Abandoned home in Chivington, ColoradoI have had this town on my photography list for several years. It’s linked to one of the worst tragedies in the history of Colorado, The Sand Creek Massacre.
Established in 1887 as a railroad town along the Missouri Pacific line in Kiowa County, Chivington was named after John Milton Chivington. While initially celebrated as a Civil War hero for his role in the Battle of Glorieta Pass, Chivington’s name is now infamous for his command of the Colorado Volunteers during the Sand Creek Massacre on November 29, 1864.
The name “Chivington” itself serves as a constant reminder of the Sand Creek Massacre, a dark chapter in American history. While the town may be fading back into the grasslands, the historical significance of its name and its proximity to the massacre site ensure that the memory of the tragic events of 1864 endures. The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, about 10 miles to the northeast of the ghost town, stands as a memorial to the victims and a place for reflection and remembrance.
The official account of The Sand Creek Massacre?
On that devastating day, Colonel Chivington led approximately 700 Union soldiers in a surprise attack on a peaceful encampment of Cheyenne and Arapaho people along Sand Creek, located about 10 miles northeast of present-day Chivington. The majority of the approximately 150 to 500 people killed were women, children, and the elderly, as most of the warriors were away hunting. The attack was unprovoked, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho believed they were under the protection of the U.S. government. The soldiers committed horrific atrocities, including the mutilation of bodies and the taking of body parts as trophies.
What really happened?
There are several accounts of the Sand Creek Massacre, with many contradictions regarding the nature and course of battle that occurred on that day. Recovered artifacts from the area of the battle indicate that the main locations of the battle was not exactly were it was said to have been. It was a fairly spread out battle over several miles of prairie, contradicting the common narrative of an attack on a peaceful Indian village. Some of the surviving participants of the battle even wrote extensively about their personal experience during the battle. It is clear that this wasn’t just a raid on a peaceful Indian village, and that there were many Indian warriors involved in the fighting and putting up a strong resistance to the advancing Army. I’ve seen some evidence that there were 1,175 forces engaged, with about 675 US soldiers and 500 American Indians. Plus it has been estimated that casualties were 76 US Soldiers and 163 American Indians. I find it difficult to believe that a peaceful village occupied by women, children and elderly would be able to fight well enough to kill and injure 76 soldiers.
Army documents documents prior to the attack also give a strong impression that the they were out to teach the Indians a lesson and take revenge for previous Indian attacks on white settlers. It was a war, no doubt about it. The Army intended to kill a lot of Indians. Couple this with the fact that the attitude of many Army officers and soldiers that the Indians were sub-human and needed to be eradicated, well, it’s pretty clear that the US army intended to inflict great losses on the Indians at Sand Creek.
It is also clear that women and children were killed. I read one soldiers account about a 3 year old Indian boy found roaming naked through the prairie, and US Soldiers taking pot shots at him from a distance until they killed him. Another sergeant from the Army admitted in his book, written some 10 years later, that he personally witnessed the killing of two Indian women during the battle.
The massacre was widely condemned, including by a Congressional committee, which heavily criticized Chivington’s actions. Despite the condemnation, Chivington, who had resigned his commission in the army not long after the battle and was never charged for his role.
Chivington the town emerged more than two decades after the massacre. It grew as a typical plains railroad town, briefly boasting businesses and even a 60-room hotel. However, its prosperity was short-lived. When the railroad realized the local water was unsuitable for their steam engines, they moved their operations, taking many residents with them. The Dust Bowl and the Great Depression further decimated the agricultural prospects of the region, leading to the town’s decline.
Today, Chivington is a true ghost town. Only a few abandoned buildings and crumbling foundations remain, scattered across the prairie.
