A thirty-three-star flag flew from Chief Black Kettle's lodge on the morning of November 29, 1864, when his encampment of friendly Cheyenne and Arapaho was brutally attacked by the Colorado (U.S.) Volunteer Cavalry. The thirty-three stars represented the extent of the young United States in 1860, the year Black Kettle received the flag as a token of peace from the United States. He was told the flag would protect the peaceful village by clearly showing that the Cheyenne and Arapaho were friends to the United States, but that belief proved short-lived when soldiers attacked at dawn and indiscriminately killed men, women, and children. Later recollections and testimony by Little Bear, John Smith, and George Bent all recalled seeing Black Kettle's flag raised at his lodge during the attack at Sand Creek.