Black Kettle was a Southern Cheyenne chief who lived in territory that stretched from western Kansas to eastern Colorado due to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. He was one of the chiefs who tried to bring peace between his people and the white settlers. Years later as the desperation for gold spread through the settlers the government demanded that they Southern Cheyenne sign over more of their land with a new treaty in 1861, Chief Black Kettle signed in an attempt to save his people. The Southern Cheyenne including Chief Black Kettle were moved to an unlivable piece of land knows as the Sand Creek reservation, located in Colorado. Although chief Black Kettle hoped that the move to Sand Creek would save his people the sad parcel of land began to kill them with diseases and lack of food.

As time marched on and many in the Sand Creed Reservation died the young Cheyenne men began to attack passing settlers in an attempt to obtain food and provisions that the military lacked in providing. Unfortunately this began a series of events that end in heartache for the Southern Cheyenne. Black Kettle attempted to work things out between his people and the militia despite the injustices that had been forced on his people.

Although the militia gave their word countless times, they never followed through, especially Colonel John Chivington. John Chivington and his troops attacked chief Black Kettle and his people at Sand Creek, massacring anyone who stood in their way on November 29, 1864. Black Kettle was able to escape and even save his wife. Black Kettle was a man who believed in the hope of coexistence, he signed treaty after treaty, he moved his people from their ancestral land, and was forced to watch them die again and again. He was a man who had a vision and faith but in the end was disappointed and killed by the white settlers who coveted the land of his people.