Coloradans wanted Indians out of the new state, and Schurz consented to what amounted to the ethnic cleansing of Colorado, with the Uncompahgre and Southern Utes retaining only a small reservation in southwestern Colorado.102 Himself a German immigrant, Schurz in effect treated the Indians in a way he would never have allowed Germans to be treated. He advocated eliminating their language and traditions. They were to be assimilated; Indian children were to be educated to possess “civilized ideas, wants, and aspirations.” All communal practices would be abolished.
