A statue memorializing the Sand Creek Massacre will soon adorn the Colorado State Capitol grounds — a milestone moment of awareness and healing from one of the darkest moments in state history.
The Colorado Senate unanimously approved a resolution approving its installation Monday. The House also unanimously approved it last week. Installation is planned to begin in 2026.
The statue, by sculptor Gerald Anthony Shippen, will depict the Cheyenne and Arapaho chiefs Black Kettle and Left Hand, as well as a Native American woman with a child. It will be placed on a pedestal on the western steps, where a statue of a Union soldier once stood.
“We end our healing run there, on the steps, and we just look in,” said Otto Braided Hair, a Northern Cheyenne descendant of the massacre and tribal representative.
He referred to the annual 200-mile trek, the Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run organized by the Northern and Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, that goes from the massacre site near Eads to downtown Denver.
“We’re outsiders,” Braided Hair continued. “And today, we are inside. Today, the Cheyenne, Arapaho nations recognize, acknowledge both the unanimous support of the House and Senate. I’m just beside myself. I wish all my relatives and descendants and runners were out here.”
That statue recalls the brutal, unprovoked attack by U.S. Cavalry on a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people, who had gathered under a United States flag and a white flag of peace, in 1864. The cavalry would kill more than 200 people, mostly women, children and the elderly, and go on to parade mutilated body parts through downtown Denver, according to the resolution.
The bipartisan resolution was sponsored by Sens. Kyle Mullica and Rod Pelton and Reps. Tammy Story and Ty Winter.
“Our hope is this resolution and memorial will be a turning point. A moment when Colorado says we are not afraid to confront our past because we believe in a more just and honest future,” said Mullica, a Thornton Democrat. “To the Cheyenne and Arapaho nations, we see you. We honor you. And we walk forward — not ahead of you, but with you.”
The statue replaces a separate memorial of a Union soldier that previously stood on the pedestal. That statue was toppled during the racial justice protests of 2020. It honored Coloradans who served in the Union Army during the Civil War — but also memorialized the Sand Creek massacre and Col. John M. Chivington, who perpetrated it.
That statue has been on loan to History Colorado since its toppling. It will eventually go to the Department of Military and Veteran Affairs.
Money for the Sand Creek Massacre memorial has been raised in part through the One Earth Future Foundation. The final fundraising push will begin next month through the Sand Creek Massacre Foundation. People who wish to donate may do so at sandcreekmassacrefoundation.org.
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