While the title of "Indians" was given as a catch-all for North American tribes, it is the Cheyenne people who reside in the lands nearest Lago. It is tempting for fearful farmers and townsfolk to see these imposing, clever warriors as vicious, savage stereotypes; yet how else would they be expected to fight, besieged by a foreign government that seeks to strip them of their freedom, steal their land, and murder their women and children?

Cheyenne Characters

Iron Hawk Chief of the local Cheyenne tribe, Iron Hawk is a respected figure among his people. He has proven himself in many battles, against both the other tribes and the invading whites. His viewpoint, though not strictly anti-white, does condemn much of what the white man has brought down upon the Cheyenne and their plains brothers. As if the wave of illnesses that came with the settlers is not proof enough, the whites' trade cheap trinkets and spirit-stealing whiskey to the Cheyenne in exchange for valuable hides, tools, and knowledge.

Cheyenne Culture
The word "Cheyenne" is a Sioux word that means "alien speakers". The Cheyenne call themselves Tsistsista, which means "the people". A male-dominated people, they live in a well-organized and highly adaptable society.

The Cheyenne, by nature, are no more war-like or violent than anyone else, but continual violations of treaties and violent actions taken against them have forced these proud people into a violent standoff with the encroaching American culture. A warrior society known as the "Dog Soldiers", or the "Crazy Dogs" are the most well-known of the Cheyenne warriors.

Traditional clothing and diet once depended heavily upon the buffalo, but now contain elements of American/European influence. Though they still wear the buckskin garments of their people, many Cheyenne have begun to make use of the cloth textures that the whites have brought from the east. Buffalo hides are also used for their traditional dwelling, the three-poled tipi. These dwellings are highly adaptable to the weather, being rain-proof and surprisingly warm during colder seasons.

A very religious people, the Cheyenne practice a form of religion that blends worship of a divine force and that of their ancestors. Practicing a tradition known as "tree burial", the Cheyenne dress the body of the deceased in good clothes, the face is painted, and then wrapped in a buffalo hide to be placed high up in the arms of a tree. If they were in a treeless area, a burial scaffold was built upon four upright poles.

Mourning for the deceased usually lasts a year. Close relatives might paint their faces black, cut their hair short, or scar their arms and legs to show their grief outwardly. A relative or loved one might moan and wail near the grave, even though they believed that such areas were rife with spirits. Even enemy tribes would not molest a gravesite for fear of vengeance from the spirit world. Great respect is paid to the dead in the belief that they may affect the world of the living; they have the power to appear in this world, sometimes to visit with relatives or loved ones. They may be called upon by medicine men to reveal powers of healing, or to work in the spirit world for the good of their descendants on earth.

Two rituals are prominent among the Cheyenne: the Sun Dance and the Sacred Arrow Renewal. The Sun Dance is usually done in the early summer, and is a rigorous test of faith and stamina not employed by all tribes. In moderate cases, the dancer (who has previously taken a vow to perform the Sun Dance) merely dances over a period of a few days, going without food or water to induce a spiritual state through the body's suffering. In some versions of the dance, the dancer will pierce his chest with skewers of wood, attaching him to a long, upright pole by rawhide strips. He'll then dance until the flesh of his chest tears, freeing him from the pole. The ordeal is undertaken to gain favour in the spirit world for the purposes of visions or aid needed in life matters. It is never undertaken lightly or for trivial matters.

The Sacred Arrow Renewal comes from an ancient Cheynne tale in which their Supreme Being, Maiyun, gave four sacred arrows to the great hero Sweet Medicine. Sweet Medicine learned from Maiyun that two of the arrows had great power over the buffalo, and the other two over humans. He was charged with the responsibility of the proper care and the ceremonies of the arrows, and teaching the Cheyenne their powers. The two arrows intended for buffalo were to be pointed at the herd before the hunt, rendering them helpless before Cheyenne arrows. The two intended for people were to be pointed at enemies before battle, causing them to be blinded and confused. Tradition holds that these four arrows have been kept wrapped together in a fox skin, and handed down from one generation to another, guarded by a man known as "the sacred arrow keeper". The arrows are unvieled on special occasions in a four-day long ceremony.

Cheyenne History
The Cheyenne were originally a woodland tribe in the Great Lakes area, living as an agricultural people in earth lodges. As those lands grew more crowded, they migrated west to join the folk of the plains, quickly adapting to the use of horses and the nomadic lifestyle of their plains brothers. Allied with the Sioux and the Arapaho, they struggled against the Kiowa, Crow, Pawnee, and Comanche for territory as the whites slowly encroached upon their lands.

1851 - Word of gold and land for settlement causes whites to drift west in ever-increasing numbers. This brings about not only raids on white settlements, but incessant war between the Indian tribes. The Fort Laramie Treaty is designed to put a stop to this by designating specific boundaries to tribal lands. The American government promised to provide the native tribes with financial and military aid, and that the tribes would hold possession of their lands forever. The chieftains, for their part, promised to cease aggressive activities toward each other, the whites, and to allow the U.S. government to build outposts and roads through Indian land. It is seen as fair, and is signed by the chieftains of the Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow, Arikara, Assiniboin, and other tribes. Negotiators for both sides are made liars of by their own people; small bands of natives continue aggressive behaviour (against the word of their chiefs), and the U.S. government blatantly ignores the terms of the treaty.

