After the extensive surrenders in 1877 of the hostile Northern Cheyennes, in the Departments of Dakota & the Platte, a number were sent under guard to the Cheyenne & Arapaho Agency, at Fort Reno, Indian Territory, on 8 August 1877. Subsequent to that date other small parties surrendered & some died, so that on 1 July 1878, the number of Northern Cheyennes, at Fort Reno amounted to more than 940. An attempt had been made by General Pope, commending the Department of the Missouri, to disarm & dismount these Indians, so as to place them on the same footing with the Southern Cheyennes, but as it was found this could not be done without violation of the conditions of their surrender, they were permitted to retain their arms & ponies.
A large part of the Northern Cheyennes found friends among the Southern Cheyennes, mixed with them, & joined the various bands. About one-third of the Northern Cheyennes, however, under the leadership of "Dull Knife," "Wild Hog," "Little Wolf," & others, comprising about 375 Indians, remained together & would not affiliate with the Southern Cheyennes. Dissatisfied with life at their new agency, they determined to break away, move north, & rejoin their friends in the country where they formerly lived. Their intention to escape had long been suspected & their movements were consequently watched by the troops, but by abandoning their lodges, which they left standing, about 89 warriors, & slightly less than 250 women & children escaped from the agency on 9 September 1877.
Although troops were dispatched from several posts to intercept & return them to the agency, the Indiana eluded their pursuers & continued north raiding settlements for stock & committing other depredations. On 21 September a minor skirmish took place between the Indians & Army troops assisted by citizens. Six days later, Colonel Lewis' command overtook the Cheyennes on "Punished Woman's Fork" of the Smoky Hill River, where the Indians were found very strong entrenched & waiting for the troops. Colonel Lewis attacked them at once & was mortally wounded while leading the assault. In the clash, 3 enlisted men were wounded, one Indian killed; 62 head of stock were captured.
In spite of all precautions, the Cheyennes managed to escape & continue north. Two Cheyennes who had been taken prisoner by cowboys told authorities the fugitives had intended to reach the Cheyennes, supposed to be at Fort Keogh, Montana, where, if permitted to stay, they would surrender, otherwise they would try to join Sitting Bull, who still remained in Canada. The prisoners also said that the escaping Cheyennes had lost 15 killed in the various fights subsequent to their escape from Fort Reno.
On 23 October, two troops of the 3d Cavalry captured 149 of the Cheyennes & 140 head of stock. "Dull Knife," "Old Crow," & "Wild Hog" were among the prisoners. Their ponies were taken away, together with such arms as could be found, but the prisoners said they would die rather than be taken back to Indian Territory. "Little Wolf" & some of his followers escaped and, in January 1879, additional members of the tripe escaped to join "Little Wolf" after a skirmish with troops near Fort Robinson.
Some of the escaping Cheyennes strongly positioned on some cliffs were intercepted, but again they escaped. However, two days later they were again located near the telegraph line from Fort Robinson to Hat Creek, where they were entrenched in a gully. Refusing to surrender, they were immediately attacked & the entire party either killed or captured. "Dull Knife" their leader was among those killed.
On 25 March "Little Wolf" & his band were overtaken near Box Elder Creek by a force made up of two troops of Cavalry, a detachment of Infantry, a field gun, & some Indian scouts. The Indians were persuaded to surrender without fighting & gave up all their arms & about 250 ponies, & marched with the troops to Fort Keogh. The band numbered 33 men, 43 squaws, & 38 children.
The earliest known written record of the Cheyenne comes from the mid-17C, when a group of Cheyenne visited the French Fort Crevecoeur, near present-day Peoria, Illinois. The Cheyenne at this time lived between the Mississippi River & Mille Lacs Lake in present-day Minnesota. The Cheyenne economy was based on the collection of wild rice & hunting, especially of bison, which lived on the prairies 70–80 miles west of the Cheyenne villages.
According to tribal history, during the 17C, the Cheyenne had been driven by the Assiniboine (“rebels”) from the Great Lakes region to present-day Minnesota & North Dakota, where they established villages. The most prominent of the ancient Cheyenne villages is Biesterfeldt Village, in present-day eastern North Dakota along the Sheyenne River. The tribal history also relates that they 1st reached the Missouri River in 1676. A more recent analysis of early records posits that at least some of the Cheyenne remained in the Mille Lac region of Minnesota until about 1765, when the Ojibwe defeated the Dakota with firearms - pushing the Cheyenne, in turn, to the Minnesota River, where they were reported in 1766.
