Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site

A student pauses while viewing the area.

Students use viewing telescopes to see the area where the massacre took place.

The viewing area.

A bird rests on a fence overlooking the area reserved as sacred ground.

A Native American dream catcher is left on a fence post overlooking the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site.

Prayer flags hang from a tree at sunrise.

A Native American prayer flag hangs from a tree.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Alexa Roberts is the superintendent of Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. “At first,” she says, “we spent our time wondering how to talk about it. Now we’re talking about it.”

Trees glow red at sunrise.

Shawn Gillette, chief of interpretation at Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, kneels in the grass where the massacre happened.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The park displays letters written by witnesses of the massacre.

A detail of a letter written by a witness.

A historical sign with the title “Pleas for Peace” stands at the site.

Wispy clouds and tall grass blows in the wind.

A deer looks across a field at sunset near Eads, Colo.

A grain elevator stands tall at sunset in Eads, Colo.

A view of the Eads Bowling Lanes in eastern Colorado.

A windmill is silhouetted against the sky at sunset in Eads, Colo.

A public rest stop in Eads, Colo., has displays about the Sand Creek massacre and the historic site.

Sun rises over the area where hundreds of Native American people were slain, at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)