[ansel12]

The Sand Creek Massacre is remembered, out of the many hundreds of battles with the Indians, because US troops indulged in atrocities to a degree roughly comparable to the normal practices of "the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions." To quote the Declaration of Independence. IOW, at Sand Creek the Army did what (most of) the Indians always did. Actually less than, since even Chivington didn't haul away prisoners for later leisurely torture.

Sand Creek was done by Colorado Militia volunteers, not regular US Army troops.

[Sherman Logan]

That is correct.

I’m unclear on how this makes a difference relative to the vast majority of Union forces at the time, which were also volunteers, not regulars.

[ASOC]

“Sand Creek was done by Colorado Militia volunteers, not regular US Army troops. “

A common thread elsewhere/elsewhen

Han;s Mill, MO 1838
The militia involved in the massacre was led by Colonel William Jennings, Sheriff of Livingston County. At the time of the attack it consisted of 240 men...

Iron County, UT 1857
Another massacre, again, a local militia.

Red River, LA 1874
In 1874 a **paramilitary organization** of Southern Democrats known as the White League attacked Republican officeholders. The massacre took place in Red River, Louisiana and left 26 people dead.
A Militia? You guess.

BTW - Wounded Knee was Army Regulars, the 7th Calvary.

In more modern times...

Ludlow, CO 1914
The Ludlow Massacre was an attack by the Colorado National Guard and Colorado Fuel & Iron Company camp guards on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado, on April 20, 1914. Some two dozen people, including women and children, were killed.

IF you do a search of “militia” and “massacre” you see examples all over the world, even today.

Whether or not the action is cloaked by the notion of “organized military” is immaterial, as is the timeframe, it all proof of the ability of Mankind to be a savage....