Today marks the 150th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre, one of the most tragic events in America’s history. On November 29, 1864, Colonel John M. Chivington and the Colorado Territory militia carried out the predawn attack on a village at Sand Creek in Kiowa County, Colorado. They killed more than 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho Native Americans, most of them women and children. In the paragraphs below, we share the story of establishing the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, and a very personal story by the Funds Western Field Representative, Christine Quinlan. Nearly 150 years later, in 1999, archaeologists from the National Park Service and the Colorado Historical Society, accompanied by Native American descendants, discovered the remains of the massacre site. In 2000, Congress authorized the establishment of the 12,480 acres as the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, but required that the National Park Service acquire sufficient land from willing sellers to preserve, commemorate, and interpret the massacre. The Conservation Fund helped the National Park Service add nearly 1,000 acres to the site by working with private land owners. On April 23, 2007, the site became America’s 391st official park unit. Read more: goo.gl/sVJOdR. Remembering the Sand Creek Massacre: By Christine Quinlan [Complete story: goo.gl/eKkXHV] 150 years ago, at dawn, in a dry creek bed in southeast Colorado, a troop of nearly 700 Colorado militiamen killed 150 Native Americans, mostly women, children and the elderly, in a surprise attack. For four generations, my family has ranched on these same windswept plains of Colorado. Growing up, my public education mostly skipped over the events of the Sand Creek Massacre. And neither was it retold by my own family. Instead, there was tell of the legend of Captain John C. Fremont, trapped by Native Americans on top of the highest butte around, using a piece of mirror to catch the sun’s reflection and signal for rescue by the Calvary. Here, on the shoulders of Captain Fremont’s Butte, I grew up immersed entirely in the white race. I had never looked into the face of an American Indian, never reached out a hand, or spoken a conversation with anyone of this descent. By the late 1970’s, the legendary Fremont’s Butte was just an awfully good spot for a summer keg party and an all-night bonfire. Fast forward 33 years, and I found myself seated at a council table with tribal representatives and government officials, discussing the goal of a National Historic Site that would commemorate the events of the Sand Creek Massacre. The National Park Service wanted us involved, and with wise counsel from senior staff we took on the project...
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 21:19:54 +0000
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