Chief Ouray
Born: November 13, 1833
Died: August 24, 1880
Ouray (“Arrow”) was a Native American chief of the Uncompahgre
band of the Ute tribe. When DC Oakes (the first pioneer to live on
this land) was Indian agent for this region, he and Kit Carson
travelled in 1868 to Washington, D.C. with Chief Ouray and several
other chiefs to sign the Kit Carson Treaty.
Ouray was born in what is now New Mexico. He was half Ute and
half Apache Indian. According to oral history, he was born during
the Leonid meteor showers, which was taken as an omen. He
learned Spanish, English, and the Ute and Apache languages, which
he found helpful in negotiating treaties.
Chief Ouray and Chipeta
Ouray's first wife, Black Mare, died soon after the birth of their only
child. After the death of his wife, Ouray married Chipeta, "White Singing Bird.”
At about age 18, Ouray came to modern-day Colorado to be a member of the Tabeguache
(Uncompahgre) Ute band, where his father was already a leader. He spent much of his youth working
for Mexican sheepherders, but fought both the Kiowa and the Sioux. He gained a reputation as a fierce
fighter. After his father's death in 1860, Ouray became chief of the band, at the age of 27.
Ouray twice witnessed the U.S. Army’s impressive might: first during the capture of Santa Fe in the
Mexican-American War and again when the Army put down the Taos Revolt of Mexicans and Pueblo
Indians. It may have been this firsthand knowledge of the U.S. military, rather than an unwillingness to
fight, that caused Ouray to choose negotiation over fighting the U.S.
when treaties were broken and his people pushed from their lands.
Chief Ouray and others traveled to Washington, DC to sign the Kit
Carson treaty in 1868 and met President Ulysses S. Grant. When
President Rutherford B. Hayes met Chief Ouray in 1880, he said that
the Ute was "the most intellectual man I've ever conversed with."
A 1928 article in the Denver Post reads, Chief Ouray "saw the
shadow of doom on his people" and a 2012 article writes, "He
sought peace among tribes and whites, and a fair shake for his
people, though Ouray was dealt a sad task of liquidating a oncerd
(3 from left) and Chief Ouray
mighty force that ruled nearly 23 million acres of the Rocky DC(4Oakes
th
from left) in Washington, D.C. in
Mountains."
1868