Cheyenne (people)
The Cheyenne people are a Native American tribe whose roots trace back to southeastern Minnesota, originally living in woodland areas before migrating westward due to various conflicts and pressures from neighboring tribes. Today, they inhabit regions primarily in Montana and Oklahoma, with a population of approximately 11,375 reported in the 2010 US Census. The name "Cheyenne" likely derives from the Dakota Sioux language.
Historically, the Cheyenne evolved from settled agriculturalists into a predominantly nomadic society after acquiring horses around the early 19th century. Their culture thrived on the Great Plains, characterized by communal buffalo hunts and significant ceremonies that reinforced tribal unity. The Cheyenne were organized into ten distinct bands, each led by a chief and governed by a council that upheld peace and order within the tribe.
However, the arrival of European settlers and subsequent conflicts, including the infamous Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, disrupted their traditional lifestyle. The Southern Cheyenne were confined to reservations and faced a systematic effort at assimilation, which severely impacted their culture. In contrast, the Northern Cheyenne managed to retain more of their land and cultural practices. Despite historical challenges, the Cheyenne people continue to maintain their identity, traditions, and governance, with ongoing efforts toward economic development and self-determination.
Cheyenne (people)
- CULTURE AREA: Plains
- LANGUAGE GROUP: Algonquian
- PRIMARY LOCATION: Montana, Oklahoma
- POPULATION SIZE: 11,375 (2010 US Census)
The Cheyenne originally lived in woodland country in what is now southeastern Minnesota. The name Cheyenne is believed to come from the Dakota Sioux, who called the Cheyenne Šahíyena, a diminutive form of Šahíya, which in turn is believed to refer to the Cree people. They probably lived in permanent small villages of two to three hundred and hunted, harvested, and gardened.
Early History
By the late 1600s, the Cheyenne had begun to be displaced from their homeland by hostile neighboring tribes of Woodland Sioux, Cree, and Assiniboine. They sought escape by migrating westward to the prairie country in the southwestern corner of present-day Minnesota, but they were then forced by hostile Dakotas to migrate further northwest, to the prairies of the Sheyenne River in North Dakota. From 1725 to 1775, they established a number of fortified earthlodge villages along the river. They established cordial relations with, and learned horticultural techniques from, a number of tribes in the area, including the Oto, Iowa, Mandan, and Hidatsa. They also acquired horses and used them for hunting and war. Once again, however, they were forced to abandon their prosperous life, this time by hostile Ojibwa and Lakota tribes and the depredations of the European diseases of smallpox and measles.
Plains Phase
The Cheyenne left the prairie in the late 1700s and moved west across the Missouri River. A number of villages may have been established for a time on the Missouri River, but the Cheyenne had become a predominantly nomadic nation. Upon crossing the Missouri into the Great Plains, they encountered the Sutaio, who had been living on the plains for some time. The Sutaio also spoke an Algonquian dialect, and the two nations became closely allied. By 1820, the two nations had united, and the Sutaio became one of several distinctive bands within the Cheyenne.
The Black Hills, located in the northwest corner of South Dakota, became a spiritual and geographical center of the Cheyenne. The Cheyenne roamed over a vast area approximating a semicircle to the west, south, and east of the Black Hills. The first half of the nineteenth century represents the apex of Cheyenne culture. It was a period of stabilization, solidification, and prosperity. In 1840, the Cheyenne reached an accord with their traditional enemies, the Kiowa and Comanche, in order to fortify their southern flank against the Pawnee, Cherokee, and other tribes. They made peace with the Dakotas to oppose their mutual enemies to the north, the Crow and Shoshone. By 1830, the Cheyenne had obtained sufficient numbers of horses to abandon village life completely and become nomadic hunters and traders. Sufficient firearms had been obtained that they were able to become a formidable warrior nation.
Culture in the Early Nineteenth Century
The Cheyenne lived in tipis made from animal skins by the women. Women were also responsible for dressing skins for clothing and for gathering various edible plants. The men hunted game, fought battles, and performed most of the tribal ceremonies. The Cheyenne fought in order to acquire access to new territory to hunt, to maintain their traditional territory, to obtain horses, and to revenge previous defeats and deaths. Military virtue and bravery were glorified. In a sense, warfare was a game or competitive activity in which the Cheyenne counted the number of “coups” a warrior accumulated. A coup could include killing or scalping an enemy but could also involve “show-off” accomplishments such as touching the enemy or being the first to find him.
The Cheyenne consisted of ten bands, including the Sutaio. The bands lived separately in the winter but came together in the summer for the communal buffalo hunt and to perform sacred ceremonies (the Great Ceremonies) of unity and renewal, such as the Sacred Arrow Renewal and the Sun Dance, which they learned from the Sutaio. A large circular camp was constructed, and each band had a particular position it occupied within the circle. The circle symbolized the family tipis and reinforced the belief that the tribe was one large family.
