Tragedy on the Southern Plains

Mochi’s War: The Tragedy of Sand Creek by Chris Enss and Howard Kanzanjian (TwoDot, $16.95) is a fresh look at one of the most sordid episodes in United States history—the 1864 massacre of a peaceful band of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians in Colorado Territory. Chief Black Kettle flew the American flag, thinking this ensured their safety. It did not, nor did the white flag he raised. While government acted to prevent further outrages against peaceful Indians, one survivor of the massacre was not satisfied and vowed revenge. Mochi, a young Cheyenne woman who lost her mother, father and husband, fought savagely thereafter against the whites. This is Mochi’s story. Sympathy for her loss will be tempered by reading of the atrocities in which she participated. The book ends with a comment on the founding of the Sand Creek Massacre Historic Site and bits of oral history from survivors of the massacre.

—Harlan Hague, author of The People