SAND CREEK MASSACRE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

Dedicated as the 391^st unit of the nation’s National Park system April 28, 2007

Driving Directions

 Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site is now closed for the winter * The park will resume full schedule April 1, 2008

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The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site (NHS)   Establishment of the NHS,  will help preserve and commemorate the site of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre, was authorized by Public Law 106-465, in November, 2000. 

 In the summer of 2005, Public Law 109-45 authorized the Secretary of Interior to accept trust responsibility for 1465 acres within the site, currently owned by the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.  This area, the former ‘Dawson Ranch’, was acquired by the Tribes in 2003.  Title work to convey this land from the tribes to the United States has been completed.  The Secretary of Interior  formally establish the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site April 28, 2007. Initially, the NHS will include about 2,400 acres. 

 Currently, the National Park Service (NPS) is working to understand and protect the site’s natural and cultural resources.  Through various partnerships, the NPS has initiated wildfire prevention and management efforts, environmental history and stewardship projects, plant and animal species inventories, and other projects.  The NPS has worked closely with Kiowa County, the Northern and Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, the Public Lands Corps, the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension Service, and Northern and Southern Cheyenne tribal fire crews.  Through the Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit, which partners university researchers with federal land management needs, the site has received assistance from the University of Colorado, Colorado State University, the University of Montana, Utah State University, and the University of Nevada Reno.

 The Sand Creek Massacre is one of Colorado’s most profound historic events.  The legacy of the attack and its aftermath has reverberated throughout the west for more than a century.  The Indian Campaign which culminated at Sand Creek, involved several Regiments of Colorado Volunteers.

History

The legacy of the attack and its aftermath has reverberated throughout the west for more than a century.  The Indian Campaign which culminated at Sand Creek, involved several Regiments of Colorado Volunteers.

Before the five-day ride down the Arkansas, the volunteers were joined by Colonel John Chivington.  After a stop at Fort Lyon, where the troops were augmented by additional by a battalion of the Colorado 1st and a detachment of New Mexico Infantry commanded by Major Scott Anthony, the command began an all-night ride to Sand Creek.  

The Cheyenne and Arapaho people believed they were under the protection of the U.S. Army were winter camped along the north bank of Big Sandy Creek. There were about 100 lodges of Cheyenne and a few lodges of Arapaho, about 500 people total. The village consisted mainly of women, children and the old.   Many of the men were away seeking food, at the time of the attack.  

The assault on the camps of Chiefs Black Kettle, White Antelope, Bear Tongue, Spotted Crow and others extended for several miles along the valley of the Big Sandy began in the early morning hours of November 29.1894. By the end of the day around 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho lay dead.

The Coloradans also suffered, with several dozen casualties in killed and wounded, including some 13 commissioned and non-commissioned officers.

Atrocities committed by some soldiers, and questions surrounding the attack, resulted in a military inquiry and several Congressional investigations.  These Investigations labeled the attack a massacre, and condemned the role of Colonel Chivington.