The History & the Present of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe

Unsung History

During the 19th Century, the Northern Cheyenne people made a number of treaties with the United States government, but the U.S. repeatedly failed to honor its end of the treaties. In November 1876, the U.S. Army, still fuming over their crushing defeat by the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne at the Battle of Little Bighorn, attacked a village of Northern Cheyenne, destroying 200 lodges and driving the survivors, including women and children, into the freezing cold with few supplies. When the weakened survivors surrendered at Fort Robinson the following spring, believing they would be located on a northern reservation, they were instead forced north to Indian Territory in Oklahoma, where they faced miserable conditions. Finally in 1884, the Northern Cheyenne Reservation was established in what is now southeastern Montana.

Joining me in this episode is writer Gerry Robinson, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and author of The Cheyenne Story: An Interpretation of Courage.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Little Coyote (Little Wolf) and Morning Star (Dull Knife), Chiefs of the Northern Cheyennes,” photographed by William Henry Jackson in 1873; the image is in the public domain and is available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

• Northern Cheyenne Tribe
• Chief Dull Knife College
• “Northern Cheyenne Reservation Timeline,” Montana Tribal Histories.
• "Beyond "Discovery" Lewis & Clark from an Indigenous Perspective: Journal of American Indian Higher Education," by Richard Littlebear, Tribal College 14(3):11.
• “Treaty & Occupation,” Sand Creek Massacre Foundation.
• “In 1868, Two Nations Made a Treaty, the U.S. Broke It and Plains Indian Tribes are Still Seeking Justice,” by Kimbra Cutlip, Smithsonian Magazine, November 7, 2018.
• “Little Wolf and President Grant,” by Catherine Denial, TeachingHistory.org.
• “Battle of the Little Bighorn,” History.com, Originally posted on December 2, 2009, and updated on December 21, 2020.
• “Treaty With The Cheyenne Tribe, 1825,” Tribal Treaties Database.
• “Treaty Of Fort Laramie With Sioux, Etc., 1851,” Tribal Treaties Database.
• “Treaty With The Arapaho And Cheyenne, 1861,” Tribal Treaties Database.
• “Treaty With The Northern Cheyenne And Northern Arapaho, 1868,” Tribal Treaties Database.

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