American Indian tribes whose ancestors were killed at the Sand Creek Massacre 156 years ago have submitted their preference for renaming Mount Evans.

The Wilderness Society and the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes have filed a petition with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Board of Geographic Names to rename the iconic fourteener Mount Blue Sky.

It’s Mount Evans’ fourth official name proposal and the only one that has been recommended by the Native American tribes who suffered at the Sand Creek Massacre.

The mountain was named after Colorado’s second territorial governor, John Evans, who was not present at the attack, but helped create a situation that made the Sand Creek Massacre possible and then refused to acknowledge or criticize what had happened. He was forced to resign as governor over the controversy.

“We don’t think it’s appropriate to have a mountain on public land named after someone who supported the indiscriminate killing of Native Americans and facilitated one of the worst massacres in American history,” said Paul Spitler, Wilderness Society policy director.

“We’re very interested in making sure our public lands are inclusive to all people.”

The two tribes solidified the name Mount Blue Sky on Sunday during a three-hour ceremony attended by chiefs and tribal members at the massacre site near Eads.

Fred Mosqueda, Arapaho coordinator of the Culture Program of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, said the weather was cold, but that they could feel their ancestors smiling.

“It was so windy, it was tough to get going. We sang the songs and this feeling came over us,” he said. “They were happy we still came.”

The 700 Cheyenne and Arapaho who had gathered at Sand Creek on Nov. 29, 1864, had been promised a peaceful existence by the government. Two hundred and thirty Cheyenne and Arapaho, mostly women, elderly and children, were slaughtered when volunteers from the 1st and 3rd Colorado Cavalry regiments ambushed them at sunup.

The massacre poisoned relationships and was a catalyst for wars between the Army and Native Americans for years.

The tribes recognize the tragedy at Sand Creek every year, but this time they had to keep the attendance down due to COVID-19 concerns.

The final decision on whether to rename Mount Evans is likely months away and rests with the Board of Geographic Names, but only after hearing from the State Geographic Naming Advisory Board, which will work with Clear Creek County officials.

The state board will likely not be addressing the Mount Evans name change at its next meeting in January, said member Tim Mauck. He said in an email that there are still administrative tasks like bylaws and processes to work out that might take two meetings to complete.

With this latest addition, there are four names proposed for the peak: Mount Cheyenne Arapaho, Mount Soule, Mount Rosalie and now Mount Blue Sky. Silas Soule is the Army captain who disobeyed orders from his commander, Col. John Chivington, to fire on the camp during the ambush.

Mount Rosalie was the original name of the peak, so named by landscape artist Albert Bierstadt after a friend’s wife with whom he was having an affair.

Mosqueda, who is a Southern Arapaho, says the Wilderness Society helped advise them on what the lengthy renaming process would entail.

At a recent meeting of the State Capitol Advisory Board, Mosqueda spoke on behalf of the Southern Cheyenne people in support of replacing the statue of the Civil War soldier on the west steps of the State Capitol with a memorial to the Sand Creek Massacre. The board approved the Sand Creek Memorial location on Nov. 21.

It might feel like change is happening quickly, but for Mosqueda this has been a decadeslong struggle for acknowledgment

“I praise God that Colorado, after all of these years, is hearing us,”

he said.