Sand Creek Massacre

This plaque was written to correct the monument beside it. The 1909 Civil War Monument listed Sand Creek among the battles on its base; after consulting tribal leaders, the legislature passed Senate Joint Resolution 99-017, and the plaque went into the sandstone wall in 2002. On June 25, 2020, protesters pulled down the soldier statue, which History Colorado has held on loan since. In autumn 2025 the empty pedestal went to the state's military and veterans department, and reports did not say whether this plaque stayed. A Sand Creek memorial, Peace Keepers, is scheduled here for November 29, 2026.

What the plaque says

The controversy surrounding this Civil War Monument has become a symbol of Coloradans' struggle to understand and take responsibility for our past. On November 29, 1864, Colorado's First and Third Cavalry, commanded by Colonel John Chivington, attacked Chief Black Kettle's peaceful camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians on the banks of Sand Creek, about 180 miles southeast of here. In the surprise attack, soldiers killed more than 150 of the village's 500 inhabitants. Most of the victims were elderly men, women, and children. Though some civilians and military personnel immediately denounced the attack as a massacre, others claimed the village was a legitimate target. This Civil War Monument, paid for by funds from the Pioneers' Association and the State, was erected on July 24, 1909, to honor all Colorado soldiers who had fought in battles of the Civil War in Colorado and elsewhere. By designating Sand Creek a battle, the monument's designers mischaracterized the actual events. Protests led by some Sand Creek descendants and others throughout the twentieth century have since led to the widespread recognition of the tragedy as the Sand Creek Massacre. This plaque was authorized by Senate Joint Resolution 99-017.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Colorado State Capitol — steps away
  A capitol of Colorado granite, marble, onyx and gold, with three different steps claiming to stand exactly a mile high.
• Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge — 7.7 mi
  Mustard gas, nerve agent and pesticides for forty years, then bald eagles, bison and black-footed ferrets on the same ground.
• Dinosaur Ridge — 11 mi
  A hogback near Morrison with the bones of 1877 on one flank and the footprints a road crew blasted open in 1937 on the other.
• Red Rocks Amphitheatre — 13 mi
  Walker's Garden of the Titans, finished by the CCC between Ship Rock and Creation Rock and dedicated on June 15, 1941.

More markers nearby

• Smoky Hill Trail — steps away
• Passing of the Street Car — steps away
• Silas S. Soule — 0.8 mi
• The Rocky Mountain News — 1.0 mi