Josephine Meeker
Videos
Josephine Meeker, was a teacher and physician at the White River Indian Agency in Colorado Territory, where her father Nathan Meeker was the United States (US) agent. On September 29, 1879, he and 10 of his male employees were killed in a Ute attack, in what became known as the Meeker Massacre. Josephine, her mother Arvilla Meeker, and Mrs. Shadruck Price and her two children were taken captive and held hostage by the Ute tribe for 23 days.
Etching which depicts the aftermath of the Meeker Massacre, when women and children were taken captive by Ute Indians. Her father's grave is shown in the lower left corner.
"The Captive" 1891 picture by E. Irving Couse. Alleged either to have been based upon an incident involving a Cayuse Chief Two Crows and an 1847 Whitman Massacre survivor Lorinda Bewly or possibly upon the experience of Josephine Meeker
Chipeta
Videos
Chipeta or White Singing Bird was a Native American leader, and the second wife of Chief Ouray of the Uncompahgre Ute tribe. Born a Kiowa Apache, she was raised by the Utes in what is now Conejos, Colorado. An advisor and confidant of her husband, Chipeta continued as a leader of her people after his death in 1880.
Chipeta and her husband Chief Ouray, wearing a shirt she beaded
Ute delegation in Washington, D.C. in 1880. Chipeta is seated in the front row beside her husband.