By Elliot Zaret
States News Service
Sept. 19 - WASHINGTON - More than a century after what Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell calls "one of the most disgraceful moments of American history,'' the House on Friday unanimously approved a bill to find the exact site of the Sand Creek Massacre so the land can be purchased by the National Park Service.
The House action follows on the heels of the Senate, which unanimously passed the bill in July. President Clinton is expected to sign the legislation.
The massacre "was one of the great tragedies and black eyes of Colorado history,'' said Campbell, who authored the legislation. Campbell is part Cheyenne and one of the 44 chiefs of the Northern Cheyenne tribe.
In 1864, a group of 700 U.S. Army soldiers and volunteers led by Civil War hero Colonel John Chivington marched into the Arapaho-Cheyenne reservation in southeastern Colorado to retaliate for attacks by a group of Cheyenne dog soldiers. But the dog soldiers were a fully autonomous military wing of the tribe, and the people at the Sand Creek camp were neither behind the attacks nor harboring the dog soldiers. In fact, the tribe was in the midst of peace negotiations with the U.S. government, which had guaranteed Chief Black Kettle and his tribe safe passage.
When Chivington's troops arrived at the site on Nov. 29, 1864, they were met with an American flag and the white flag of truce Black Kettle had hung there. Despite this, Chivington ordered an attack on the camp. About 200 Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians in the 500-person village - the majority of whom were unarmed women and children - were slaughtered.
Former Eads Municipal Judge William Dawson owns a 1,425-acre plot of land in Kiowa County that he says is the site of the massacre. He has agreed to sell the land to the government.
The land buy was set to go through in March, when researchers at the Colorado Historical Society said there is strong evidence the battle site is actually somewhere else. During three years of investigation, the researchers found only scant remnants of the battle on Dawson's land.
The bill orders an 18-month study - which will be conducted in conjunction with the state of Colorado, the Colorado Historical Society and the affected Indian tribes - to determine the precise location of the site. Rep. Bob Schaffer, R-Fort Collins, sponsored the House bill.