The Cheyenne

With the exception of the Sioux, the Cheyenne are perhaps the best known of all the Plains Indians. Famous for their fighting qualities, they fought a series of unforgettable battles with the U.S. Army and white settlers seeking to seize their lands and alter their lifestyle. They claimed a place in history at the Powder River, the Rosebud, and the Little Bighorn. Against the irrepressible surge of U.S. westward expansion during the 1800s, Cheyenne warriors fought and died for the land they loved.-- Publisher's description.

What should a man do when the army sends him to help kill his wife's family? His grandson and Northern Cheyenne tribe member, Gerry Robinson, reaches back through time to unravel the emotional and complex story. Bill Rowland married into the Northern Cheyenne Tribe in 1850, eventually becoming the primary interpreter in their negotiations with the U.S. government. On November 25, 1876--five months to the day after Custer died at the Little Bighorn--Bill found himself obligated to ride into the tribe's main winter camp with over a thousand U.S. troops bent on destroying it. The Cheyenne Sweet Medicine Chief, Little Wolf, had been to the white man's cities. He knew how many waited there to follow the path cleared by soldiers who were out seeking revenge for their great loss. He also knew that the hot-blooded Kit Fox leader, Last Bull, emboldened by their recent victory and convinced he could defeat them all, posed a dangerous threat from within. Tradition and the protestations of the boisterous young leader prevented Little Wolf's warnings from being taken seriously. This is the balanced and compelling story of the ensuing battle"€"its origins and the devastating results"€"told beautifully from the perspective of both Little Wolf and his brother-in-law, the government interpreter, Bill Rowland. Pulled from the dark historical shadow of Custer, Crazy Horse, and the Lakota, The Cheyenne Story vividly brings to life the little known events that led to the end of the Plains Indian War and the beginning of the Cheyenne's exile from the only home and lifestyle they had ever known. In a commendable effort to preserve the Cheyenne language in written word, Gerry Robinson worked closely with tribal elders and Cheyenne cultural leaders to accurately and seamlessly incorporate the language into his text. Robinson's characters use the Cheyenne language in their dialogue, and the reader comes to know and understand its meanings contextually and by employing the accompanying glossary of Cheyenne words and phrases found at the back of the book.

This book provides a history and ethnography of the Cheyenne people from their prehistoric origins north of the Great Lakes to their present life in the reservations in Oklahoma. It is based on archaeological material, historical and linguistic evidence and draws vividly on the oral traditions of the Cheyenne themselves.

An overview of the past and present of the Cheyenne including their history, food and clothing, homes and family life, and government.

In offering this book to the public after having had the manuscript actually on my desk for more than nine years, let me say frankly that no one realizes better than myself, now, the magnitude of the subject and the many faults of my attempt to handle it. My attention was first directed to the Sign Language in 1882 when I went to live in Western Manitoba. There I found it used among the various Indian tribes as a common language, whenever they were unable to understand each other's speech. In later years I found it a daily necessity when traveling among the natives of New Mexico and Montana, and in 1897, while living among the Crow Indians at their agency near Fort Custer, I met White Swan, who had served under General George A. Custer as a Scout. He had been sent across country with a message to Major Reno, so escaped the fatal battle; but fell in with a party of Sioux, by whom he was severely wounded, clubbed on the head, and left for dead. He recovered and escaped, but ever after was deaf and practically dumb. However, sign-talk was familiar to his people and he was at little disadvantage in daytime. Always skilled in the gesture code, he now became very expert; I was glad indeed to be his pupil, and thus in 1897 began seriously to study the Sign Language. In 1900 I included a chapter on Sign Language in my projected Woodcraft Dictionary, and began by collecting all the literature. There was much more than I expected, for almost all early travellers in our Western Country have had something to say about this lingua franca of the Plains. As the material continued to accumulate, the chapter grew into a Dictionary, and the work, of course, turned out manifold greater than was expected. The Deaf, our School children, and various European nations, as well as the Indians, had large sign vocabularies needing consideration.

Examines the history, changing fortunes, and current situation of the Cheyenne Indians.

Once one of the most well-known and feared tribes in the western United States, the Cheyenne have endured many difficulties since the arrival of settlers in the 1800s. This book discusses the Cheyenne’s intricate history, the tradition of their fierce Dog Soldiers, their prosperous and peace-seeking leaders, the hardships they faced as their lands were gradually taken from them and their tribes relocated throughout the United States, and how the Cheyenne have upheld their traditions while adapting to an ever-changing society.

Brave Eagle grows to manhood amid the constant changes and turmoil on the Plains. Now, in a world full of choices, Brave Eagle must make many decisions, some for his survival. This period is a time of exploration, discovery, and settlement in the West; intervention and treaties with the U. S. Government; leadership issues between the peace chief Black Kettle and the war leader Roman Nose, the Dog Soldiers, the Sand Creek Massacre, the Massacre at Washita. Is Brave Eagle to be a man of war or a man of peace? *Is he to be a fierce frightening warrior or a wise peacemaker? Can he learn to adapt to the white man's world, or would he be able to hold on to the rich traditions of the grandfathers? In the middle 1800's, the white man's world collides with the world of the Native Americans. How would this affect the people of the Plains? Where will this life journey take Brave Eagle?