Andrea Joy Campbell: “today I take great pride in introducing the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Trust Act of 2004, a bill to…”

“today I take great pride in introducing the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Trust Act of 2004, a bill to establish the Sand Creek National Historic Site in Kiowa County, CO. The bill I am introducing today follows the Sand Creek National Historic Site Establishment Act of 2000, Public Law 106-465, which recognized the tragic events of November 28, 1868 and made it clear that America has the strength and resolve to face its past and learn the painful lessons that come with intolerance. 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. This bill I am introducing today builds upon the Act of 2000 and authorizes the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma to take the land on which these tragic events took place into trust for traditional, cultural, and historical purposes only. The indisputable facts are these: 700 members of the Colorado Militia, commanded by Colonel John Chivington struck at dawn that November day, attacking an encampment of Cheyenne and Arapho 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.”