(Tribune News Service) — With the support of tribal representatives from the Arapaho and Cheyenne Nations, Boulder has removed an inaccurate historical marker that once stood in city-managed open space at the location of Fort Chambers.

The city acknowledged that the marker at Fort Chambers — where Company D of the Third Colorado Cavalry had trained before participating in the Sand Creek Massacre on Nov. 29, 1864 — was removed because it falsely stated that the fort had been used in an "Indian uprising" in 1864, according to a city news release.

In fact, Arapaho and Cheyenne leaders had sought peace in the fall of 1864, and their people camped at Sand Creek had been promised that the U.S. Army would protect them. During the summer and fall of 1864, the release stated, "Exaggerated and false claims of coordinated Indigenous violence helped fan anti-Indigenous hatred in Colorado."

After the marker was erected in 1959 along the boundary of the Fort Chambers-Poor Farm property northeast of Boulder, community members continued referring to the Sand Creek Massacre as a "battle" even though there was evidence documenting the atrocities that Third Cavalry soldiers and volunteers had committed.

"While the marker has helped many in our community to learn about Boulder's participation in the Sand Creek Massacre, we believe leaving it in place without adequate reinterpretation and guidance from Arapaho and Cheyenne people would only perpetuate a false narrative that our community has held on to for far too long," Boulder spokesperson Phillip Yates told the Daily Camera.

Fred Mosqueda, Arapaho coordinator with the Cultural and Language Program for the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, said he was "kind of upset" when he first saw the marker since it portrayed a nonexistent "uprising," and he understood the city's decision to remove it, but he believes the marker should be kept for posterity because it is "part of history."

"History has to be told, but the truth should be told. ... What (the marker) did is showed, again, the thinking of the people here in Boulder Valley, there was a need for Company D," Mosqueda said. "One hundred years later, (people) still thought there was an uprising. So that should be shown. Because that was part of the facade, you might say, that was spreading through Denver and through Boulder, through Colorado. ... And that was the reason that they were exterminating us and removing us from our homelands here in Boulder and Denver."

Yates said the city consulted with Arapaho and Cheyenne tribal representatives, like Mosqueda, before removing the marker to listen and learn from them.

"For many staff members, I think we learned important history that many of us did not know growing up here in Boulder," Yates added. "And I think we do recognize it's taken time to remove it. But we hope the removal will be another important step in our ongoing collaboration with Arapaho and Cheyenne nations to manage the property in the future."

The marker remains viewable online and will be stored for the time being. Katie Knapp, a senior planner with Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, said the city is in the process of developing a site plan to guide future management of the site, but no decisions have been made yet. According to the news release, the city plans to ask tribal representatives for guidance on reinterpreting the property, the marker's history, and understanding the Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribal Nations' vision for a long-term relationship with the land.

(c)2023 the Daily Camera (Boulder, Colo.)

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