What we know
Five captured members of Jim Reynolds's Confederate guerrilla band, being taken from Denver to Fort Lyon by Company A, 3rd Colorado Cavalry, were shot 'at the old Russellville townsite' in early September 1864; the guard said they tried to escape (Rocky Mountain News, Sept. 9, 1864). The News's account is the soldiers' version.
Where it was
Placed just east of the Russellville marker: the News says only that it happened 'at the old Russellville townsite', a few miles beyond the California Ranch on the road south.
Placed from a written description, such as a land section, a distance from a landmark or an old survey note.
Sources
Sources are named in the text above. Numbers such as S-0080 refer to our source list. Most newspaper quotations were read in the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. Long quotations from recent books are shortened here.