“Do you think we should continue buying up land around here?” asked Zeke.

“Yes, but we’ll have to continue to go slow to avoid suspicion. Anyhow, as I was saying, what I learned from the newspapers was during the war, they sent most of the army troops back east to fight. This left the plains of the western Kansas and Missouri, and eastern Colorado unprotected. The Ute in the Rockies, and the Cheyenne and Arapahoe from the plains, seized upon the lack of troops, and began attacking and burning out the settlers. All of this land used to be their hunting grounds, and the army took it without giving them a single dollar.

“I don’t think the army left the brightest leaders behind because Colonel John M. Chivington decided to retaliate for these raids on the settlers. Oddly, this idiot used to be a clergyman. Like many folks, he used religion in ways that suited him, and not necessarily the teachings from the Bible.

“Governor John Evans wanted to open the plains as development land for more white settlers. He wanted to increase the population so Colorado could become a state.”

Zeke added, “I guess being governor of a territory is not as much fun as governor of a state, huh?”

“You’re probably right, at least when it comes to an ego. Evans increased the size of the Third Cavalry to run the Indians off their own land. Black Kettle was a chief of six hundred Cheyenne and Arapahos. He sought peace with the whites, and although they followed the buffalo for centuries along the Arkansas River, he moved his village to Fort Lyon to surrender, and made camp at Sand Creek.”

“What happened?” asked Zeke intrigued and still hungry. “Can I have another biscuit?”

Josh smiled and got one from the stove. “I thought you hated my biscuits.”