Daily Kos || Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.: "On the morning of November 29, 1864, the southern Arapaho chieftain, Black Kettle, awoke to the sounds of the Third Colorado Volunteers thundering across the snow covering the hills around Sand Creek, Colorado. He immediately raised a white flag alongside the 34-star American flag he had been given in Washington the previous year by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He had been told soldiers would not attack if he flew that flag.

He had been lied to. When the slaughter was over, at least 200 southern Cheyenne and Arapaho were dead. Soldiers mutilated their bodies and took trophies of breasts and scrota to be turned into tobacco pouches and other memorabilia. The Denver papers praised the Third Colorado and Colonel Chivington, their Washington-appointed leader. In 1866, Congress held hearings on the massacre and excoriated Chivington.

When I put out the Stars and Stripes, I fly it in memory of Black Kettle and anticipate the day when everyone can justifiably put their trust in it as a flag of peace. "


happy 4th everybody...