Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Trust Act of 2005

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill. I congratulate my Colorado colleague, Mrs. Musgrave, for introducing it and thank the leadership of the Resources Committee for making it possible for the House to consider it today.

Enactment of the bill is a vital step toward formal establishment of the Sand Creek National Historic Site, as authorized in 2000 by Public Law 106-465.

The purpose of the Historic Site will be to recognize the national significance of what we now recognize as a permanent stain on the history of our State of Colorado--the San Creek massacre--and its ongoing significance to the Cheyenne and Arapaho people and descendants of the massacre victims.

The Act authorizes establishment of the national historic site once the National Park Service has acquired sufficient land to preserve, commemorate, and interpret the massacre site.

The National Park Service has acquired approximately 920 acres, but the majority of land within the authorized boundary is privately owned and is not open to the public. The National Park Service has been working in partnership with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes and the State of Colorado towards establishment of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site.

This bill will authorize the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma to convey approximately 1,465 acres to the Secretary of the Interior to be held in trust for the tribes. Once these lands are conveyed, the National Park Service will be able to formally establish the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site.

Sand Creek was the site of an attack with terrible and long-lasting effects. Its history speaks to what can happen when military force is misused for political purposes.

The leader of the attack was John M. Chivington, who earlier had been hailed as the hero of the battle at La Glorieta Pass--sometimes called the ``Gettysburg of the West--which ended the efforts of the Confederacy to seize New Mexico and other western territories.

As history records, Chivington seemed destined for even greater prominence. He was a leading advocate of quick statehood for Colorado, and spoken of as a likely candidate for Congress. At the same time, tensions between Colorado's growing white population and the Cheyenne Indians reached a feverish pitch. The Denver newspaper printed a frontpage editorial advocating the ``extermination of the red devils'' and urging its readers to ``take a few months off and dedicate that time to wiping out the Indians.'' Chivington took advantage of this public mood, attacking the territorial governor and others who counseled a policy of conciliation and treaty-making with the Cheyenne.

Finally, during the early morning hours of November 29, 1864, he led a regiment of Colorado Volunteers to where the band led by Black Kettle, a well-known ``peace'' chief, was encamped. Federal army officers had promised Black Kettle safety if he would return to this location, and he was in fact flying the American flag and a white flag of truce over his lodge, but Chivington ordered an attack on the unsuspecting village nonetheless.

After hours of fighting, the Colorado volunteers had lost only 9 men in the process of murdering between 200 and 400 Cheyenne, most of them women and children. After the slaughter, they scalped and sexually mutilated many of the bodies, later exhibiting their trophies to cheering crowds in Denver.

Chivington was at first widely praised for the ``battle'' at Sand Creek, and honored with a widely-attended parade through the streets of Denver.

Attitudes began to change as tales circulated of drunken soldiers butchering unarmed women and children. At first, these rumors seemed confirmed when Chivington arrested six of his men and charged them with cowardice in battle.

But the six, who included Captain Silas Soule, were in fact militia members who had refused to participate in the massacre and now spoke openly of the carnage they had witnessed. Shortly after their arrest, the U.S. Secretary of War ordered the six men released and Congress began preparing for a formal investigation.

Soule himself could not be a witness at any of the investigations, because less than a week after his release he was shot from behind and killed on the streets of Denver.

Although Chivington was eventually brought up on court-martial charges for his involvement in the massacre, he was no longer in the U.S. Army and could therefore not be punished. No criminal charges were ever filed against him. An Army judge, however, publicly stated that Sand Creek was ``a cowardly and cold-blooded slaughter, sufficient to cover its perpetrators with indelible infamy, and the face of every American with shame and indignation.''

The massacre remains a matter of great historical, cultural and spiritual importance to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, and is a pivotal event in the history of relations between the Plains Indians and Euro-American settlers.

