Cheyenne

CHEYENNE

CHEYENNE. The word "Cheyenne" is Siouan in origin, and traditional Cheyennes prefer the term "Tsistsistas." As a tribal nation, the Cheyennes were formed from several allied bands that amalgamated around the Black Hills in the early eighteenth century to become one of the most visible Plains Indian tribes in American history.

Their political unity has been based on respect for four Sacred Arrows that were brought to them"444 years ago" by the prophet Sweet Medicine. Each year, the Cheyennes conduct an arrow ceremony in honor of their prophet and a sun dance that allows tribal members to fast and sacrifice to secure blessings for themselves and their tribe. Their politico-religious structure, unlike that of any other Plains tribe, could require all bands to participate in military actions. Consequently, Cheyenne military leaders were able to mobilize their warriors to carve a territory for the tribe that reached from the Arkansas River to the Black Hills, a large territory for a nation of only 3,500 persons.

The Cheyennes first entered American documentary history as potential trading partners for U.S. interests, in the narratives of Meri wether Lewis and William Clark in 1806. Within a few decades, however, military confrontations had begun, ultimately resulting in Cheyenne victories at Beecher Island in 1868 and the Little Bighorn in 1876, and tragic defeats at Sand Creek in 1864 and Summit Springs in 1869.

In their long history, the Cheyennes mastered three different modes of subsistence. As foragers in Minnesota during the seventeenth century, they lived in wigwams. As corn farmers on the middle Missouri River, they lived in earthen lodges surrounded by palisades. As full-time nomadic buffalo hunters, they rode horses and lived in tipis. Each of these lifestyles had a characteristic social structure. As foragers, they lived in chief-led bands where both sexes made equal contributions to the economy. During the farming period, women came to dominate the economy, doing most of the agricultural work and preparing buffalo robes for trade. A council of chiefs comprised men who were important because they had many wives and daughters. About 1840, some Cheyenne men became oriented toward military societies, who emphasized raiding rather than buffalo hunting for subsistence. War chiefs began to challenge the authority of the peace chiefs.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Cheyennes occupied two reservations, one in Oklahoma, which they shared with the Southern Arapahos, and another in Montana. The Cheyenne language was spoken

---

on both reservations, and they retained their major ceremonies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Grinnell, George Bird. The Cheyenne Indians. 2 vols. Reprint of the 1923 edition. New York: Cooper Square, 1962.

Moore, John H. The Cheyenne. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996.

John H. Moore

See also Little Bighorn, Battle of ; Sand Creek Massacre ; Tribes: Great Plains ; and vol. 9: A Century of Dishonor ; Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 ; Account of the Battle at Little Bighorn .