The Cheyenne Indians have two reservations in Montana and Oklahoma. Originally called Tsistsistas, they were displaced by the Sioux and became nomadic, following buffalo. They split into two groups in 1832 and were peaceful until broken treaties led to the Indian Wars. The Sand Creek Massacre led to a belief that no treaty with the white man was possible, and some Cheyenne Indians were forced to move to Oklahoma, while others joined the Northern Cheyenne in Montana.
The Cheyenne Indians, one of the Plains Indian tribes, are a Native American nation that owns two reservations; one in southwestern Montana, where the Northern Cheyenne live, and one in Oklahoma, which is the home of the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho. The two factions are related as one nation, but have separate tribal governments. The Cheyennes were originally called Tsistsistas, which meant beautiful people. The Sioux, however, referred to them as Cheyenne meaning “red talker” or people with a different language, and that name eventually got adopted.
The first recorded European contact with the Cheyenne Indians occurred in 1680 when a representative of the tribe invited French traders to visit and trap their lands. At this time the tribe was settled on the Red River in what became Minnesota where they lived in villages and trapped, traded and farmed. Over time, they were displaced by the Sioux, who in turn were driven west of their father. The Cheyenne migrated across the plains to Wyoming and South Dakota near the Black Hills. After coming west, they became a nomadic tribe following the movement of the buffalo, which quickly became their main source of food.
The tribe had a warrior caste system based on the age of the men. Eventually a caste known as the Dog Soldiers became so powerful that they ruled nearly the entire Cheyenne nation. Dissension between the castes gradually developed, and in 1832 the Cheyenne Indians split into two groups, the Southern Cheyenne and the Northern Cheyenne. The northern faction remained along the Platte Rivers while the southern group moved into western Kansas and eastern Colorado along the Arkansas River.
Although the Cheyenne had occasional battles with the Sioux, Comanche and Kiowa, they were quite peaceful and willing to resume friendly relations with former enemies once the fighting was over. As a general rule, the Cheyenne Indians did not fight white settlers until 1861. Enraged by broken treaties and encroachments on lands ceded to them, they joined neighboring tribes in attacking white settlements, wagon trains, and farms in a series of referred to as the Indian Wars.
In September 1864, the Southern Cheyenne Indians met with Major Wynkoop and successfully concluded a peace agreement that gave them the right to settle southern Colorado. Chief Black Kettle withdrew his people to the area along Sand Creek and established a winter village. To demonstrate that they were living within the terms of the agreement, the chief displayed both a white flag and an American flag in the village. In complete disregard for peace negotiations, Colonel John Chivington of the Colorado militia led 700 volunteers into the defenseless village in what became known as the Sand Creek Massacre.
Furious at the betrayal, the survivors joined the Dog Soldiers in the belief that no treaty with the white man was possible. The Northern Cheyenne, who had not participated in the previous raids, joined Sitting Bull of the Sioux and fought at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. In time the Southern Cheyenne Indians were captured and forced to move to Oklahoma lands, where many died of malaria and starvation. Under the leadership of Chief Little Wolf and Chief Blunt Knife, also called Chief Morning Star, a group of Cheyenne Indians left the southern reservation in an attempt to join the northern tribe. Most were captured and eventually killed, although a small group of survivors made their way to Montana, where they were eventually granted reserve rights.
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