History Colorado Center has closed an exhibit on the Sand Creek Massacre after descendants of survivors of the slaughter of Indians demanded changes in how it is portrayed and complained that they weren't consulted about the display.
A U.S. Army force led by Col. John M. Chivington swept into a sleeping Indian village along Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado on Nov. 29, 1864. Troops killed more than 160 Cheyenne and Arapaho, most of them women, children and the elderly. Officials at the time insisted the attack was to avenge American Indian raids on white settlers and kidnappings of women and children.
Dale Hamilton, a descendant of Chief Sand Hill, one of the survivors, said curators of the Denver museum didn't consult tribes about the display, which opened in April 2012. The exhibit was closed in June.
Tribal historians found some dates were wrong, excerpts from letters left out crucial details, and the exhibit attempted to explain American Indian-white settler conflicts as a "collision of cultures," said Hamilton, who lives in Concho, Okla., with Cheyenne and Southern Arapahoe tribes.
"This wasn't a clash of cultures," he said. "This was a straight-up massacre. All we are looking for is respect for our relatives who were murdered."
Museum officials say they are waiting for the state and tribes to reach a consensus before reopening the exhibit, which includes a 1996 video titled "Oral Histories of Sand Creek Massacre Descendants."
The exhibit is intended to convey "the unspeakable tragedy, the profound national importance and the enduring impact of that event, not only for Cheyenne and Arapaho people, but for all of us as a society," museum spokeswoman Rebecca Laurie said.
However, she said, the museum failed to consult with the tribes. "We are now in a consultation process to address their concerns," she said.
Former Colorado District U.S. Attorney Troy Eid serves on a federal advisory board on American Indian affairs and volunteered to negotiate with the tribes on behalf of the state. He said the closure had more to do with the state's failure to consult with tribes than with differences over history.
"They had some objections to the process, and the museum agreed to close the exhibit until the consultations are concluded," Eid said.
Survivors' descendants say the U.S. government had ordered their ancestors to stay at a camp at Sand Creek, 180 miles southeast of Denver, while talks were held on their future. During the attack, some victims' bodies were mutilated; body parts were taken back to Denver, where the soldiers were hailed as heroes.
Several U.S. commanders refused to join the attack, saying Indian leaders tried to surrender by waving a white flag.
Some soldiers wrote to officials in Washington, accusing Chivington of an unprovoked massacre. Congress ultimately condemned the incident — in which nine U.S. soldiers died — but no one was held accountable.
Ari Kelman, author of "A Misplaced Massacre," a history of Sand Creek, said the exhibit portrays the angst and remorse of soldiers over what happened that day.
"This is a wound that has never healed," he said.
Sand Creek Massacre
Amid brewing tensions between settlers and American Indians, members of the Colorado Territory militia under command of U.S. Army Col. John M. Chivington on Nov. 29, 1864, attacked a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho encamped along Sand Creek in northeast Kiowa County, above. More than 160 American Indians were slaughtered, more than half of them women and children.