The soldiers’ behavior after the fighting was over was reported in subsequent congressional investigations.

Officers who had refused to participate in the attack documented what they observed.

The soldiers mutilated the bodies of the dead, taking scalps and other body parts as trophies.

When they returned to Denver, they displayed these trophies at a theater.

The crowd cheered.

The death toll at Sand Creek has been estimated in various ways.

The most careful modern analyses suggest approximately 150 to 200 Cheyenne and Arapaho people were killed, though some estimates are higher.

The overwhelming majority were non-combatants.