 29 to October 5, 1879, was a violent confrontation between U.S. Army forces led by Major Thomas T. Thornburgh and White River Ute warriors near present-day Meeker, Colorado. Tensions had escalated due to the aggressive assimilation policies of Indian agent Nathan Meeker, who attempted to force the traditionally nomadic Utes into farming and Christianity, ultimately requesting military intervention when the Utes resisted. As Thornburgh’s column approached the reservation, they were ambushed by Ute fighters in a well-planned attack that resulted in Thornburgh’s death and left the soldiers besieged for several days in makeshift rifle pits. On the same day, in a coordinated uprising known as the Meeker Massacre, Ute warriors killed Meeker and ten agency employees and took several women and children captive. The siege at Milk Creek ended only after reinforcements arrived, but the incident provoked national outrage, leading to the forced removal of the White River and Uncompahgre Utes from Colorado to reservations in Utah. The battle marked one of the final armed conflicts between Native Americans and the U.S. Army in Colorado and underscored the destructive consequences of cultural imposition, broken treaties, and settler colonialism.
AI notes: The Battle of Milk Creek, fought from September 29 to October 5, 1879, was a violent confrontation between U.S. Army forces led by Major Thomas T. Thornburgh and White River Ute warriors near present-day Meeker, Colorado. Tensions had escalated due to the aggressive assimilation policies of Indian agent Nathan Meeker, who attempted to force the traditionally nomadic Utes into farming and Christianity, ultimately requesting military intervention when the Utes resisted. As Thornburgh’s column approached the reservation, they were ambushed by Ute fighters in a well-planned attack that resulted in Thornburgh’s death and left the soldiers besieged for several days in makeshift rifle pits. On the same day, in a coordinated uprising known as the Meeker Massacre, Ute warriors killed Meeker and ten agency employees and took several women and children captive. The siege at Milk Creek ended only after reinforcements arrived, but the incident provoked national outrage, leading to the forced removal of the White River and Uncompahgre Utes from Colorado to reservations in Utah. The battle marked one of the final armed conflicts between Native Americans and the U.S. Army in Colorado and underscored the destructive consequences of cultural imposition, broken treaties, and settler colonialism.
Category: Post-Civil War
Available Now
$48.00