On the Missouri River, the Cheyenne came into contact with the neighboring Mandan, Hidatsa ("people who have soil houses"), & Arikara people (Ónoneo'o), and shared cultural characteristics. They were first of the later Plains tribes into the Black Hills & Powder River Country. About 1730, they introduced the horse to Lakota bands (Ho'óhomo'eo'o - “the invited ones (to Cheyenne lands i.e. the Black Hills)”). Conflict with migrating Lakota & Ojibwe peoples forced the Cheyenne further west; & they, in turn, pushed the Kiowa to the south.
By 1776, the Lakota had overwhelmed the Cheyenne & taken over much of their territory near the Black Hills. In 1804, Lewis & Clark visited a surviving Cheyenne village in North Dakota. Such European explorers learned many different names for the Cheyenne, not recognizing that the different segments were forming a unified tribe.
The Cheyenne Nation reportedly is descended from 2 related tribes, the Tsétsêhéstâhese/Tsitsistas (Cheyenne proper) and Só'taeo'o/Só'taétaneo'o (better known as Suhtai or Sutaio) who may have joined the Tsétsêhéstâhese in the early 18C. Their oral history relays that both tribal peoples are characterized & represented by two cultural heroes or prophets who received divine articles from their god Ma'heo'o.
After being pushed south & westward by the Lakota, the unified Cheyenne people began to create & expand a new territory of their own. Sometime around 1811 the Cheyenne made a formal alliance with the Arapaho people (Hetanevo'eo'o – "People of the Sky“, also known as Héstanėheo'o – “people, mankind, tribe of people”), which would remain strong throughout their history. The alliance helped the Cheyenne expand their territory which stretched from southern Montana, through most of Wyoming, the eastern half of Colorado, far western Nebraska, & far western Kansas. As early as 1820, traders & explorers reported contact with Cheyenne at present-day Denver, Colorado & on the Arkansas River. They were probably hunting & trading in that area earlier. They may have migrated to the south for winter. The Hairy Rope band is reputed to have been the first band to move south, capturing wild horses as far south as the Cimarron River Valley. In response to the construction of Bent’s Fort by Charles Bent, a friend of the Cheyenne who established a popular trading area for the Cheyenne, a large portion of the tribe moved further south & remained around the area. The other part of the tribe continued to live along the headwaters of the North Platte & Yellowstone rivers. The groups became the Southern Cheyenne, known as Sówoníă (Southerners) & the Northern Cheyenne, known as O'mǐ'sǐs (Eaters). The separation of the tribe was only a geographic & the two groups had regular & close contact.
In the southern portion of their territory, the Cheyenne & Arapaho warred with the allied Comanche, Kiowa, & Plains Apache. Numerous battles were fought including a notable fight along the Washita River in 1836, with the Kiowa resulting in the death of 48 Cheyenne warriors of the Bowstring society. In summer 1838, many Cheyenne & Arapaho attacked a camp of Kiowa & Comanche along Wolf Creek in Oklahoma causing heavy losses on both sides. Conflict with the Comanche, Kiowa, & Plains Apache ended in 1840, when the tribes made an alliance with each other. The new alliance allowed the Cheyenne to enter the Llano Estacado in the Texas & Oklahoma panhandles & northeastern New Mexico to hunt bison & trade. Their expansion in the south & alliance with the Kiowa led to their first raid into Mexico in 1853. The raid ended in disaster with heavy resistance from Mexican lancers, causing all but 3 of the war party being killed. To the north the Cheyenne made a strong alliance with the Lakota Sioux, which allowed them to expand their territory into part of their former lands around the Black Hills. They managed to escape the smallpox epidemics, which swept across the plains from white settlements in 1837-39, by heading into the Rocky Mountains; but they were greatly affected by the Cholera epidemic in 1849. Contact with Euro-Americans was mostly light, with mountain men, traders, explorers, treaty makers, & painters.
