Treaty of Fort Wise

Different responses to the treaty became a source of conflict between whites and Indians, leading to the Colorado War of 1864, including the Sand Creek Massacre.

This area included present-day southeastern Wyoming, southwestern Nebraska, most of eastern Colorado, and the westernmost portions of Kansas.

[3] Colorado territorial officials pressured federal authorities to redefine the extent of Indians treaty lands,[2] and in the fall of 1860 A.B.

The whites, however, claimed the treaty was a "solemn obligation" and considered that those Indians who refused to abide by it were hostile and planning a war.

On November 29, 1864, troops under Chivington attacked a peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho camp at Sand Creek on the reserve established for them under the Treaty of Fort Wise.

A topographical map of Colorado. It shows in pink the extent of Arapaho and Cheyenne territory in 1851. The southern boundary follows the Arkansas River From Kansas into the Rocky Mountains. The norther, the North Platt River, which runs through Nebraska and Wyoming. The western boundary follows the rivers where possible, but stops at the foothills in the Boulder area. The eastern border edges into Kansas, without any major geographical features as a basis for its shape.
Approximate territory of the Arapaho and Cheyenne Indian tribes in 1851