Lean Bear
[2] He was a member of the Council of Forty-four,[3] a tribal governance devoted to maintaining peace with encroaching United States settlers.
Lean Bear's most notable peace deals include the Treaty of Fort Wise[4] and a meeting with US President Abraham Lincoln.
[5] His work towards peace between his people and the American settlers in the Southern Plains was cut short when he was killed by the 1st Colorado Cavalry Regiment and violent retaliations ensued.
[7] Lean Bear also worked closely and served on the Council of Forty-four with fellow peace chief Black Kettle, especially in the last decade of his life.
[8] Lean Bear, who was in attendance at the peace council, was fascinated by the rings and bracelets on the hand of Sumner's wife and grabbed to get a better look.
She reacted by pulling her hand back and screaming, provoking Sumner to rush forward to beat Lean Bear.
[10] These efforts contrasted with the increasingly vocal Dog Soldiers, bands of Cheyennes who held a longstanding opposition to white settlement and did not wait to cooperate and make peace.
[6] The deal was made in an attempt to keep peace as pioneers spread near Indian territory, but the land reduction and the continued encroachment by white settlers only heightened tensions.
[14] On March 27, 1863, a delegation of fourteen chiefs of Plains tribes, including Lean Bear, War Bonnet and Standing-in-Water of the Cheyennes, and two Kiowa women met with President Abraham Lincoln in the East room of the White House.
[20][21] Lincoln also requested that the southern Plains Indians remain neutral in the American Civil War, ready to provide peace medals to those that he could reach an agreement with.
[3] On May 16, 1864, less than 15 months after meeting Lincoln in Washington,[20] Lean Bear, Black Kettle, and others in the tribe were camping on their buffalo hunting grounds near Ash Creek.
[13] What Lean Bear did not realize was that Eayre's troops were operating under orders from Colonel John M. Chivington to "kill Cheyennes whenever and wherever found.
Rising tensions caused by the death of Lean Bear, along with Eayre's other Indian camp raids, is heavily attributed to the Sand Creek Massacre that occurred six months later.
[26] Despite Black Kettle's best efforts to keep the peace, attacks by Native warriors in the Southern Plains skyrocketed as the vengeful tribes burned ranches and trails, kidnapping settlers and their livestock.
[10] The Governor of Colorado issued a proclamation giving each citizen permission and encouragement to retaliate by killing any Indians and seek compensation for stolen property.
