A Cheyenne woman and child

On November 29, 1864 Colonel John Milton Chivington led 700 heavily armed Fort Lyon troops and volunteers into Sand Creek, located in the Southeast corner of the Luis Maria Baca land grant. Chivingtons orders were to "kill and scalp all, big and little". The end result was the massacre of 130 Cheyenne and Arapaho people, 105 of which were women and children. The attack came unexpectedly and even shocked some military personnel. Prior to this, the people at Sand Creek were promised protection by the Governor of Colorado, John Evans, if the Cheyenne and Arapaho nations would report to Fort Lyon as friendly Indians. Two Cheyenne Chiefs, Black Kettle and White Antelope, guaranteed protection by Major Edward W. Wynkoop at Fort Lyon, led 500 people into Sand Creek, located forty miles northeast of Fort Lyon. Shortly thereafter, Major Scott J. Anthony replaced Major E. W. Wynkoop as commanding officer at Fort Lyon. The massacre that took place at dawn resulted in congressional hearings calling for an Indian Peace Commission.

During the hearings, Silas Soule, a commander of a cavalry company who refused to attack the Cheyenne at Sand Creek, testified against Colonel Chivington. His testimony was key in the committees findings that the attack on Sand Creek was "a cowardly and coldblooded slaughter, sufficient to cover its perpetrators with indelible infamy, and the face of every American with shame and indignation." Silos Soule never had the opportunity to hear the committees findings because he was shot near his home in Denver by Charles W. Squiers of the 2nd Colorado Cavalry. Sadly, the Indian Peace Commission led to the forced relocation of native peoples to Indian reservations and did not result in the criminal prosecution of Colonel Chivington. Instead, the state of Colorado named a city after Chivington to honor his "heroic" military campaigns during the civil war.