| abstract | - Silas Stillman Soule (July 26, 1838 – April 23, 1865) was a Massachusetts abolitionist, Kansas Territory Jayhawker anti-slavery militant, and later an officer in the Colorado infantry and cavalry during the American Civil War. Captain Soule was in command of Company D, 1st Colorado Cavalry, which was present at the Sand Creek Massacre on November 29, 1864. He refused an order of his commander, Colonel John Chivington, to join an attack a peaceful encampment of members of the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. Soule later testified against Chivington for the atrocities committed at Sand Creek, and was assassinated on a street in Denver soon afterward. The shooting was believed to have been an act of premeditated murder by Chivington loyalists as revenge for his testifying.
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