Sand Creek Massacre

“Colonel Chivington I curse your name today.”

Caribou Mountain Collective

One of my biggest concerns about today was finding an appropriate song to use as a title. With visits to Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site and the Amache Internment Camp it was destined to be a somber day. So, a big thanks to the Caribou Mountain Collective, a band I had not heard of until 10 minutes ago, for writing and recording the most perfect song possible.

Our morning started on a high with another 7:00 alarm and Holiday Inn Express cinnamon rolls, a road trip delicacy we all look forward to. The longest drive of the day was our first leg from Colby to Sand Creek Massacre NHS. I’d failed to take the time change into account so we arrived right as they were opening and Ranger Jess walked out to our car to greet us. We pulled our boots on for the first time and headed across a half mile of prarie to the top of Monument Hill.

On the way we read a lot of the history of the area and we had just enough time to settle into one of the comfortably spaced benches before Ranger Jess kicked off her detailed presentation about the Sand Creek Massacre. I hadn’t planned on doing a “2 facts” kind of thing, but after it went so well for me yesterday I’m going to stick with it.

1. It was super interesting to me how quickly this was called a massacure. Three separate investigations were commenced by the government within a couple months. By the following spring all three concluded that it was a massacure. The main factor that seems to have distinguished this from other massacres in out nation’s history was the willingness of several of the people there to proactively send their accounts to higher-ups.
2. How recent this really was in history. The participants in the massacre could very easily have lived into the the 1940’s. Many of these participants stole trophies that were passed down through the generations, but the “generations” were really only 2. Their grandchildren are the ones who have begun returning some of these stolen objects.

We also walked to the end of the trail along the top of the ridge overlooking the site getting us to almost four miles of hiking for the day.

We again enjoyed PBJ&C in the car on way to our next stop, Amache Internment Camp.

I wasn’t sure quite what to expect at Amache. I’d read on the website that all that remained were foundations of buildings. I was sort of picturing something like at Fort Union where there were still crumbling remains of structures from this same area surrounded by manicured grounds. In reality Amache is being reabsorbed into the natural sage prarie that the area was decades before it was the farmland that would be commendered to build the barracks, latrines, mess halls and other ancillary structures needed to support over 7,000 people. One of the first signs pointed out that although the walls and ceilings of buildings were removed long ago we would find plenty of evidence of the camp among the sage.

1. Since Amache is not owned or managed by the Park Service, the experience is a little rustic. Please take time to contact your Senator and Representative to ask them to support the Amache National Historic Site Act. This place deserves to be managed like the other important parts of our nation’s history.
2. The ingenuity of the people there is striking. They established a vibrant community where there had only been farm fields a year before.

Two more facts from the day: We discovered an interesting local connection. The Amache Boy Scout Troop was able to travel to Mancos where they deconstructed a CCC shelter and loaded it onto a train to be reconstructed at Amache. We also met Fran Bagenal at Sand Creek. I’ll let you Google that. It was awesome.