Chipeta

Personal life Chipeta, also known as "White Singing Bird", was born into the Kiowa Apache tribe in about 1843.

Chipeta and Ouray went on annual hunting trips into the mountains together. Chief Ouray died in Ignacio, Colorado on August 24, 1880. After his death, the reservation was renamed to honor him. Chipeta continued as a leader of the Utes and was highly respected as a wise woman.

Chipeta married a White River Ute in Utah at the Ouray Agency, named Accumooquats.

Name The name Chipeta is often claimed to be a Ute name meaning "White Singing Bird", however, it is more likely a misspelling by English language speakers for the Spanish nickname Chepita, a common nickname for Josefina. One early photograph spells her name "Chepetta". Many newspapers of the era spelled her name "Chepita", consistent with the Spanish spelling. The Ute word for "white" is sagar(ü), "singing" is kaakay, and "bird" is wichich, which calls into question any suggestion that "Chipeta" is a Ute word for "White Singing Bird".

Advisor and confidant Chipeta came to act as his advisor and confidant, often sitting beside him at tribal council meetings. In 1863, Chipeta and her husband helped create the first treaty of Conejos, Colorado.

One time upon learning of a raid to be done on her white neighbors by the Utes she quickly traveled on her pony and swam the Gunnison River to warn the settlers of the raid, saving their lives. She rescued a white woman and her children from hostile Utes after a four-day ride. The family recounts: "Chief Ouray and his wife did everything to make us comfortable. We were given the whole house and found carpets on the floor, lamps on the tables and a stove with fire brightly burning. Mrs. Ouray shed tears over us." They passed through Chicago where they were met by crowds of people that threatened the Utes. The delegation arrived in Washington, D.C. on January 11, 1880. Arrangements had been made to entertain and protect the Ute delegation while in the capital city and to negotiate a treaty regarding reservation resettlement. They also had been asked to testify before a congressional inquiry into the Ute uprising. The Utes health suffered due to the overheated rooms and change in lifestyle in the city. The delegation became ill, Chipeta to a lesser extent than the men. Ouray became very ill and was diagnosed with Bright's disease.

On March 7, 1880, Chipeta was welcomed as a delegate by Secretary of Interior Carl Schurz at the United States Capitol. She testified before a Congressional inquiry into the Meeker Massacre. At the hearing, she took the witness stand and answered, through an interpreter, the 10 questions put to her. The Utes ratified a treaty with the US government.

Ouray died in 1880, after which "Chipeta was betrayed by the government". Utes farmed near Bitter Creek. from cataracts. She was buried in a shallow grave and it was feared that her grave would be washed away in a few years. In coordination with Indian agent F.A. Gross and Chipeta's brother, John McCook, her remains were reburied in a mauseleum Ouray Memorial Park (part of the Ute Indian Museum), near the site of her former home at Montrose, Colorado on March 15, 1925. A memorial service was held that day, with 5,000 people in attendance.