20. Soule continued to serve as an assistant provost marshal in Denver
While still an officer in the 1st Colorado Volunteers, Soule served as an assistant provost marshal – a policemen, in essence – in Denver. He mustered out as a soldier in early 1865, but continued to serve as a provost marshal, a position he held when he delivered his testimony, and when Chivington announced his $500 bounty. Following his testimony, he and other provost marshals patrolled Denver’s streets. The city remained divided over the Sand Creek affair, and the reporting of events in eastern newspapers was bitterly decried by those of the west. Other than in Denver, Soule’s role in the affair was almost completely unknown.
Few of the letters which Soule and Walt Whitman exchanged survive, and in those that do there is little discussion of political affairs. Instead, Soule’s letter are frank reports of his travels and adventures, including while on military expeditions. Another letter which he wrote, to Ned Wynkoop, reported his objections to the attack on Black Kettle’s village at Sand Creek, stating that he made the objections to officers of the 3rd Colorado Volunteers, who in turn reported them to Chivington. In both his testimony and his surviving letters, he never stated that he made the objections directly to Chivington, neither before nor after the attack.