# Hungate site (1864)

- URL: https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/hungate-site-1864/
- Also known as: Van Wormer ranch
- Kind: Forts, raids and the Indian wars
- Status: Historic or vanished
- County: Elbert County, Colorado
- Point: 39.561, -104.5365 (from a cited description (good to a quarter mile))

- Updated: 2026-10-06

## What we know

Nathan and Ellen Hungate and their daughters Laura and Florence were killed here on June 11, 1864; the killings set off the panic of that summer and became the stated pretext for Sand Creek. On the Elbert-Arapahoe line, 14 miles north of Elizabeth: inside the research box at its northern edge (N flag). Scott's 1999 trail map marks 'Hungate Massacre June 18, 1864' within 0.1 mile of this point (S-0106); note his date, June 18, against June 11.

## Where it was

NE 1/4 of Sec. 3, T6S R64W (Broome 2004, from his fieldwork); Burkey (1935, guided by Van Wormer's daughter): 'about one hundred yards south of the county line', east of Running Creek. Good to about a quarter mile.

Placed from a written description, such as a land section, a distance from a landmark or an old survey note.

## Nearby

- [Orsburn](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/orsburn/): 8.4 mi south
- [Wolfcreek](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/wolfcreek/): 8.6 mi east
- [Hilltop](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/hilltop/): 10.8 mi southwest
- [Running Creek](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/running-creek/): 12.1 mi south
- [Ponderosa Park](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/ponderosa-park/): 12.2 mi southwest
- [The Pinery](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/the-pinery/): 12.8 mi southwest

Source numbers (S-0000) refer to https://palmerdivideresearch.com/sources/. Compiled by Michael Christensen for Palmer Divide Research; CC BY 4.0.