1854 - A rowdy Lakota youth shoots a Mormon farmer's calf. U.S. troops storm the Lakota camp to arrest the youth. Conquering Bear, the chief of the tribe, and one of the great chiefs who signed the Fort Laramie Treaty, offers to pay for the calf as the treaty requires. The officer in charge of the U.S. forces refuses to accept this option, and insists upon arresting the youth responsible. Meeting resistance, the U.S. forces open fire on the Lakota camp - all but one of the troops is killed by the Lakota retaliation. Conquering Bear is killed in the skirmish. The army retaliates by sending out a force which kills over 80 Lakota men, and carries off 70 women and children. The Lakota discover very quickly that they cannot trust the American government.

1859 - Pikes Peak gold rush sparked an enormous population boom in Colorado, and this led to extensive white encroachments on Cheyenne land. Even the U.S. Indian Commissioner admitted that "We have substantially taken possession of the country and deprived the Indians of their accustomed means of support."

1861 - Rather than evict white settlers, the government sought to resolve the situation by demanding that the Southern Cheyenne sign a new treaty ceding all their lands save the small Sand Creek reservation in southeastern Colorado. Black Kettle, fearing that overwhelming U.S. military power might result in an even less favorable settlement, agreed to the treaty in 1861 and did what he could to see that the Cheyenne obeyed its provisions.

The Sand Creek reserve turned out to be little more than a deathtrap. Barely fit for agriculture, it was suited only to breeding disease that ravaged the Cheyenne who were trapped there. By 1862, the nearest herd of buffalo was 200 miles away. Many Cheyenne, especially the younger men, began to prey upon the cattle and livestock of Colorado farmers.

1864 - White residents of Colorado dispatch their militia to attack the Cheyenne. By cruel coincidence, the first band of Cheyenne they found had nothing to do with the raids. The leader was approaching the militia to inquire what they wanted when the militia opened fire. This sparks off a massive uprising across the plains, as Lakota, Cheyenne, Comanche, and many others strike out at the whites who have persecuted and robbed them, believing that the U.S. Army is too involved with the American Civil War to raise an effective counterstrike.

The great Cheyenne peace-maker, Black Kettle, fears that the U.S. will unite against a common foe and begin a war that would be disasterous to the Indian population. He meets with army officers and agrees to lead his people back to Sand Creek, on the condition that they may travel, and live, in peace.

A Colorado militia force lead by the Civil War "hero", John M. Chivington, attacked the settlement in Sand Creek at the dawn of November 29th. Even though the American flag was raised over the chief's tent to show his loyalty to the U.S., the soldiers murder over two hundred people, including women and children, and proceed to scalp and sexually mutilate the corpses. Soldiers blow the brains out of children, and cut the unborn fetuses from pregnant women with their sabres. They then display their "war trophies" to cheering crowds in Denver.

Black Kettle manages to live through the slaughter, even when he returned in an attempt rescue his greviously injured wife from the marauding whites. She is killed in the rampage, and Black Kettle is reported dead, though he manages to escape. (It should be noted that Black Kettle was no coward - he had previously proven himself a brave man in war time and again, through battles with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Pawnee. Indians of the Southern Plains, by William K. Powers, asserts that Black Kettle was shocked and dazed by the seeming betrayal of the government that had promised him peace. "Blindly trying to flee up a frozen creek bed, he saw his people massacred before his eyes. Men, women, and children were mercilessly murdered as they tried to escape... He heard the pleas of women and children, begging for mercy as the hardened Volunteers shot them down with deliberate aim.")

Congressional and military investigations condemn the slaughter, but no disciplinary action is taken.

1865 - Though Black Kettle, his surviving warriors, and their Arapaho alilies block the gold trail across Colorado, he still advises peace with the whites as his people strike back with raids on wagon trains and ranches. A new treaty is signed exchanging the horrible Sand Creek lands for a more suitible reservation in Kansas. Hunting provisions were included in this treaty, but were promptly ignored by the U.S. goverment. Many of the Cheyenne choose to head north and join the Lakota instead. A large group of young warriors chose to follow the war leader, Roman Nose, and wander their traditional lands in spite of the government's preferences. This causes a military campaign to be launched against them, the furious fighting that follows stopping travel across Kansas for the duration of the campaign.

1867 - The Medicine Lodge Treaty is created by the U.S. government in an effort to force the Indians onto smaller reserves in "Indian Territory" (modern Oklahoma), and thus clearing more land for whites. The Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, and Arapaho sign. Black Kettle is among the chiefs who sign, forced to give up their traditional homelands. In pitiful exchange, the government pledged to establish schools on the reserves, and to teach the natives to farm the land. As with other treaties, the U.S. government ignores their promises, driving more Cheyenne to join Roman Nose in his war against the U.S.

1868 - The second Fort Laramie Treaty is created and signed by Chief Red Cloud of the Lakota, and General William Tecumseh Sherman on behalf of the U.S. government. This ends the wars in Montana as the U.S. agrees to abandon its forts and grant large parcels of land in Wyoming, Montana, and Dakota territories to the Lakota. This allows the U.S. army to focus on other warring bands.

Colonel George Armstrong Custer is sent against the Cheyenne. Deciding to attack them in the winter, when they are the most vulnerable, his troops track a Cheyenne raiding party and come upon a Cheyenne village on the Washita River. Though the village is well within the lands assigned the Cheyenne by the government, the chief's tipi was flying a white flag, and there was no evidence that the raiding party they followed was in the village, Custer's men attacked on November 12th. More than 100 men, women, and children were murdered, including the peace-making chief, Black Kettle.

One witness to the event reported; "Both the chief and his wife fell at the river bank riddled with bullets. The soldiers rode right over Black Kettle and his wife and their horse as they lay dead on the ground, and their bodies were all splashed with mud by the charging soldiers." Col. Custer later reported that an Osage guide took Black Kettle's scalp.