Cheyenne

Cheyenne, North American Plains Indians who spoke an Algonquian language and inhabited the regions around the Platte and Arkansas rivers during the 19th century. Before 1700 the Cheyenne lived in what is now central Minnesota, where they farmed, hunted, gathered wild rice, and made pottery. They later occupied a village of earth lodges on the Cheyenne River in North Dakota; it was probably during this period that they acquired horses and became more dependent on the buffalo for food.

After their town was destroyed by the Ojibwa (Chippewa), the Cheyenne settled along the Missouri River near the Mandan and Arikara tribes. Toward the close of the 18th century, smallpox and the aggression of the Dakota Sioux decimated the village tribes at the same time that the horse and gun were becoming generally available in the northeastern Plains. The Cheyenne moved farther west to the area of the Black Hills, where they developed a unique version of nomadic Plains culture and gave up agriculture and pottery. During the early 19th century, they migrated to the headwaters of the Platte River in what is now Colorado. In 1832 a large segment of the tribe established itself along the Arkansas River, thus dividing the tribe into northern and southern branches. This division was recognized in the First Treaty of Fort Laramie with the United States in 1851.

Traditional Cheyenne religion focused upon two principal deities, the Wise One Above and a god who lived beneath the ground. In addition, four spirits lived at the points of the compass. The Cheyenne performed the Sun Dance in a very elaborate form. They placed heavy emphasis on visions in which a guardian spirit adopted the individual and bestowed special powers upon him or her so long as certain prescribed laws or practices were observed. Their most-venerated objects, contained in a sacred bundle, were a hat made from the skin and hair of a buffalo cow and four arrows—two painted for hunting and two for battle. These objects were carried in war to ensure success over the enemy.

Traditional Cheyenne society was organized into 10 major bands governed by a council of 44 chiefs and 7 military societies; the Dog Soldiers were the most powerful and aggressive of the military groups. There were also social, dance, medicine, and shamanistic societies; a given society was generally open to either male or female members but not to both.

ledger drawing

The Cheyenne fought constantly with the Kiowa until 1840, when a lasting peace was established between them. From 1857 to 1879 the Cheyenne were embroiled in raids and wars with U.S. military troops; the conflicts often caused suffering for civilians, including Cheyenne and settler women, children, and elders. The tribe began raiding emigrant settlements and military and trading posts on a wide front after the Sand Creek Massacre (1864), in which a peaceful Cheyenne village was destroyed by the U.S. cavalry. In the Treaty of Medicine Lodge (1867), the Southern Cheyenne were assigned a reservation in Oklahoma, but they settled there only after 1875. After George Armstrong Custer’s attack on their Washita River village in 1868, the Southern Cheyenne were fairly peaceful until 1874–75, when they joined in the general uprisings of the southern Plains tribes. In 1876 the Northern Cheyenne joined the Dakota in the Battle of the Little Bighorn and there defeated Custer.

Early 21st-century population estimates indicated more than 20,000 Cheyenne descendants.