By Mike Bowen, co-author, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site
Chuck Bowen, along with the assistance of his wife Sheri, discovered the Lost Sand Creek Site in the late 90s on the Bowen family ranch. It took a deep dive into studying eyewitness accounts to learn about what happened at Sand Creek and to get clues on where to search for artifacts.
The massacre claim says the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians were all camped below a bluff at what is now the National Park Service Sand Creek site, in a small congested area, where they were defenseless sitting ducks and couldn’t see or hear an approaching enemy. What the NPS won’t admit publicly is that no period artifacts have ever been found there.
What was learned through the Bowens’ massive archaeological discovery of the Lost Sand Creek Site is that the alleged massacre location is void of period artifacts, leaving no doubt the Indians were camped elsewhere. The Indians were actually camped starting over a mile up the creek from the bluff, where they could and did see approaching soldiers from miles away.
The Bowens got their documentation of their Lost Sand Creek Site discovery notarized in ‘97. When the NPS got involved with Sand Creek in ‘99, the Bowens met with the NPS Sand Creek leadership and informed them about their discovery, showing them maps, photos and artifacts. The Bowens were promised credit for their discovery and were also promised that the NPS Sand Creek site would tell their story of discovery to guests, not just the story that alleges Sand Creek was a massacre.
Multiple NPS Sand Creek personnel were in the Bowens’ home to view artifacts, and leadership representatives viewed a video that detailed the Lost Sand Creek Site discovery.
Visits with NPS Sand Creek leadership in ‘99 in the Bowens’ home and at Sand Creek meetings included the NPS Sand Creek Project Manager, NPS Sand Creek Director, an NPS historian along with an NPS archaeologist and the NPS Sand Creek lead archaeologist. The NPS Sand Creek Superintendent later visited in the early 2000s.
NPS historian Jerome Greene and NPS archaeologist Steve DeVore along with Chuck Bowen, sat around a card table and viewed artifacts Chuck found at the Lost Sand Creek Site on the Bowen family ranch, which is the real location of Black Kettle’s village and running battle areas. DeVore and Greene viewed artifacts and discussed Sand Creek with Bowen through the afternoon into the evening.
On a separate visit, Dr. Doug Scott, Lead Archaeologist for the NPS Sand Creek team in the 90s, visited the Bowens in their home and viewed the same artifacts Greene and DeVore viewed. Dr. Scott spent well over two hours looking at and identifying artifacts. One piece he identified could only be from the 1864 Sand Creek battle. Most of the artifacts he picked up and looked at, he’d hold for a few seconds, identify and set back down. He held this specific fragment for several minutes while he rolled it around in his hand—he was enamored with this piece. Read about it in chapter seven of our book.
The visits by Greene, DeVore and Scott were preliminary to the NPS Sand Creek search in May of ‘99.
From our book, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site:
My parents entered into an agreement with the National Park Service on April 12, 1999, that allowed the NPS to conduct an archaeological investigation on their ranch through the end of June—nearly three months. They didn’t start until late May and only spent two days. The first day quickly turned into a media circus—TV crews and newspaper reporters showed up unannounced. Freedom of the press doesn’t include access to private property without permission. The agreement specified a five-day advanced notice, and I must accompany all that entered. I assumed they showed up to interview Sheri and me about our discovery, but they didn’t.
Members of the media trespassed on their property, ignored us and then proceeded to lie about us in their newspaper stories. Read more about this in chapter seven of our book, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site.
Other Sand Creek personnel visited the Bowens in their home including the NPS Sand Creek Superintendent, Alexa Roberts in the early 2000s. She is seen in the photo above, along with Chuck Bowen, Sheri Bowen, Chuck’s late brother, Scott Bowen, and Butch Kelley. She also saw Sand Creek artifacts Bowen found, some of which can be seen on the bottom of the photo.
Multiple members of the NPS Sand Creek leadership promised public recognition for this massive discovery.
Dr. Doug Scott told the Bowens in their home they indeed had found 1860s Sand Creek artifacts including battle artifacts. But a few years later, Greene and Scott wrote a book, throwing the Bowens under the bus and they told a very different story publicly than they did privately. However, Dr. Scott identifying artifacts was recorded with a VHS Camcorder, with his knowledge. Watch part of that video below, and you can see the important artifact that could only be from the Sand Creek event.
Dr. Scott made false accusations in his book, for example, saying the many square nails Bowen found were “mass produced” and were much later than the 1860s. He clearly says on video they are from the 1860s and while holding a nail, he says they were common with ration boxes. Chuck matched square nails he found with nails found on the Steamboat Arabia. The Steamboat Arabia sank in 1856 so the matching nails were dated to the correct period. You can read more about that on pages 153-154 of our book, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site.
Nails were of course mass produced in the 1860s. Are we supposed to believe each nail was handmade? It was intentionally deceptive to make people believe the Bowens hadn’t found Sand Creek artifacts. They further falsely claimed the Bowens didn’t find the Sand Creek site, but a townsite called New Chicago. That townsite was merely proposed—it never came to fruition. And if the townsite were to exist, it would have been three miles from where they say it was. They put an X on a map, marking this never-existing townsite. The location where they marked the map with an X was littered with battle artifacts, proving it to be the real Sand Creek site. Read chapter eleven in our book for more information.
Artifacts do not lie, but people do.
