Chief Ouray
Ute chief (1833-1880) · United States · On the map · Died at 46
Chief Ouray was a Native American chief of the Tabeguache (Uncompahgre) band of the Ute tribe, then located in western Colorado. Because of his leadership ability, Ouray was acknowledged by the United States government as a chief of the Ute and he traveled to Washington, D.C. to negotiate for the welfare of the Utes.
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Ouray, Ute Chief, Colorado, 1874
Illustration of Taos Pueblo, 1893
Valley of springs in present-day Manitou Springs, where Ute came to hunt and take the mineral springs. The center of the photograph shows a "lone encampment" of Ute Native Americans, between 1874 and 1879.
The Treaty of 1868 resulted in the creation of a reservation for the Utes in western Colorado
An etching that appeared in the December 6, 1879 edition of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper depicts the aftermath of the "Meeker Massacre." Meeker grave at lower left; W.H. Post grave at lower right
Photo taken in 1880 in Washington D.C. when Ouray and other Utes traveled to Washington. D.C. to negotiate a treaty that would result in the removal of the White River and Tabeguache Utes from Colorado to the Uintah Basin in present-day Utah. Ouray died shortly after this trip. Seated from left to right: Ignacio of the Southern Utes, Carl Shurz, Secretary of the Interior, Ouray and his wife, Chipeta. Standing are Woretsiz and General Charles Adams.
Chipeta
Buckskin Charlie and John McCook at the reburial of Ouray, Ignacio, Colorado, 1925About this person
Raised in the culturally diverse town of Taos, Ouray learned to speak many languages that helped him in the negotiations, which were complicated by the manipulation of his grief over his five-year-old son, abducted during an attack by the Sioux. Ouray met with Presidents Lincoln, Grant, and Hayes and was called the "man of peace" because he sought to make treaties with settlers and the government.