Silas Stillman Soule ( ; July 26, 1838 – April 23, 1865) was an American abolitionist, teenage conductor on the Underground Railroad, military officer, and early example of what would later be called a "whistleblower". He is honored as a hero for disobeying orders to participate in a massacre of Native Americans, and then giving evidence against his commander despite threats on his life.

As a Kansas Jayhawker, he supported and was a proponent of John Brown's movement in the time of strife leading up to the American Civil War. During the war, Soule joined the Colorado volunteers and rose to the rank of captain in the Union Army. Soule was present at the Sand Creek massacre in 1864, commanding the 1st Colorado Cavalry, Company D, but refused to take part in the killing, and ordered his men not to harm the Native Americans. Afterward, he testified about the massacre at a military hearing. Another soldier murdered Soule two months later, in what some believed was retaliation. Soule's assassination at age 26 brought a tide of outrage on his behalf and sympathy for his widow.

Early life

Silas Soule was born on July 26, 1838, in Bath, Maine, the son of Amasa Soule, a cooper, and Sophia (Low) Soule. He was born into a family of abolitionists, and was descended from Mayflower passenger George Soule. He was raised in Maine and Massachusetts. Soule was a "friendly, intelligent, and good-natured young man, full of practical jokes, [and] tall tales[.]"

Shortly after the family's arrival at Coal Creek located a few miles south of Lawrence, Silas's father, Amasa, established his household as a stop on the Underground Railroad. At the age of 17, Silas escorted escaped slaves from Missouri north to freedom.

Strife in Kansas

thumb|left|upright=.8|250px|The "Immortal Ten": the John Doy rescue party, 1859. Twenty-year-old Silas Soule is the second man from the right.

During the late 1850s, pro-slavery forces from Missouri and abolitionist forces from Kansas were engaged in open warfare. The conflict was over whether Kansas would be admitted to the Union as a slave or free state. This period was often called "Bleeding Kansas". On January 25, 1859, twenty pro-slavery men had crossed into Kansas to look for escaped slaves. They located and ambushed an Underground Railroad party led by Dr. John Doy, a physician in Lawrence, who was escorting 13 former slaves to Iowa. The men from Missouri arrested Dr. Doy and sold the former slaves. Thereafter known as "The Immortal Ten", when they reached Lawrence they had their photo taken (above left). Soule was "a great favorite with the men of his own military company" and could express a "devilish sense of humor", being able to "slither under the thickest skin of pro-slavery or Union supporter alike, with his sharp tongue, cynical nature and charming wit; [being] wise beyond his years and able to separate the wheat from the chaff on matters of politics". Following his death, his widow remarried. She and her second husband, Alfred Lea, became the parents of the adventurer, author, and geopolitical strategist Homer Lea. Like Soule, she is buried in Denver's Riverside Cemetery.

Remembrance

thumb|right|350px|Marker at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic site in Colorado, USA

Soule's funeral on April 26, 1865, was attended by a large crowd, with military and civil dignitaries. A journalist described the funeral as "the finest ever seen in this country."

Soule was first buried at Denver City Cemetery (now the location of Cheesman Park). Soule's large memorial stone was not moved with his remains, and he now has a standard soldier's gravestone.

Recognition in Colorado

From 1998 to 2019, a Spiritual Healing Run/Walk was held in November to honor those killed at Sand Creek (after an interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Run began again in 2024). It began at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site in southeastern Colorado and concluded on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol. Starting in 2003, a memorial ceremony was also held at Soule's grave site, and in addition in later years at a Denver high-rise building where a memorial plaque honoring Soule was installed adjacent to Skyline Park, near the location of his murder. reported that Soule died directly in front of a Dr. Cunningham's house, which was at the corner of 15th and Arapahoe. this location on April 23, 1865, assassins shot and killed 1st Colorado Cavalry Officer Capt. Silas S. Soule. During the infamous Sand Creek Massacre of November 29, 1864, Soule had disobeyed orders by refusing to fire on Chief Black Kettle's peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho village. Later, at Army hearings, Soule testified against his commander, Col. John M. Chivington, detailing the atrocities committed by the troops at Sand Creek. His murderers were never brought to justice."

Legacy

thumb|upright|200px|Soule's grave at Riverside Cemetery in Denver

Soule's name has been proposed as a replacement name for several locations in Colorado. Soule was among several proposals submitted to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to rename Mount Evans. The USBGN chose the name Mount Blue Sky. A creek in Chaffee County (whose name previously included an offensive slur) was also proposed to the USBGN to be named for Soule, but the USBGN chose the name for a nearby geological site. In 2022, Soule's name was also submitted to the USBGN to replace Pingree Park, Pingree Road and Pingree Hill after Colorado State University renamed its nearby campus Colorado State University Mountain Campus.

About Soule's legacy, one writer has concluded:

:"Principle, not populism, is desperately scarce today. . . . Contrast that with Soule's willingness to sacrifice himself for vulnerable humans everywhere he encountered them: he fought Slavery even before the Civil War, he upstood at Sand Creek, and he rescued white settler children held as hostages. . . . To institutionalize principle, we need to elevate a role model like Silas Soule. . . . The marker at Arapahoe and 15th . . . is an insufficient tribute to someone who should be a household name."

Papers

Soule's letters to his family, as well as other original items from his life, are in the care of his collateral descendants in Iowa; transcripts of his letters and other documents, including some military records, are in the Denver Public Library. His letters to Walt Whitman are in the Library of Congress. Items relating to his time in Kansas are in the Kansas Historical Society collections.

See also

  • Hugh Thompson Jr., credited with intervening in, and later exposing, the 1968 My Lai massacre.

Notes

References

Further reading

  • Bensing, Tom. Silas Soule: A Short, Eventful Life of Moral Courage. Dog Ear Publishing, 2012. .
  • Hoig, Stan. The Sand Creek Massacre. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1977. .
  • Jacobs, Margaret D. After One Hundred Winters, In Search of Reconciliation on America's Stolen Lands. Princeton University Press, 2021. .
  • Kelman, Ari. A Misplaced Massacre: Strugging Over the Memory of Sand Creek. Harvard University Press, 2013. .
  • Kraft, Louis. Ned Wynkoop and the Lonely Road from Sand Creek. University of Oklahoma Press, 2011. .
  • Kraft, Louis. Sand Creek and the Tragic End of a Lifeway. University of Oklahoma Press, 2020. .
  • Turner, Carol. Forgotten Heroes and Villains of Sand Creek. History Press, 2010. .
  • Various Authors. Sand Creek Papers, Documents of a Massacre. Big Byte Books, 2016. .
  • Testimony of Captain Silas S. Soule before the military commission investigating the massacre of Cheyenne Indians at Sand Creek, Colorado, in 1864
  • Silas Soule, Soldier, Abolitionist, Friend of the Cheyenne and Arapaho (by Byron Strom, descendant of Silas's older brother William Soule)
  • The Sand Creek Massacre » Silas Soule
  • The Life of Silas Soule – Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)
  • Silas Soule American Hero with moral courage (by Tom Bensing, the author of Soule's biography)
  • Pension Application File for Hersa A Coberly Soule, Widow of Silas S Soule, Company D, 1st Colorado Cavalry Regiment (Application No. WC72533)
  • SILAS SOULE PAPERS, Denver Public Library