Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site

National Historic Site, Authorised By Congress In 2000 And Opened In 2007. Marks The Ground Where, On 29 November 1864, Colorado Volunteer Cavalry Attacked A Cheyenne And Arapaho Village That Was Flying Both A United States Flag And A White Flag, And Killed Around Two Hundred And Thirty People, Most Of Them Women, Children And The Elderly. · Eads, Colorado

On 29 November 1864, about seven hundred Colorado volunteer cavalry under Colonel John Chivington attacked a Cheyenne and Arapaho village camped on the bend of Sand Creek. The village was there because it had been told to be - Black Kettle had been promised safety, and he flew a United States flag and a white flag above his lodge. Around two hundred and thirty people were killed, the great majority of them women, children and the elderly. The bodies were mutilated and the trophies paraded through Denver. Three separate federal investigations condemned it within two years. Congress authorised this site in 2000 and it opened in 2007, built with the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes as partners rather than subjects. There is a bluff, a trail, a small visitor contact station and an immense quiet. It is a burial ground and a place of mourning, and it asks to be treated as one. It is also the reason Mount Evans was renamed Mount Blue Sky in 2023, Governor John Evans having been found culpable by the inquiries and forced to resign.

55411 County Road W, Eads, Colorado, 81036, United States

Open during daylight hours, generally year-round, but this is a small and very remote site and HOURS ARE REDUCED OR THE SITE CLOSED IN WINTER AND IN BAD WEATHER. The access roads are unpaved for their final stretch and become impassable when wet. There is no entrance fee. Facilities are minimal - a contact station, restrooms, a bluff overlook and a trail. The Spiritual Healing Run and other commemorations take place around the anniversary in late November, when parts of the site may be reserved for descendants.

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