If I’d known the story of Silas Soule when I was writing
“Just Following Orders,” I would have been sure to include
him among the remarkable true characters I included in
the historical fiction. Since I didn’t until his story appeared
on the front page of the Lawrence Journal World (Lawrence, KS)
last month, all I can do now is tell you about the courage that
Silas showed, first as a teenager and later as a man in his
20’s.
At 16, he came in 1854 with his family to Lawrence, Kansas,
where I now live. As one of the courageous families who were
devoted to abolishing slavery, Silas soon found himself playing a
dangerous role, escorting runaway slaves and rescuing captured
abolitionists. Chances are when the massacre occurred here in
Lawrence, Silas was off fighting for the Union so that he escaped
being one of the victims. Perhaps his heart was so touched by the
news of what happened at Lawrence, when 250 children were
left fatherless in the massacre, that he was extra sensitive to
another tragedy that occurred a year later, this time one that
he was “supposed” to be a part of. I’m referring to the Sand
Creek Massacre, which you can read about in "Just Following
Orders." This massacre, like Lawrence, was one of the bloodiest
in U. S. history. The difference was that it wasn’t carried out by
Confederate sympathizers, but by Union soldiers, under the
command of a Methodist minister, no less!
At 26, Soule was a captain in the U. S. Cavalry when the order to
attack Sand Creek (in Colorado Territory, just across the Kansas
border) was issued. Soule refused to obey! Yet his name isn’t
very well known in history, though it should be. For what he did
was remarkable! As a young man of courage and character, he
was willing to stand up against power greater than his own,
because he must have recognized full well that torturing and
killing people was something he could not be a part of, no
matter what the consequences.
On that awful day in late November of 1864, which we can only
pause to notice now and learn from, almost as many citizens of
Sand Creek were slaughtered as in Lawrence. The big difference:
all of the Sand Creek victims were Native Americans and most
were women and children.
Less than six months later, Soule was dead. He was shot because
of his testimony during the hearings that followed when officials
in Washington, D. C. wisely opened an investigation. Despite the
military action being condemned, Chivington, that Methodist
minister, was never prosecuted. In fact, he was given a hero’s
burial!
Not sure what kind of burial Soule got. Yet today his name and
honor have been preserved. Thankfully, in December, 2014,
there was finally an apology issued to the victimized tribes along
with ceremonies to commemorate Soule’s act of courage.
For more information on “Just Following Orders,” my 2014
historical fiction, plus the 5th and 6th-grade version "Mighty TALL
Orders," see www.justfollowingorders.takecourage.org
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