The effort to establish the Sand Creek National Historic Site was led by former Senator Ben Campbell of Colorado. It has gone through several stages:

The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Study Act (Public Law 105-243) directed the National Park Service, in consultation with the State of Colorado, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and the Northern Arapaho Tribe, to complete two tasks. First, the Act directed the Park Service to ``identify the location and extent of the massacre area.'' Second, the Act directed the Park Service to prepare a report that assessed the national significance of the Sand Creek Massacre site, the suitability and feasibility of designating it as a unit of the National Park System, and a range of alternatives for the management, administration, and protection of the area.

Following completion of these studies, Senator Campbell introduced legislation to authorize the establishment of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site as a unit of the National Park System. Enactment of this bill is an important step toward completing that effort. I urge its approval by the House.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased, to offer my bill H.R. 481, the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Act. I want to thank Chairman Pombo of the Committee on Resources for the expeditious way in which this bill moved through committee and onto the floor.

This bill is not only important to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian tribes, the citizens of the 4th district of Colorado and the entire state, but it is also important to help secure a permanent reminder in America of the tragic event that forever altered the course of Western frontier history.

On November 29, 1864,700 Colorado Volunteers commanded by Colonel John Chivington attacked a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians who were camped along Big Sandy Creek in what is now Kiowa County, Colorado--part of the district that I represent today. More than 150 Indian people were killed in the attack, the majority of whom were woman and children. This event is now known as the Sand Creek Massacre.

On March 13, 1865, this event was addressed in Congress by the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. Today, 141 years after the Massacre and 140 years after the first congressional hearings, Congress is again discussing this tragedy. This time we are here to honor the victims and preserve a historic parcel of land in Southeastern Colorado where this event took place.

In 1998, Congress authorized a study to investigate the suitability and feasibility of designating the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site in the State of Colorado as a unit of the National Park System. In November 2000, after the completion of the site location study, Congress passed the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Establishment Act. This Act instructs the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site as a unit of the National Park System once sufficient land is acquired to interpret and commemorate the massacre.

Today, we consider H.R. 481, to place 1,465 acres of tribally owned land inside the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site boundary into Tribal Trust. This would allow the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal property within the Historic Site to be managed by the National Park Service in partnership with the Northern and Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes and consistent with the purposes of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Establishment Act of 2000.

The passage of H.R. 481 is an important step in establishing this National Historic Site. With passage of this bill, the National Park Service would be given management responsibility over an additional 1,465 acres and would bring the total acreage of the managed site to almost 2,400 acres. Many involved in this project believe the addition of 1,465 highly important acres to the Park Service's previous holdings will amount to a ``sufficient portion'' to complete the establishment of this National Historic Site. When the Secretary of Interior finally designates this site an official National Historic Site, the Northern and Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, the State of Colorado, Kiowa County and other stakeholders can begin the planning necessary to open this massacre site to the public.

I truly believe my bill will help heal the wounds of the past. I ask for the support of my colleagues on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. UDALL of New Mexico asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, as the majority has explained, H.R. 481 will further the purposes of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site by enabling a significant parcel of land to be added to the site.

The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site was authorized in 2000 to preserve, commemorate and interpret the location of the 1864 massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho people camped along the banks of the Big Sandy Creek in southeastern Colorado. The effort to establish the historic site has been a cooperative one. The inclusion of the land authorized by H.R. 481 will be a significant step leading to the formal establishment of the site by the Secretary of the Interior.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 481 will help advance the preservation and interpretation of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site and we support adoption of the legislation by the House today.

Mr. Speaker, let me thank the staff of the Resources Committee, both the minority and majority staff, and especially Rick Healy, who worked diligently on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 481) to further the purposes of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Establishment Act of 2000, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 481, the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 481, introduced by the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs. Musgrave) would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to hold 1,465 acres in trust, thereby allowing the National Park Service to formally establish the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. The Park Service has worked in partnership with the State of Colorado, the Cheyenne tribe, and the Arapaho tribe to establish this site which was originally authorized in 2000

and recognizes the national significance of the Sand Creek Massacre in American History.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

I ask consent that the committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 38, H.R. 481, and H.R. 541, and the Senate proceed to the measures en bloc, provided that the bills be read a third time and passed en bloc, and any statements related to the bills be printed in the Record.