Captain Silas Soule is Honored for Disobeying Army Command Orders
By Angela E. Chamblee
Captain Silas Soule is Honored for Disobeying Army Command Orders. Silas Soule was born in the state of Connecticut in to parents who were abolitionists, and helped slaves to escape slavery, through the Underground Railroad. In the late 1850’s he was with a group of people who broke into Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia to free abolitionist John Brown, after he was sentenced to death for his raid on the U.S. military stockade, they could not get Brown to follow them. Brown said that he would rather stay in jail and await his death He wanted to continue writing to newspapers all across the United States, explaining Why he was an abolitionist and thought slavery should be outlawed. He said he hoped his letter writing campaign would help people to understand why slavery ought to be outlawed and abolished. Soule left John Brown and successfully escaped. He went to live in Colorado, where he worked in the Army. By 1865 he had rose to the rank of being a captain. He was sent on a mission to lead his men to kill every Cheyanne or Arapaho Indian man, woman and child. The Indians had given up all arms, and they were peaceful, so Soule disobeyed orders and refused to give the command that his men open fire. Later on, Soule wrote a letter to his superiors stating why he refused to obey orders. He got his commanding officer Col. John Chivington in trouble. Chivington was put on trial for massacring the Sand Creek Indians. He was found not guilty, but four months later Soule was assassinated as he walked down the streets of Denver, with his wife he had just married. The men who killed him were never brought to justice.
Picture: May the scent of red and white rose petals heal you.
However, for 157 years the Arapaho and Cheyanne Indians gather together to thank and honor Captain Silas Soule because if he had disobeyed the command to open fire and kill every Arapaho and Cheyanne man, woman and child, Arapaho and Cheyanne Indians would not still exist today.
Work Cited “The Life of Silas Soule.” Sand Creek Massacre: National Historic Site Colorado. NPS.gov. Accessed March 14, 2022. NPS.gov./ParkHome/Learn about Park/ History & Culture/People/Silas Soule.