Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site is a National Historic Site in

Kiowa County, Colorado Kiowa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,446, making it the fifth-least populous county in Colorado. The county seat is Eads. The county was named for the Kiowa Nation of Nat ...

, commemorating the Sand Creek Massacre that occurred here on November 29, 1864. The site is considered sacred after the unprovoked assault on an encampment of approximately 750

Native people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

resulted in the murder of hundreds of men, women and children. Near Eads and Chivington, the site is about southeast of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

and about east of

Pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

. A few basic park facilities have been opened at this site. In 1999, archaeological teams from the National Park Service, Dept. of the Interior BLM, Colorado Historical Society and accompanied by Native American observers, made a major archaeological discovery of remains of the massacre site. Large numbers of period bullets, camp equipment, and other items convinced the NPS that they had found the correct site. The Historical Site was authorized by Public Law 106-465 on November 7, 2000, in order to "recognize the national significance of the massacre in American history, and its ongoing significance to the

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...

and

Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho ba ...

people and the descendants of the massacre victims." The law authorized establishment of the site once the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

acquired sufficient land from willing sellers to preserve, commemorate, and interpret the massacre. The site near the junction of County Road 54 and County Road "W" was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on September 28, 2001. The site contains a small visitor center, interpretive plaques and signage, monuments located on a hilltop overlooking the massacre site, and two walking trails. The massacre site itself is off-limits to visitors. On August 2, 2005, President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

gave final approval for the site. On April 23, 2007 it was announced that site would become America's 391st official park unit with an effective date of April 27, 2007. The dedication ceremony was held on April 28, 2007. In October 2022, leaders from the Northern Arapaho Tribe, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, the

and

Tribes along with descendants of some of the massacre’s victims and survivors joined Secretary of the Interior

Deb Haaland Debra Anne Haaland (; born December 2, 1960) is an American politician serving as the 54th United States secretary of the interior. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as chair of the New Mexico Democratic Party from 2015 to 2017 and a ...

at the site as she announced the purchase of an additional . The area included lands listed on the National Register of Historic Places for their significance. Archaeological remains include evidence of the village where Cheyenne and Arapaho families were camped, along with an intact viewshed that is key to the integrity of the site. The expansion of the site contributed to one of the most intact

shortgrass prairie The shortgrass prairie is an ecosystem located in the Great Plains of North America. The two most dominant grasses in the shortgrass prairie are blue grama (''Bouteloua gracilis'') and buffalograss ('' Bouteloua dactyloides''), the two less domi ...

ecosystems within the National Park system, providing habitat for a wide range of plants, wildlife and species of special concern. Currently the site encompasses of which are federally owned. By 2004 the federal government acquired from private land owners. On September 9, 2006 the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma conveyed to the United States title to to be held in trust for the National Historic Site. The site includes acquired and preserved by the

American Battlefield Trust The American Battlefield Trust is a charitable organization ( 501(c)(3)) whose primary focus is in the preservation of battlefields of the American Civil War, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 through acquisition of battlefield land. Th ...

and its partners.
Land Saved by the

, accessed May 18, 2018.

References

External links

Sand Creek Massacre Site National Register of Historic Places

– National Park Service
The Conservation Fund
– Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site {{authority control Massacres of Native Americans National Historic Sites in Colorado Protected areas established in 2007 Protected areas of Kiowa County, Colorado Conflict sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado 2007 establishments in Colorado Grasslands of Colorado