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. A detailed account of the discovery is in our book, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site. Get a copy here: LostSandCreek.
According to the traditional massacre claim, 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 and couldn’t see or hear an approaching enemy. However, no period artifacts have ever been found at the alleged massacre location.
The Bowens’ massive archaeological discovery of over 4,000 village and battle artifacts leaves no doubt the Indians were camped further up the creek from the NPS site. 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, according to George Bent, who was living in Black Kettle’s village as a Cheyenne Dog Soldier. Nearly forty years after Sand Creek, while working as an Indian agent in Oklahoma, he corresponded with historians, answering their questions about his Cheyenne life and time at Sand Creek. He provides a lot of information about Sand Creek that isn’t told in the traditional massacre claim, including that the Indians saw the soldiers miles away as a “long black line.” More can be learned about this and Bent in our book.
In ‘98, the Bowens had their discovery documentation notarized, over a year before the NPS was involved with Sand Creek. When the NPS got involved in ‘99, the Bowens met with NPS Sand Creek leadership to inform them of their discovery.
Multiple NPS Sand Creek leadership personnel visited the Bowens in ‘99 to view artifacts, and NPS leadership representatives viewed a video in the Bowens’ home that detailed the Lost Sand Creek Site discovery.
The Lost Sand Creek Site is the real location of Black Kettle’s village and running battle areas.
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, 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, NPS archaeologist Steve DeVore, and Chuck Bowen sat around a card table in the Bowens’ home and viewed artifacts Chuck found at the Lost Sand Creek Site on the Bowen family ranch. DeVore, Greene and Bowen viewed and discussed the artifacts through the afternoon into the evening.
On a separate visit in ‘99, Dr. Doug Scott, NPS Sand Creek Lead Archaeologist, visited the Bowens 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. With most of the artifacts, he would pick one up, hold it for a few seconds, identify the piece, and set it back down. He held this specific artifact for several minutes while he rolled it around in his hand—he was enamored with this piece and the amount of time he spent with it confirmed its importance to Sand Creek. 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.
Other Sand Creek personnel who visited the Bowens in their home includes 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 who was a longtime Cavalry soldier reenactor and expert in Cavalry equipment. She also saw Sand Creek artifacts Bowen found, some of which can be seen at the bottom of the photo.
Multiple members of the NPS Sand Creek leadership promised public recognition for this monumental 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— they told a very different story publicly than they did privately. However, Dr. Scott identifying artifacts was documented with a VHS Camcorder. 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 claims 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 that sank in 1856 near present-day Kansas City, eight years before Sand Creek. Supplies from the steamboat would have no doubt made their way west to Bent’s Fort and to Indian traders. The square nails Bowen found at Sand Creek were confirmed to be period. You can read more about that on pages 153-154 of our book, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site.
Bowen played a video for NPS Sand Creek leadership in his home, detailing where he discovered his Sand Creek artifacts and where he believed more artifacts could be found on an adjoining property. 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, which was likely a dropped bag of bullets not used in battle. They found some other artifacts as well, precisely where Chuck Bowen told them to search, and it was from his assistance they found those artifacts. The small area the NPS found artifacts was over a mile up the creek from the alleged location where they still claim the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians were camped and attacked. However, no period artifacts have ever been found at the NPS’ alleged location.
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. Bowen knew precisely the areas the eyewitnesses described, and their land descriptions matched with areas on the Bowen family ranch, giving Chuck 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, 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.
The NPS doesn’t simply have 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.
The only public kudos the Bowens received from anyone associated with the NPS was from an NPS Historian Emeritus and former NPS Chief Historian, Ed Bearss, who was one of the most respected historians, and who was many times a featured guest on History Channel specials about the Civil War. Read about him here: Bearss.
It’s interesting the Order of Indian Wars Tour which featured Bearss as their guest host was left without being able to access the traditional Sand Creek site. It seems Bearss would have been treated better than that.
Bearss knew the truth about Sand Creek—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.
All of our findings and conclusions in We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site are based on physical evidence and eyewitness accounts. Our book features over 100 photos of artifacts and maps detailing the artifacts and where they were discovered with a metal detector. Each artifact Bowen discovered was documented with the GPS coordinate and a photo—it is a massive and meticulously documented discovery.
The physical evidence Bowen discovered at the Lost Sand Creek Site leaves no doubt to the real Sand Creek location and provides clarity and correction on what happened during the engagement.
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.
