Silas Soule

Silas Soule

Silas Stillman Soule (July 26, 1838 – April 23, 1865) was a Massachusetts abolitionist, Kansas Territory Jayhawker, and a soldier in the Colorado infantry and cavalry during the American Civil War.

Soule, in the rank of captain, was in command of Company D, 1st Colorado Cavalry, which was present at the Sand Creek Massacre on November 29, 1864. He refused an order of his commander, Colonel John Chivington, to order his troops to fire on Chief Black Kettle's encampment of members of the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. The encampment, along Sand Creek which was primarily full of old men, women, and young children and was flying the American Flag.

The other units under Chivington's command did attack, and a massacre ensued with many of the camp's defenseless inhabitants being slaughtered. Chivington's troops also scalped and mutilated many of the tribe members; in one instance a pregnant woman was cut open and her fetus was scalped.

He later testified against Chivington for the atrocities committed by him and his troops, and was assassinated on a street in Denver soon afterward by an unknown assailant who shot him.. The shooting was believed to have been an act of premeditated murder by Chivington loyalists as revenge for his testifying.