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Silas Soule (1839-1865) was a
Massachusetts abolitionist, Kansas Jayhawk, and a Volunteer in the Colorado Infantry.
Silas Soule was born into a family of abolitionists in Massachusetts. He was raised as such, and in 1854, his family became part of the newly formed Emigrant Aid Society, an
organization whose goal was to help settle the Kansas Territory and
bring it into the Union as a free state. They arrived in Kansas, near Lawrence,
before the end of the year.
Upon the family's arrival in Lawrence, Amassa Soule established their household as a stop on the Underground Railroad. At the young age of 15, Silas was escorting escaped slaves from Missouri north to freedom. At the age of 18, pro-slavery forces from Missouri and abolitionist forces from Kansas were engaged in open warfare. The fight was over
which side of the slavery issue Kansas would be admitted to the Union. This war, known as Bleeding Kansas, would see Silas Soule become an expert of hit and run tactics. His name soon held
wide-spread recognition around Kansas.
In 1859, Silas was part of a much celebrated action on the Missouri Border. Twenty
pro-slavery soldiers had crossed into Kansas to look for escaped slaves. The chanced upon Dr. John Doy, a physician in Lawrence,
and the twelve slaves he was escorting. The men from Missouri arrested Dr. Doy and sold the twelve slaves. Dr. Doy was soon tried
and convicted in Missouri for assisting escaped slaves. Silas Soule and a group of other men from Lawrence decided to free Doy.
Silas was sent into the jailhouse where Doy was being held. Silas convinced the jailkeeper that he had a message from Doy's wife.
The note, in fact, read "Tonight, at twelve o'clock." Later that night, they overpowered the jailer, freed Doy, and led him
across the Missouri back to Kansas.
His skills at prison escapes came into use once again when John Brown , a friend of the Soule family, was captured after his raid on Harper's Ferry. Soule found his way into the
prison where Brown was being held, some say by posing as a drunk. Once inside, he tricked the jailer into letting him see Brown.
When Soule explained the plans to Brown, Brown refused to be rescued, himself having developed a new plan to end slavery. Brown
had decided to become a martyr for the abolitionist cause, and was hung.
Silas Soule later found himself in the west once again. In 1861, he enlisted in Company
K, 1st Regiment, Colorado Infantry. He made his way up the ranks, and in November,
1864, he found himself at the head of a Cavalry
Company. On November 29, 1864,
Silas Soule and his company found themselves at Sand Creek, Colorado. Colonel John Chivington ordered the cavalry to attack the Cheyenne
encampment. Silas Soule saw that the Cheyenne were flying the US flag as a sign of peace, and when told to attack, ordered his
men to hold their fire and stay put. The resulting battle is now known as the Sand Creek Massacre, one of the biggest massacres in US history.
Chivington was very angry over Soule's refusal to attack the camp and branded him a coward. Soule's men came to his defense,
saying that Soule was indeed very courageous in refusing Chivington's order.
The massacre sparked outrage and shock around the country. The army began an investigation into the massacre, and Soule
testified against Chivington. On April 23, 1865, Charles Squires shot Soule in the
head at his Denver home, killing Soule. It is thought that Squires was hired by men
loyal to Chivington to kill Soule. One of Soule's men, First Lieutenant James Cannon, tracked Squires down in New Mexico and brought him back to Denver to stand trial. Squires escaped and Cannon
was poisoned. Squire was never captured again.
Soule's short life has made him into a forgotten hero. His testimony against Chivington and about the massacre at Sand Creek
led, in part, the US Congress to refuse the army's request for thousands of
men to exterminate the Native population.
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