Comments by "Colonel K" (@Paladin1873) on "Caspar Collins and the Battle of the River Platte Bridge" video.

  1. I would like to correct a popular misconception at the beginning of this video. John Chivington was never a US Army Colonel. He served in the U.S. Volunteers (USV), a sort of forerunner of the National Guard. As with state militia forces, the USV augmented the Regular Army in times of war but was separate from it. No Regular Army unit participated in the Sand Creek Massacre, nor did all of the USV forces join in. Captain Silas Soule refused to obey Chivington's orders, and he stood down his company, but they watched the unfolding horror, which he later described in gory detail at an official Army inquest. His testimony was very damning of Chivington and helped turn the nation against him, thus ruining Chivington's planned political aspirations. Soon afterwards, Soule was murdered in retribution. His killer, Charles Squier, though wounded by Soule, escaped, but suffered a most deserving fate five years later in Central America when his legs were crushed, resulting in gangrene and death. Despite his past crimes, his body was buried in Mississippi with honors.
    5