9. Soule sought further adventures in Colorado
Following the failure to rescue John Brown, as well as two of his supporters who Soule contacted through similar subterfuges, Soule traveled north to Boston. There he met with fellow abolitionists, discussed the situation in Kansas and Missouri, and became friends with the poet Walt Whitman. There, as with many others, the talk of the gold fields in Colorado caught his attention and in the spring of 1860 Soule traveled to Colorado in company of his brother and a cousin, intent on striking it rich in the region near Denver. As with so many others, the promise of gold was far greater than the amount of gold actually found.
In the absence of readily discovered riches from the ground, Silas worked in a blacksmith shop, and was so employed when news of the Civil War reached Colorado. Soule enlisted in the 1st Regiment of Colorado Volunteers in 1861, joining the 1st Colorado Infantry. The regiment was assigned to take part in the New Mexico Campaign in 1862. The campaign was initiated to prevent Confederate troops under Brigadier General Henry Sibley from seizing New Mexico and threatening the Colorado gold fields. The Confederates marched to the north and west along the Rio Grande River, and the Colorado troops moved to stop them.