Mark your calendar now and watch the website for details. This traveling tour will take us around southern Colorado ending at Sand Creek Battlefield. We will return to Colorado Springs for our annual banquet. Some sites visited will include Pueblo History Museum, Fort Garland, Bent's New Fort, Bent's Old Fort, Fort Lyon, Fort Wise, and of course Sand Creek. Don't miss out on this adventure in Colorful Colorado.
Don't forget there's so much to do and see in Colorado. Talk to the hotel about extending your stay at our price to see the sights.
Speakers
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Jerry Greene
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Greg Michno
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Ray Sumner
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Michael Hughes
John Carson, great grandson of Kit Carson will join us at Bent's Fort.
Synopsis
The OIW visited Sand Creek in 2002 from a base in Pueblo, Colorado. We returned in 2003 because the very site of Sand Creek had suddenly added to the many controversies of the contentious battle (or massacre). We are about to revisit Sand Creek which today is a national park historic site, with a new name. Once the site was marked by an historic marker proclaiming this was the site of the Battle of Sand Creek. The new marker tells that this is the site of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. Truth be told, this may not even be the site of the most controversial incident in the history of the Indian wars.
The headquarters will be the Elegante Hotel in Colorado Springs. Those flying in will be pleased to find the hotel offers complimentary shuttle service to and from the Colorado Springs airport. Talks begin at 1:00 pm on Thursday, Sept. 12. Speakers will be Jerry Greene, Greg Michno and Ray Sumner, plus others to be announced. Our now traditional BBQ, followed by a movie, beer and popcorn wraps up the evening.
Friday starts with a visit to El Pueblo Museum in Pueblo, Colorado. This is truly a well hidden gem. Then a box lunch at Fort Garland and a tour of this finely restored frontier fort - once under command of Kit Carson. From there, we’ll head to the Holiday Inn in LaJunta, Colorado. Our dinner will be in a local restaurant. All meals are included in the tour fee.
Saturday we will travel to For Lyon #2, Bent’s New Fort, the site of Fort Wise (and Fort Lyon #1), the Big Timbers Museum at Lamar, Colorado, home of a great collection of artifacts from the battle of Sand Creek. From Lamar we head to the jewel of the tour, Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site. Without question, this reconstruction will be the highlight of our entire tour. Our guide for this terrific post, and indeed the whole day, will be John Carson, Kit Carson’s great-grandson. We will end the day at Boggsville, the site of Kit’s first internment, beside Josepha. After dinner at a local restaurant, we’ll spend this night at the Holiday Inn Express in LaJunta. Sunday morning we depart for Sand Creek. Our guide for Sand Creek will be Greg Michno. Lunch in Eads, then home to the Elegante Hotel in Colorado Springs. We end the assembly with our banquet. Don’t miss the Road to Sand Creek.
Click on the boxes for links to information about stops on this year's assembly path.