FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 24, 1998
CONTACT: AUDREY HUDSON 202-224-5852 / JAMES DOYLE 303-866-1900

The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Establishment Act of 1998, sponsored by U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, today passed unanimously through the full committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

The Act calls for a National Park Service study to determine the exact location of the massacre, in which 700 Colorado militia members attacked a peaceful Cheyenne village in what is now Kiowa County, killing hundreds under a white truce flag. Campbell, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and one of 44 Chiefs of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, said the study will be conducted in conjunction with the State of Colorado and affected Indian tribes.

"My bill authorizes our government to preserve a significant piece of Colorado and America's history that I believe is needed to remind us of of what can happen and to honor the innocent American Indians who perished," Campbell said.

The Sand Creek Massacre occurred on Nov. 29, 1864 when Colonel Chivington led a regiment of volunteers to the Cheyenne's Sand Creek campsite. Federal army officers had promised Chief Black Kettle safe passage, and an America flag along with a white flag of truce flew over his lodge. Despite this pledge of peace, Chivington ordered an attack on the unsuspecting village.

"After hours of brutal and cowardly fighting, the Colorado volunteers lost nine men, and 200 of my ancestors, most of them innocent and unarmed women and children, had been murdered," Campbell said.

When the skirmish ended, the volunteers scalped and mutilated many of the bodies of the dead, and proudly displayed their trophies to jeering crowds in the streets of Denver.

"By identifying and acquiring this sacred site, we provide a remembrance of the tragedy and allow future generations of Americans to learn from our history," Campbell said.

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