The Lt. Bonsall Map - Our Rosetta Stone For the Lost Sand Creek Site Discovery

By Mike Bowen, co-author, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site

Chuck and Sheri Bowen set out to discover the real Sand Creek site location in 1995 after they learned the Sand Creek Battle Ground monument likely marked the wrong site.

Lt. Bonsall went to the site in 1868 where Black Kettle was camped just four years earlier. There would have been burned tipi remains and visible signs of where the lodges would have been. He made a strip map measuring down six miles from Three Forks to his camp no. 2. Within that distance he measured about 2 1/2 miles for the village.

Chuck and Sheri discovered over 4,000 Sand Creek artifacts on the Bowen family ranch and their village and battle sites line up with Bonsall’s documentation. The 1868 Bonsall Map is the Rosetta Stone for the Lost Sand Creek Site Discovery. Watch the video below for more. Click on it to watch.