- William Bent
William Bent (
1809 –1869 ) was atrapper andrancher who mediated between theCheyenne and the expandingUnited States .Biography
Bent was born in St. Louis,
Missouri , the son of aMissouri Supreme Court justice.cite web
url=http://www.wsba.org/media/publications/barnews/apr-lindley.htm
title=New Perspectives on the West: William Bent
year=2001
accessdate = 2007-01-05
publisher=PBS] He followed his older brotherCharles Bent (briefly governor ofNew Mexico ) into thefur trade business. While in the company of a trapping party, William Bent saved twoCheyenne fromComanche s. This began his life long association with theCheyenne .Along with
Ceran St. Vrain , William built an elaborateadobe fort on the easternColorado plains, near present dayLa Junta , known asBent's Fort . It was the only privately owned, fortified placement in the west. Due to its placement on theSanta 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 theCheyenne 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 bySeth Ward (businessman) is on theNational Register of Historic Places . He later began ranching in Colorado. He is buried in theLas Animas Cemetery south ofLas Animas, Colorado .and Creek Massacre
The
Pike's Peak gold rush of1858 lead to increasing conflicts. American troops gradually encroached on Cheyenne lands until fighting broke out in1864 .Black Kettle asked Bent to persuade the Americans to negotiate peace and, briefly, it appeared possible. However, GovernorJohn Evans and ColonelJohn Chivington (who was planning a run forU.S. Congress ) had based their political futures on exterminating Native Americans, and had amassed troops fromWashington, D.C. by citing an Indian threat. Despite an apparent peace agreement, onNovember 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 theSand Creek Massacre .cite book
author=Dee Brown
title=Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
publisher=Holt, Rinehart & Wilson
year=1971 |id=ISBN 0-03-085322-2]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
Further reading
* Garst, Shannon (1957) "William Bent and his Adobe Empire" Messner, New York, [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1632858 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., [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/887106 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
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