Sand Creek Massacre Descendants Trust

The Story of the Massacre Continued

It currently sits on a private ranch, but the owner long ago indicated his willingness to sell it, provided the site is appropriately preserved and the dead appropriately honored. The National Park Service is likely to purchase it next spring, when the final report of the Sand Creek investigation comes out.

Black Kettle

Silas Soule, the captain who defied Chivington's orders and stalled the cavalry's charge, was murdered on April 23, 1865, two months after testifying against his old commander at a military inquest. His killer was never found.

John Chivington's reputation was irrevocably stained by the attack on Sand Creek. A man who had done much good in his life would be remembered mainly for a deed condemned as evil.

John Evans was replaced as governor of Colorado Territory in August 1865, nine months after the Sand Creek massacre. He remained one of Colorado's leading citizens and is today among its most honored historical figures. Both he and Chivington defended the attack until their dying days.

The specter of Sand Creek haunted Chief Black Kettle for the rest of his life. He survived the massacre, dragging his wife (wounded nine times) to safety in a shelter he clawed into the stream bank. But his dream of peace died that day. The Cheyennes and Arapahoes could never bargain with the United States again, never believe in a peaceful coexistence. From now on they must fight for their land and their lives. This they did, with increasing ferocity. Thousands would die over the next 25 years, Indian and white, in the war for the Great Plains. The victims would include Black Kettle himself. He was one of 101 Cheyennes killed in western Oklahoma on November 29, 1868—four years to the day after the Sand Creek massacre—during an attack led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer.