White River Massacre Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

White River Massacre - Essay Example At the same time, White settlers were complaining about Utes for their excessive hunting activities. Meeker got frustrated when Utes refused to follow his order asking them to plow their race track into a farm land. Meeker sought military help from Colorado Governor Frederick Pitkin so as to protect him and his men from the Utes. His request was soon complied with and Major Thornburgh marched with 200 soldiers toward the White River Agency at the distance of 150 miles; however, the troops were first noticed by Utes during their hunting trip. Utes considered this march an invasion on them and asked Meeker to stop their arrival immediately. Meeker agreed and requested Thornburgh that better he keep his battalion outside the Ute reservation territory and only five of them accompany him for a dialogue with Utes representatives (Peters, Mike). Though Thornburgh agreed on this initially but for some reason began entering into Milk Creek. Thornburgh made a grave mistake of crossing Milk Creek and entering into Ute territory, maybe he perhaps assumed that his path would not get blocked. Thornburgh’s entry into Utes territory ignited the conflict between Utes and Whites that finally culminated into a full-fledged war. The battle began in the morning of September 29 1879 and escalated soon that triggered infamous White River Massacre (Peters, Mike). After finishing the dinner of the day Arvilla, the wife of Meeker, was washing dishes when she heard the gun shots. Perhaps Utes heard about the battle at Milk Creek and assumed that troops were marching ahead to kill or push them off the reservation area. Meeker and nine other white men were massacred methodically. Nathan Meeker was fired on the head. Utes hatred against whites was on high pitch on those days and that was evident from the heinous incident of a metal piece pierced into Meeker’s mouth (Peters, Mike). Arvilla, her daughter and one of her companion fled from