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From: J. Lawrence French
Validation_Gif: Sand Creek
Date: 25 Mar 2008
Time: 11:04:01 -0700
Remote Name: 65.45.222.234
Excerpt from "Speech on the Passage of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Study." October 6, 1998 By Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, descendant of a Cheyenne survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre and the only Native American to ever serve in the Untied States Senate US Govt. Printing Office: “Finally, on this occasion I want to pay a long overdue tribute to one young Coloradan, Captain Silas S. Soule, whose actions over one hundred and thirty years ago saved many innocent Cheyenne and Arapaho lives on that fateful day at Sand Creek. When Captain Soule, who was under Colonel Chivington's command, heard of Chivington's plan to attack a peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho winter encampment at Sand Creek, he vigorously tried to persuade Chivington to abandon the plan. However, Colonel Chivington, who was known to say "Nits make Lice" as a justification for killing innocent Cheyenne and Arapaho women and children, could not be dissuaded. When Chivington ordered his men to attack the peaceful Sand Creek encampment, the vast majority of which were women, children, and elderly noncombatants, Captain Soule steadfastly refused to order his Company to open fire. Captain Soule's refusal allowed many, perhaps hundreds, of innocent Cheyenne and Arapaho to flee the bloody killing field through his Company's line. While the Sand Creek Massacre was at first hailed as a great victory, Captain Soule was determined to make the horrific truth of the massacre known. Even though he was jailed, intimidated, threatened, and even shot at, Soule refused to compromise himself and made his voice heard through reports that reached all the way from Colorado to Washington, and even to the floor of the U.S. Senate. Even with the bloody carnage of the Civil War, the brutal atrocities at Sand Creek shocked the nation. During hearings in Denver, Captain Soule's integrity and unwavering testimony turned the tide against the once popular Chivington and the other men who participated in the massacre and mutilations at Sand Creek. Captain Soule fully realized that telling the truth about the massacre could cost him his life, even telling a good friend that he fully expected to be killed for his testimony. He was right. Walking home with his new bride a short time later, Silas Soule was ambushed and shot in the head by an assassin who had participated in the Sand Creek Massacre. Silas Soule's funeral, held just a few weeks after his wedding, was one of the most attended in Denver up until that time. While Captain Silas Soule's name has largely faded into history, he stands out as one of the few bright rays of light in the moral darkness that surrounds the Sand Creek Massacre. He should be remembered.”