The Rifle Heritage Center is hosting a special presentation this Saturday that will explore the “real story” of the Mill Creek Battle and the history of the Mill Creek Battlefield Park. The Rio Blanco County Historical Society dedicated the battlefield park near Meeker in 2015. The site marks the graves of Army soldiers and Native American Ute warriors who were engaged in battle in 1879. The historical society has spent decades preserving the graves as it is the site of one of the last battles of the American Indian Wars that resulted in the Utes losing 16.5 million acres of their Colorado lands. The commemorative site was conceived by Jay Sullivan who shared in 2015 that the site’s purpose “is to establish an honored place where people of all races can meet in peace, learn from each other and resolve differences.” Joe Sullivan’s son Jay Sullivan is making the presentation this Saturday at the Rifle Branch Library at 2pm.
