You are quiet gifted in area of wild speculation when it comes to my friends and 'culture'. I did not 'assail' antiquarian books, I was just pointing out that they shouldn't be relied upon as a soul source of historical perspective.
I believe my American forefathers and what they wrote, because they were men and women of great integrity. Lying was not a family value as it is today.... Christians knew that lies were subject to God's punishment.
You have a very simplistic view of that history coupled with an over abundance of self righteousness.
It was Christianity, in fact, that contained men's bloody instincts and allowed the savage, barbaric Indians to live peacefully on sprawling reservations.
You really need to do some serious study in this area if you think the reservation life was (and is today) an effective expression of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Here's a little example of YOUR culture. Are these the good Christian men to whom you allude?
On November 29, 1864, Colorado Volunteers attacked a peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho village camped on Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado. Under orders to take no prisoners, the militia killed and mutilated about 200 of the Indians, two-thirds of whom were women and children,[26] taking scalps and other grisly trophies of battle.[27] The Indians at Sand Creek had been assured by the U.S. Government that they would be safe in the territory they were occupying, but anti-Indian sentiments by white settlers were running high.
Let alone the Indian Schools.
***On November 29, 1864, Colorado Volunteers attacked a peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho village camped on Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado. ***
You need to get a copy of MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS by J R Dunn Jr. Written at the time when the Indian wars were winding down but before Wounded Knee.
The Indians at Sand Creek were NOT peaceful. They always came in to make peace in the winter so as to live on government rations, then would go on the warpath when the grass got tall enough to feed a war pony.
A letter written by Charlie Bent (believed to be a Confederate agent), clearly shows that ..IF the Army will treat with the HOSTILE TRIBES, the the tribe under Dull Knife will come in and treat also.
Question, If this tribe was peaceful WHY WOULD THEY NEED TO COME IN TO TREAT?
As for the killing of women and children, most of the men under Chivington’s command had family and friends butchered by these very indians that summer. A snow storm had moved in and all Indians were bundled up making the distinction between men and women impossible.
Then there is that nasty little thing like the finding of fresh white scalps of men and children, along with a blanket fringed with white women’s scalps...all in the “PEACEFUL” camp.
As for the claim the men were out hunting, their larders were full of Buffalo meat and any available buffalo would have moved toward the Palo Verde area of Texas at that time.
Read THE INDIAN WARS OF 1864 by Lt Ware.