City of Boulder will share truth of its tie to the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado
It was the deadliest day in Colorado history: November 29, 1864 - the Sand Creek Massacre. More than 230 people -- mostly women, children and elders from the Arapaho and Cheyenne nations were killed near Eads in the Eastern Plains.
The City of Boulder is working with the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes to recognize Boulder's connection to the tragedy.
The city-owned open space northeast of Boulder, near 63rd Street and Andrus Road, is where Fort Chambers likely stood. The structure built of sod in the summer of 1864 was used to train a volunteer militia.
More than 100 men from the Boulder Valley enlisted to serve with Company D in the Third Colorado Cavalry.
"Fort Chambers was created for the sole purpose of the extermination of the Cheyenne Arapaho people," said Arapaho Tribal Representative Fred Mosqueda, of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.
Territorial governor John Evans had issued a proclamation to the "Patriotic citizens of Colorado to raise a regiment to… pursue, kill and destroy all hostile Indians that infested the plains."
"This was all fabricated," said Mosqueda. "Fort Chambers was used to train the militia. They went from there."
The Arapaho and Cheyenne people at Sand Creek had been promised protection from the U.S. military after they registered on Evans' orders, indicating they were not hostile to the U.S.
That betrayal forever changed the tribes.
"It was probably the most horrific days in our history because of what took place in that one span of two days," said Mosqueda.
The soldiers returned to Boulder from the massacre as heroes. And 100 years later, the idea that Fort Chambers had "stood guard" during an Indian uprising prevailed.
"For years, people in the Boulder area, members of Company D, still got together and had reminiscences of their participation in the Sand Creek Massacre and by 1959, that marker was installed with a still consideration that it was a battle rather than a massacre," said Phillip Yates, a spokesperson for Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks.
A marker that says Fort Chambers was "used during the Indian uprising" was removed last year and replaced with a temporary sign, while Boulder works with the Arapaho and Cheyenne to build the vision for the open space. The concept calls for trails and visitor access.
Yates said, "We've really focused on this theme of 'heal the land, heal the people.' A healing trail to foster healing and reflection and consideration, and then the second part of that is 'heal the land.' So ecological restoration processes."
Mosqueda likes the effort to preserve the land and to educate others, but he doesn't see it as a draw for Native people.
"That's like asking a Jewish person to go pray at Auschwitz. I don't really have good feelings about Fort Chambers. How can I?" he said.
And Mosqueda says the marker erected in 1959 should be returned, so visitors understand the mindset that produced the atrocities at Sand Creek.
The opening of the proposed Fort Chambers healing trails is still years away. Boulder invites the community to engage as it determines how to present this history. Visit a special section of bouldercolorado.gov to do so.