The Bowens envisioned working alongside the NPS, especially after the many promises they made. That plan changed. The objective is to tell the truth about Sand Creek. All of the Bowens’ conclusions are based first on physical evidence and second on eyewitness accounts. There is only one Sand Creek archaeological discovery, which the Bowens discovered in the late 90s. The NPS found a small area with some artifacts about a mile up the creek from their alleged massacre location, and they found their artifacts with the help of Chuck.
One of the visits in the Bowens’ home was to show NPS Sand Creek leadership a video detailing where Chuck found his Sand Creek artifacts and where he believed more artifacts could be found on an adjoining property. Chuck and his wife scoured eyewitness accounts looking for clues that would give detailed descriptions of what the land looked like where the village was located and where soldiers fought Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians. He found what is the majority of the village site on the Bowen family ranch, and based on eyewitness accounts, it made sense the village extended a little bit south onto a neighbor’s property. Bowen was correct. The NPS Sand Creek search in ‘99 resulted in finding a small scattering of artifacts, including 174 unfired musket balls, all found in a single hole. That was clearly a dropped bag of bullets not used in battle. They found some other artifacts as well, but they didn’t discover the village area or running battle areas—they found what was likely part of the Arapaho camp. And again, they didn’t discover any of those artifacts on their own—they searched precisely where Chuck Bowen believed artifacts would be, and it was from his assistance they found those artifacts.
Bowen’s expertise knowledge proved invaluable. He has an innate understanding of they lay of the land, something no one else has. He grew up on that part of Sand Creek and has spent over 70 years there. Most people reading the same eyewitness accounts wouldn’t have an understanding of the lay of the land—the information would be foreign to them. For Bowen, it was like reading something that made sense the first time he read it. He knew precisely the areas the soldiers described. The details they were giving matched with areas on the Bowen family ranch, giving him a starting point to search for artifacts with a metal detector. There’s over seven miles of Sand Creek that goes through the ranch. Even having clues of what the land looked like, there was still a lot of land to cover with a metal detector coil the size of a dinner plate.
It was a monumental project.
It’s not just that the NPS has some familiarity with the Bowens’ Lost Sand Creek Site discovery, they are quite aware of how big of a discovery it is and the truth it tells about the Sand Creek event.
It’s eye-opening the difference between what was said by NPS Sand Creek personnel privately compared to what they said publicly. Dr. Scott went as far as to say in the Bowens’ home, “there’s no mistake in that; that’s a beaut,” when he was holding that very important artifact.. But he wouldn’t admit as much in his book—he and Greene threw the Bowens under the bus. Make sure to watch the video above to see Dr. Scott identify artifacts Bowen found.
The attempts by Greene and Scott to bury the discovery of the real location of Black Kettle’s village and running battle areas were to minimize and delegitimize the truth. The Lost Sand Creek Site discovery provided undeniable proof that Sand Creek was a running battle, not a massacre, thus a major problem for the massacre narrative.
It’s clear the NPS is about narrative over truth when it comes to Sand Creek, and the false massacre story is pushed along by tax payer dollars. What many may not know is the NPS Sand Creek site is owned by the Cheyenne and Arapaho, not the NPS. Since the Indians own the land and only want their massacre claim told, they should do so with their own money. It’s not government or publicly owned property. Bowens’ property is privately owned and they don’t get any taxpayer money to support telling their story, which is the truth, based on over 4,000 battle and village artifacts and firsthand accounts. It should be an even playing field.
The only public kudos they received from anyone with association with the NPS was from a former NPS Chief Historian, Ed Bearss. Read that blog here: Bearss.
It’s interesting the OIW Tour which featured Bearss was left without being able to access the traditional Sand Creek site, especially since Bearss was a former NPS Chief Historian and NPS Historian Emeritus. It seems Bearss would have been treated better than that.
Bearss knew the truth—he saw artifacts, the village site and some running battle areas. It was for good reason he gave the Bowens the tremendous compliment of naming them historians and archaeologists.
We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site is filled with evidence, showing over 100 photos of artifacts and maps detailing how spread out events were at Sand Creek and that Indians were also armed. The many bullets you’ll see weren’t all from soldiers.
“All the guns we ever captured were Spencer carbines. These were best guns at that time and were handy to carry on horses. Most all the cavalry out West carried these guns them days. These carried 7 cartridges,” George Bent stated (Bent to Hyde, 5-4-1906). Bent was half Cheyenne and was also a Dog Soldier (warrior) in Black Kettle’s village. About forty years after Sand Creek, while working as an Indian agent in Oklahoma, he wrote letters to historians answering their questions about his Cheyenne life and time at Sand Creek. He was on the raids he wrote about when the Dog Soldiers captured guns.
There isn’t any verifiable evidence the Indians at Sand Creek were unarmed. There is actually verifiable evidence the Indians were armed with bows and arrows and guns. Read more here: SandCreekIndiansArmed.
It is imperative to tell the truth about Sand Creek. Too many people have fallen for the lies about what happened and why it happened. Read more here: SandCreekCombatants, SandCreekWarriors.
The truth about Sand Creek matters greatly today as the false massacre story is used to destroy patriotism. It’s the goal to make people feel ashamed about this great country and their white American ancestors.
Keep pursuing truth.
Truth matters. Truth wins.
Get a copy of our book. Click on the Buy The Book tab in the top right corner of the page or click here: WeFoundTheLostSandCreekSite.
