[3] Little is known of Black Kettle's life prior to 1854, when he was made a chief of the Council of Forty-four, the central government of the Cheyenne tribe.

[5] Still, the U.S. government remained unwilling to control white expansion into the Great Plains, particularly after the Pike's Peak Gold Rush began in 1859.

[6] European Americans displaced the Cheyenne from their lands in violation of the treaty, and consumed important resources of water and game.

Chief Black Kettle was a pragmatist who believed that U.S. military power and the number of immigrants were overwhelming and unable to be resisted.

[7] The Cheyenne led their bands to the Sand Creek reservation, which occupied a small corner of southeastern Colorado Territory about 40 miles from Fort Lyon.

Southern Cheyenne hardliners, along with allied Kiowa and Arapaho bands, raided American settlements for livestock and supplies.

Colorado governor John Evans believed tribal chiefs had ordered the attack and were intent on a full-scale war.

Evans issued a proclamation ordering all "Friendly Indians of the Plains" to report to military posts or be considered "hostile".

Colonel John M. Chivington led the unit, composed predominantly of "100-daysers", who enlisted for limited 100-day terms specifically for fighting against the Cheyenne and Arapaho.

Ambitious, Chivington felt pressure from Governor Evans to make use of the Third Colorado Cavalry before their terms expired at the end of 1864.

For months afterward, members of the militia displayed trophies in Denver of their battle, including body parts they had taken for souvenirs.

[9] Black Kettle escaped the massacre and returned to rescue his severely injured wife, who suffered nine bullet and shrapnel wounds.

At dawn on the morning of November 27, 1868, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer led his 7th Cavalry Regiment to attack Chief Black Kettle and his village along the Washita River in what is now western Oklahoma.

[14] Black Kettle was a recurring character in the CBS family drama Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman for its first three seasons, played by Nick Ramus.

On ska band Five Iron Frenzy's Our Newest Album Ever!, the song "Banner Year" is about Black Kettle, how he was betrayed, and his eventual murder at the hands of Custer.

Deathcab for Cutie's 2022 album Asphalt Meadows references Black Kettle during the Sand Creek Massacre in the song/spoken word piece "Foxglove Through The Clearcut."