Fort Garland hosts Sand Creek Massacre talk

FORT GARLAND — On Wednesday, July 12 at 6:30 p.m. in the Mess Hall at Fort Garland Museum, Dr. Shelby Tisdale, director of the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College, Durango, will present “An American Tragedy: The Sand Creek Massacre of 1864.”  

Early on the morning of November 29, 1864, U.S. soldiers under the command of Col. John Chivington moved up the Big Sandy Creek towards the camps of Chiefs Black Kettle, White Antelope and Left Hand. Chief Black Kettle raised a U.S. flag and a white flag of truce and was fired upon; what followed is known today as the Sand Creek Massacre: 165 to 200 Cheyenne and Arapaho people were killed – most of them women, children and the elderly. Another 200 were wounded or maimed.  

The effect of this horrific attack reverberates to this day throughout the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes.  
Dr. Tisdale will provide insight on what led up to the massacre, the event itself and the events that transpired afterwards.  

This free event is sponsored by the Friends of Fort Garland Museum. For more information contact Fort Garland Museum at 719-379-3512.