By Mike Bowen
Irving Howbert, the grandson of one of the founding fathers of Colorado Springs and soldier at Sand Creek, also named Irving Howbert, visited Chuck and Sheri Bowen’s Sand Creek discovery site in 2007 at the age of 92.
His grandfather’s book, Memories of a Lifetime in the Pike’s Peak Region, had recently been rereleased. The author and soldier at Sand Creek, Irving Howbert, wrote about his life in Colorado along with what was happening on the plains before Sand Creek and why he chose to enlist to fight with the Colorado 3rd Cavalry.
The soldier’s grandson came out to our Sand Creek site with his wife, Janet, in September 2007 to see where his grandfather fought. A small ceremony was held the night before at the Cow Palace Inn in Lamar to discuss Bowen’s Sand Creek findings and to honor Howbert with an honorary membership into the U.S. Cavalry Association. The president of the Lamar Chamber of Commerce, Bryan Herrera, provided opening remarks at the ceremony and thanked the Howberts for coming to Lamar.
“I am delighted to be here,” Howbert said.
Butch Kelley, representing the U.S. Cavalry Association, presented Howbert with a certificate declaring him an honorary member.
Bowen discussed the artifacts he found and where he found them. His location site starts just over two miles up the creek from the monument at the National Park Service Sand Creek site.
“I encourage those here to do research on history, there are two sides to every story,” Butch Kelley said. “If you go at it with an open mind, you will open your eyes to what happened.”
Howbert viewed artifacts, including cannonball shell fragments. “These are wonderful discoveries you have made.”
The grandson passed away in 2014, just seven years after visiting the Bowens’ Lost Sand Creek Site, where thousands of artifacts were discovered.
More information about Howbert and his grandfather that fought at Sand Creek is discussed in the book, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site. There is a lot of information about Sand Creek and artifacts discovered that have never been made available to the public before.
To learn more about this book or to purchase a copy, check out the website: https://www.thelostsandcreek.com.
You can also give the Facebook page a follow at https://www.facebook.com/BowenHistory.
Howbert wrote this letter in June 2007 before coming to see the Lost Sand Creek Site that September.
