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William Bent (1809–1869) was a trapper and rancher who mediated between the Cheyenne and the expanding United States.
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Biography
Bent was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of a Missouri Supreme Court justice.1 He followed his older brother Charles Bent (briefly governor of New Mexico) into the fur trade business. While in the company of a trapping party, William Bent saved two Cheyenne from Comanches. This began his life long association with the Cheyenne.
Along with Ceran St. Vrain, William built an elaborate adobe fort on the eastern Colorado plains, near present day La Junta, known as Bent's Fort. It was the only privately owned, fortified placement in the west. Due to its placement on the Santa Fe Trail, and because of Bent's association with the Cheyenne, this fort became a major merchandise center on the southern plains.
Bent's influence with the Cheyenne also helped prevent war with the Americans. He was friendly with the Cheyenne chief Black Kettle, who called him Little White Man.
In 1835, Bent married Owl Woman of the Cheyenne and they raised four children together. After Owl Woman died, he married her sister Yellow Woman. In all, Bent had five children.
Bent eventually moved to Westport, Missouri where he owned much of the land that makes up the southern part of Country Club Plaza. His house which was expanded by Seth Ward (businessman) is on the National Register of Historic Places. He later began ranching in Colorado. He is buried in the Las Animas Cemetery south of Las Animas, Colorado.
Sand Creek Massacre
The Pike's Peak gold rush of 1858 lead to increasing conflicts. American troops gradually encroached on Cheyenne lands until fighting broke out in 1864. Black Kettle asked Bent to persuade the Americans to negotiate peace and, briefly, it appeared possible. However, Governor John Evans and Colonel John Chivington (who was planning a run for U.S. Congress) had based their political futures on exterminating Native Americans, and had amassed troops from Washington, D.C. by citing an Indian threat. Despite an apparent peace agreement, on November 28, Chivington and his army captured Bent's son Robert, forced him to guide them to the Cheyenne campsite, and there killed and mutilated between 200 and 400 Native Americans in the Sand Creek Massacre.2
Robert Bent testified in court against Chivington. His brothers, Charles and George Bent, joined the Cheyenne's Dog Soldiers and fought to drive the European-Americans from the their homeland.
Notes
- ^ "New Perspectives on the West: William Bent". PBS (2001). Retrieved on 2007-01-05.
- ^ Dee Brown (1971). Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Holt, Rinehart & Wilson. ISBN 0-03-085322-2.
Further reading
- Garst, Shannon (1957) William Bent and his Adobe Empire Messner, New York, OCLC 1632858
- Arnold, Samual P. "William W. Bent", featured in Hafen, Leroy R. (ed.) (1972) Trappers of the Far West: Sixteen Biographical Sketches Arthur H. Clark Company, Norman, OK, reprint by University of Nebraska Press, October 1983, ISBN 0-8032-7218-9; later editions (1982) Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West: Eighteen Biographical Sketches and (1995) French Fur Traders and Voyageurs in the American West: Twenty-five Biographical Sketches.
- Blassingame, Wyatt (1967) Bent's Fort, crossroads of the great West Garrard Pub. Co., Champaign, Ill., OCLC 887106, for juvenile audience, 96 pages.
- Bent, George and Hyde, George E. (1963) A Life of George Bent: Written from his letters University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, ISBN 0-8061-1577-7
- Halaas, David Fridtjof and Masich, Andrew E. (2004) Halfbreed: The Remarkable True Story of George Bent – Caught between the Worlds of the Indian and the White Man Da Capo Press, Cambridge, Mass., ISBN 0-306-81320-3
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 11 November 2008, at 09:04.
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