In 1864, a contingent of Colorado militia murdered at least 163 Indians, mostly women and children, at a camp along Sand Creek in eastern Colorado.
Last year, then-U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a Colorado Republican and the only American Indian in the Senate, got the Senate to pass a bill designating the massacre site as a national historic monument. But the effort faltered in the House when U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, a Republican who represents the district that includes Sand Creek, didn’t push for its passage. Fortunately, the effort didn’t end with Campbell’s retirement, as U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, another Colorado Republican, took up the cause and again pushed the bill through the Senate. This time, a more attentive Musgrave got the measure through the House. On Tuesday, President Bush signed the bill, allowing the National Park Service to manage the 2,400-acre site on behalf of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes whose ancestors died at Sand Creek.
Designation of the national historic site helps ensure that Colorado and the nation never forget the Sand Creek tragedy.
