Silas Soule

Born in 1839, Silas Soule is largely forgotten by history. Beyond the heroic testimony he gave against Colonel Chivington that led to his death in 1865 (he was only 26 years old), Silas Soule was an activist against slavery. At the age of fifteen, Silas and his family were escorting runaway slaves from Missouri through Lawrence, and north to freedom. At the age of eighteen Silas fought against the South to secure the Kansas territory for the union. Soule also helped free fellow activists from jails in daring jailhouse breaks. In one incident Soule and a group of men staged the capture of a horse thief to get access into a Missouri jail in order to free DR. John Doy, a Laurence physician and activist.

In December 1861 he joined Company K, 1st Regiment, Colorado Infantry to fight against the Confederacy. On November 29, 1864 Silas Soule made a decision not to attack the native settlement at Sand Creek and as a result was killed in 1865 by a fellow Union soldier.