[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 100 (Thursday, July 27, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7844-S7845]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CAMPBELL:
  S. 2950. A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to 
establish the Sand Creek Massacre Historic Site in the State of 
Colorado; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.


introduction of legislation to create the sand creek national historic 
                                  site

  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, today I introduce the Sand Creek 
Massacre National Historic Site Establishment Act of 2000, legislation 
which will finally recognize and memorialize the hallowed ground on 
which hundreds of peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians were massacred 
by members of the Colorado Militia.
  The legislation I introduce today follows The Sand Creek Massacre 
Historic Site Study Act of 1998, legislation I introduced and Congress 
approved to study the suitability of creating an enduring memorial to 
the slain innocents who were camped peacefully near Sand Creek, in 
Kiowa County, in Colorado on November 28, 1868.
  Much has been written about the horrors visited upon the plains 
Indians in the territories of the Western United States in the latter 
half of the 19th century. However, what has been lost for more than a 
century is a comprehensive understanding of the events of that day in a 
grove of cottonwood trees along Sand Creek now SE Colorado. In some 
cases denial of the events of the day or a sense that ``the Indians had 
it coming'' has prevailed.
  This legislation finally recognizes a shameful event in our country's 
history based on scientific studies, and

[[Page S7845]]

makes it clear America has the strength and resolve to face its past 
and learn the painful lessons that come with intolerance.
  The indisputable facts are these: 700 members of the Colorado 
Militia, commanded by Colonel John Chivington struck at dawn that 
November day, attacking a camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians settled 
under the U.S. Flag and a white flag which the Indian Chiefs Black 
Kettle and White Antelope were told by the U.S. would protect them from 
military attack.
  By day's end, almost 150 Indians, many of them women, children and 
the elderly, lay dead. Chivington's men reportedly desecrated the 
bodies of the dead after the massacre, and newspaper reports from 
Denver at the time told of the troops displaying Indian body parts in a 
gruesome display as they rode through the streets of Colorado's largest 
city following the attack.

  The perpetrators of this horrible attack which left Indian women and 
even babies dead, were never brought to justice even after a 
congressional investigation concerning this brutality.
  The legislation I introduce today authorizes the National Park 
Service to enter into negotiations with willing sellers only, in an 
attempt to secure property inside a boundary which encompasses 
approximately 12,470 acres as identified by the National Park Service, 
for a lasting memorial to events of that fateful day.
  This legislation has been developed over the course of the last 18 
months. It represents a remarkable effort which brought divergent 
points of view together to define the events of that day and to plan 
for the future protection of this site. The National Park Service, with 
the cooperation of the Kiowa County Commissioners, the Cheyenne and 
Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and the 
Northern Arapaho Tribe, the State of Colorado and many local landowners 
and volunteers have completed extensive cultural, geomorphological and 
physical studies of the area where the massacre occurred.
  All of those involved in this project agree, not acting now is not a 
option. This legislation does not compel any private property owner to 
sell his or her property to the federal government. It allows the 
National Park Service to negotiate with willing sellers to secure 
property at fair market value, for a national memorial. This process 
could take years. However, several willing sellers have come forward 
and are willing to negotiate with the NPS. The property they own has 
been identified by the NPS as suitable for a memorial. Additional 
acquisitions of property from willing sellers could come in the future. 
However, the Sand Creek National Historic Site could never extend 
beyond the 12,470 acres identified by the site resource study already 
completed.
  This legislation has come to being because all of those involved have 
exhibited an extraordinary ability to put aside their differences, look 
with equal measure at the scientific evidence and the oral traditions 
of the Tribes, and come up with a plan that equally honors the memory 
of those killed and the rights of the private property owners who have 
been faithful and responsible stewards of this site. We have a window 
of opportunity here that will not always be available. I encourage my 
colleagues to respect the memory of those so brutally killed and 
support the creation of a National Historic Site on this hallowed 
ground in Kiowa County, in Colorado.
  I ask unanimous consent that the bill and other research material 
associated with the studies of the Sand Creek site be printed in the 
Record for my colleagues or the public to review.
                                 ______