An Exercise in Deception: John M. Chivington at the Battle of Glorieta Pass

Abstract

John Chivington is relatively well known for his actions at the Sand Creek Massacre. Smith examines Chivington’s earlier career as a soldier with the First Colorado Regiment in an effort to determine if he deserved his reputation as a hero at the Civil War Battle of Glorieta Pass. During this campaign, Smith argues that Chivington and his men revealed a tendency to perpetrate the atrocities they would later commit at Sand Creek; something they hid from most accounts.