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After the massacre at Sand Creek the Indians assembled at a camp near Cherry Creek, Colorado. Mochi was one of the many survivors who has escaped with Black Kettle to the prairie. The forlorn band was grieving the loss of family and friends. Under normal circumstances Mochi would have been able to bury her mother, father, and husband soon after they had been killed. The Cheyenne believed that ghosts might linger near the bodies of the deceased and take their spirit if they weren’t buried quickly. This was particularly so with children. Wives would remain at the graves of their husbands, parents would stat at their children’s plot, and none could be persuaded to leave for days after their passing. Mourners would cut their hair and gash their heads or legs with a knife, shedding their own blood in remembrance of the loved ones lost.
If Mochi’s husband had any property that belonged to him she would have laid him to rest with those items. If the lodge she and her husband had lived in had not been burned to the ground, she would have torn it down herself and given it to others in the community. Mochi would have kept only one blanket for herself and returned to live with her parents. There was no one left from her immediate family to turn to, and, apart from the clothes she wore, she had no personal possessions.
Mochi’s despair turned to rage. She joined the warriors who attacked the outpost near Julesburg and vowed to avenge the death of her family.
To learn more about Mochi read Mochi’s War: The Tragedy of Sand Creek.
