July 20, 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 passed the full Senate late Friday, July 17, by unanimous consent.

Campbell's bill will help preserve a significant piece of Colorado and our nation's history by creating a federal monument to the memory of the hundreds of innocent American Indians brutally murdered at the site.

This legislation also directs the National Park Service to conduct a study and determine the exact location of the massacre where 700 Colorado militia members attacked a peaceful Cheyenne village in what is now Kiowa County. Campbell is one of 44 Chiefs of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and said the study will be conducted in conjunction with the State of Colorado, the Colorado Historical Society and the affected Indian tribes.

As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Campbell was also instrumental in earmarking the necessary funding for the 1999 fiscal year budget to conduct the study.

"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.

The Sand Creek Massacre occurred on Nov. 29, 1864 when Colonel Chivington led a regiment of Colorado volunteers to the Cheyenne's Sand Creek campsite in Kiowa County. Federal army officers had promised the Cheyenne Chief 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 and killed 200 of Campbell's ancestors, most of them innocent and unarmed women and children.

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