Silas S. Soule

Soule's own account of Sand Creek survives in a letter. On December 14, 1864, he wrote to his former commander, Major Edward Wynkoop, describing what the troops did to the village's women and children; Lieutenant Joseph Cramer sent a companion letter. Both were lost for more than a century until they surfaced in 2000 among family papers in an Evergreen trunk, and they helped fix where the massacre took place. Soule had married Hersa Coberly that April. He was serving as provost marshal when he was shot here, less than eighty days after testifying.

What the plaque says

This marker is the property of the State of Colorado Silas S. Soule At this location on April 23, 1865, assassins shot and killed 1st Colorado Cavalry officer Capt. Silas S. Soule. During the infamous Sand Creek Massacre of November 29, 1864, Soule had disobeyed orders by refusing to fire on Chief Black Kettle's peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho village. Later, at Army hearings, Soule testified against his commander, Col. John M. Chivington, detailing the atrocities committed by the troops at Sand Creek. His murderers were never brought to justice. Erected by History Colorado, the Colorado Historical Society, from the Dr. & Mrs. J. N. Hall Marker Trust, 2010

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Colorado State Capitol — 0.9 mi
  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 — 12 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

• The Rocky Mountain News — 0.2 mi
• Elephant Corral — 0.3 mi
• Smoky Hill Trail — 0.7 mi
• Passing of the Street Car — 0.7 mi