The Cheyenne have been closely linked with the Arapaho from their days in the Red River area of Minnesota and North Dakota. They are also members of the Algonquian linguistic family. The call themselves "T sis tsis tas", meaning "people alike". They were originally agriculturalists and pottery makers living in permanent villages.
They became the symbol of plains tribes, as buffalo hunters, forgetting how to make pottery or how to farm, even forgetting some of the stability of their own culture. But they cherished the land, buffalo, and most of all, their freedom. They were friends with the Arapaho, camping together and intermarrying. They waged war together on other tribes, as war was a central institution. Their cultures were so much alike. In addition to the Sun Dance, they also observed the Buffalo Head Ceremony. They had a set of arrows that no woman, white man, or half breed was allowed to come near. These were four sacred arrows, each of a different color, that was said to have been possessed by the Cheyenne from the beginning of time. The Cheyenne are said to still have these in their possession.
The advancement of white settlements had come true as prophesized by Sweet Medicine, first chief of the Cheyenne. The prophecy of manifest destiny also foretold of bloodshed and wars.
Charles Bent, the son of William Bent and Owl Woman, was a trusted friend and trader with the Cheyenne people. But not all white men treated them fairly. They took advantage of them and introduced them to alcohol.
They also had the bands and age socieites. One of the military societies more familiar to the white man was known as the Dog Soldiers. Members were usually chosen for their ability to fight and their bravery. The Kiowa and the Crow also had dog soldiers, but the reputation of the daring acts belonged to the Cheyenne. They were the most feared warriors of the southern plains.
Black Kettle and Lame Bear, Chiefs, wanted peace. Black Kettle had been invited to the White House in Washington D.C. to help promote this peace but it wasn't to last long. Lame Bear was killed by U.S. troops. This inflamed the dog soldiers and accelerated the range wars.
Colorado Territorial Governor John Evans decided to open up the hunting grounds to white settlements to help promote the gold rush. He wanted the Indians out and Colonel John Chivington was only to happy to oblige. He had formed the Third Colorado Cavalry and on an early November morning in 1864, attacked the peaceful sleeping village of Cheyenne that was camped out along the Sand Creek, murdering (among other atrocities) more than 200 men, women, and children, including Chief White Antelope. This was to become known as the Sand Creek Massacre.
Black Kettle gave up the land between the Platte and Arkansas Rivers and agreed by the Medicine Lodge Treaty to live on a reservation on the Washita River in Oklahoma. Black Kettle and his small group were not allowed to be a part of the main group of Cheyenne so their camp was much farther away, making them susceptible to the attack of General Custer and his troops. Black Kettle along with about 100 native peoples lost their lives and many other wounded; five soldiers were killed and about another fourteen were wounded. All Black Kettle wanted was to live in peace, he paid for the actions of the dog soldiers and the deaths symbolized the loss of freedom.
The dog soldiers had blamed Black Kettle for the Sand Creek Massacre and refused to follow his orders and wishes. Many other supporters of the dog soldiers joined the band, almost forming their own tribe, and followed Roman Nose on attacks and raids of soldiers and white settlers with vengeance. They refused to live on the reservation and fled to the panhandle of Texas and made one more attempt at freedom. The battle at Adobe Walls and the subsequent conquest of the Southern Cheyenne, was to be one of the last in the war against the white man. They finally settled on the reservation near the Washita River in Oklahoma. Their days of freedom were over.
Source:
COLORADO, A HISTORY OF THE CENTENNIAL STATE; by Carl
Abbot, Stephen J. Leonard, and David McComb; Third Ed. pub.
University Press of Colorado 1994.
AMERICAN INDIAN CONCISE ENCYCLOPEDIA; by Bruce Grant,
1893; 1994 ed. pub. by Wing Books
"The Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho" at http://www.cheyenneandarapaho.org/
"NATIVE AMERICANS-The End of an Era" at http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/dorijoe999/awake.html/
My notes from viewing "Real West, "The Great Cheyenne
Nation-The Fight to Survive" episode on the History Channel,
Sept 2, 1999
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Southern Cheyenne
Updated 06/28/2008
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