Silas Soule

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==

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). ==John Brown's Men==

After John Brown was captured following the raid on Harper's Ferry, Soule once again found himself planning a jailbreak. In February 1860, after Brown had been tried, convicted, and executed, Soule visited Brown's followers, Albert Hazlett and Aaron Dwight Stevens, jailed at Charles Town, (then in Virginia), and offered to help the men escape. As part of this plan, Soule posed as a drunken Irishman, got himself arrested for brawling, and was put into the Charles Town jail for the night. He managed to charm the jailer into letting him out of his cell for a short while during which he contacted the two prisoners. Hazlett, and Stevens, however, both refused to be sprung from the jail, choosing instead to become martyrs for the cause. They were both hanged on March 16, 1860. After his release from the Charles Town jail, Soule traveled to Boston, where he often met with various abolitionists and befriended the poet Walt Whitman. ==Life in Colorado and the Civil War==

Later in 1860, Soule—along with his brother William, and a cousin—was restless, and went west to the gold fields in Colorado where he dug for gold and worked in a blacksmith shop. ==Personal life and family==

Described as "[h]andsome and headstrong", 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. ==Death==

On April 23, 1865, two months after testifying before a U.S. military commission investigating the Sand Creek Massacre, Soule was on duty as provost marshal in Denver City, when he went to investigate guns being fired. At around 10:30 p.m., with his pistol out, Soule faced Charles Squier; the two men eventually standing only about four feet apart. The final act of Soule's life perhaps was intended to be an act of mercy; Soule fired a shot that wounded only Squier's left arm. Squier then fired a bullet that entered Soule's right cheek, mortally wounding him. The murder occurred on what is now 15th Street between Lawrence and Arapahoe Streets. ==Remembrance==

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. The marker is 100 feet from 15th Street and about 100 feet from Arapahoe Street, behind a black pillar supporting the building at that location. The inscription on the memorial plaque says: :"At 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==

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==