The Sand Creek Massacre and the History of Greater Reconstruction in the American West
type: CreativeWork
description: In the traditional U.S. historical narrative, the Civil War & Reconstruction era is a North vs. South story. Nevertheless, the era of western expansion, a central theme throughout the nineteenth century, has no contingent place within this traditional narrative. Meanwhile, the history of the American West and its diverse peoples appears in many textbooks as an unrelated albeit contemporaneous narrative. Separated by geographical regions, historians often do not examine these concurrent histories. However, many of these historical events and actors were interconnected. As I am interested in understanding the Reconstruction era’s national impact, I intend to explore how Reconstruction policies were enacted in the 1860s and 70s trans-Mississippi West, building which builds on the historical contributions of Historian Elliot West in “Greater Reconstruction,” which aims to reimagine a more national ideal of Reconstruction, not confined to the Southern states. Moreover, this era includes western Native peoples' post-Civil War reform era history. This project aims to uncover the history of the Reconstruction of Native peoples by concentrating on the Southern Arapaho and Cheyenne of the Colorado plains territory. Elliott West’s “Greater Reconstruction” concept specifically connects mid-nineteenth-century race-making and nation-state-building political projects in the American South and West. For this project, I plan to center the 1864 Sand Creek massacre that took place in the southeastern Colorado Territory as a marking point in the Civil War in the West and Greater Reconstruction. This massacre involved the brutal murder and mutilation of an estimated 200 Cheyenne and Arapaho people by the U.S. Army. By contextualizing this massacre in terms of other Civil War-era Indian “wars,” I will be able to examine the federal government’s decision to investigate the attack on the Native people, which was not only a common occurrence but widely supported among military personnel. I …
abstract: In the traditional U.S. historical narrative, the Civil War & Reconstruction era is a North vs. South story. Nevertheless, the era of western expansion, a central theme throughout the nineteenth century, has no contingent place within this traditional narrative. Meanwhile, the history of the American West and its diverse peoples appears in many textbooks as an unrelated albeit contemporaneous narrative. Separated by geographical regions, historians often do not examine these concurrent histories. However, many of these historical events and actors were interconnected. As I am interested in understanding the Reconstruction era’s national impact, I intend to explore how Reconstruction policies were enacted in the 1860s and 70s trans-Mississippi West, building which builds on the historical contributions of Historian Elliot West in “Greater Reconstruction,” which aims to reimagine a more national ideal of Reconstruction, not confined to the Southern states. Moreover, this era includes western Native peoples' post-Civil War reform era history. This project aims to uncover the history of the Reconstruction of Native peoples by concentrating on the Southern Arapaho and Cheyenne of the Colorado plains territory. Elliott West’s “Greater Reconstruction” concept specifically connects mid-nineteenth-century race-making and nation-state-building political projects in the American South and West. For this project, I plan to center the 1864 Sand Creek massacre that took place in the southeastern Colorado Territory as a marking point in the Civil War in the West and Greater Reconstruction. This massacre involved the brutal murder and mutilation of an estimated 200 Cheyenne and Arapaho people by the U.S. Army. By contextualizing this massacre in terms of other Civil War-era Indian “wars,” I will be able to examine the federal government’s decision to investigate the attack on the Native people, which was not only a common occurrence but widely supported among military personnel. I …
author: Plotnick, Anna E
keywords: Greater Reconstruction, Native American, Sand Creek, Colorado, Civil War, Reconstruction
date published: 2025-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:58:07Z
provider: City University of New York - City College
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: City University of New York - City College