Dry Goods and Molasses

As dusk falls, Cheyenne warriors celebrate their capture of a telegraph relay station by making off with trophies of a curious kind.

On November 29, 1864, a hot-tempered federal cavalry officer named Colonel John Civington ordered a massacre of a group of Cheyenne Indians at Sand Creek, Colorado Territory. In retaliation, the Cheyenne spent the following winter burning and looting telegraph relay stations and shutting off the vital supply line along the Platte River west to Denver. Relay stations were essential for communications but also served as storerooms for dry goods. Before they set the building afire, the Cheyenne often looted things whose purpose, but not appeal, eluded them. In "Dry Goods and Molasses, this Cheyenne warrior is reacting to his first taste of molasses after a heady day of revenge.