Bands were composed of closely related kindred who customarily camped with one another. Kindreds were composed of individual conjugal and composite families. Each of the ten bands had a name, such as Eaters, Burnt Aorta, or Hair Rope Men. These were nicknames, often referring to a particular, unique characteristic of that band and emphasizing that each band had a distinctive identity and its own customs.
Each band was presided over by a chief, the man considered to be most outstanding in that band. A few members from each band were chosen as members of the Council of Forty-Four. This council had the responsibility of maintaining peace, harmony, and order among the Cheyenne bands and so was the supreme authority in the nation. The Council of Forty-Four was composed of chiefs committed to peace. It was separate from the Society of War Chiefs, who were chosen from the seven military societies to which males belonged. All peace chiefs were warriors. Upon joining the council, they could keep their membership in the war society but had to resign any position held. The Cheyenne recognized the virtues of separating civil and military powers. Each band contributed about four members to the council.
A council member served a ten-year term but could be reelected. A member had to be a man of highest virtue: even-tempered, good-natured, energetic, wise, kind, concerned for others’ well-being, courageous, generous, altruistic, and above reproach in public life. The council chose one of its members to be the head chief-priest of the entire nation, the Sweet Medicine Chief. Four other chiefs chosen by the council served as the head’s associates and were known, along with the Sweet Medicine Chief, as the five sacred chiefs. The tribal chief could not be deposed or impeached during his term, even if he committed a grievous crime such as murder.
The Council of Forty-Four symbolized the melding of spiritual, democratic, and moral values that characterized the Cheyenne. When the council was in session, the chief sat at the west side of the lodge, the center or zenith of the universe (heum). The five sacred chiefs were considered cosmic spiritual beings, and a number of other council members represented various spirits of the supernatural and mystical world. The council consisted of the wisest men and men in touch with the positive life forces from which emanated the good things which the Cheyenne desired. The high virtue of the council members symbolized the values the Cheyenne placed on dignity, chastity, courage, rationality, harmony with their environment, and a democratic tribal government.
1830s to 1870s
The Bent’s Fort trading post was established in southern Colorado in the late 1830s. Many Cheyenne moved south near the fort to establish a primary position of access to trade. This taxed the solidarity of the tribe because of the great distance separating those remaining in the north (who eventually became known as the Northern Cheyenne) from those who moved south (who eventually became known as the Southern Cheyenne). It became increasingly difficult for the whole nation to assemble for the Great Ceremonies of early summer. Also, the tribal council met less frequently and thus lost much power in regulating tribal affairs. One of the last unified gatherings for the Great Ceremonies occurred in 1842. The Northern and Southern Cheyenne then separated from each other and went their own ways.
In the 1840s, the westward movement of White settlers and gold seekers drastically upset traditional Cheyenne culture. Hunting areas were distributed, and a cholera epidemic in 1849 exterminated nearly half the tribe. The Santa Fe Trail ran through the heartland of Cheyenne territory. In 1851, the Cheyenne and eight other nations signed the first Fort Laramie Treaty with the United States. The treaty formalized the separation of Northern and Southern Cheyenne, merged the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho for treaty purposes, and assigned 122,500 square miles of territory (not a reservation) to them. It also permitted the United States to establish roads and forts on their territory (which had already been done).
The steady influx of settlers continued to disrupt tribal life, however, bringing the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho to near starvation in 1853. The Indians retaliated, and wars broke out between 1856 and 1878. Notable events included the massacre at Sand Creek in 1864 and the death of Black Kettle in 1868 at the hands of Colonel George Armstrong Custer. The United States assigned the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho to reservations in 1869, but they resisted until eventually overpowered in 1875. Some warriors were considered prisoners of war and sent to Florida.
The Northern Cheyenne joined with the Sioux in resisting the encroachment of gold seekers and settlers. Attempts by the army to confine them to reservations culminated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. They were captured and confined to reservations by 1884.
Since the 1870s
The Southern Cheyenne and the Arapaho were confined to a reservation in the Indian Territory in 1875. Their traditional nomadic hunting society was stripped from them as the federal government tried to assimilate them into American society by molding them into educated Christian farmers. Religious ceremonies were banned. The Council of Chiefs had disappeared by 1892. The military societies were disbanded. Additionally, the government consistently failed to provide adequate support services so that hunger, disease, and hopelessness became daily miseries. The Dawes Act of 1887, also known as the General Allotment Act, ultimately resulted in the loss of 3.5 million acres of unallotted reservation land that was bought by the government.
Confinement to reservations effectively ended traditional Cheyenne culture. The Northern Cheyenne fared much better than did their southern brethren. They eventually settled in 1884 on the Tongue River in Montana, in an area they chose and which was isolated from White settlers. Most of their land remained unallotted. Unallotted lands were not made available to White people. Today, the Northern Cheyenne nation spans approximately 444,000 acres of tribal land in southeastern Montana. Mineral resources, farming, and stock raising are the main sources of income.
The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and the Indian Claims Act of 1946, which established the Indian Claims Commission, redressed these injustices somewhat and encouraged increased self-government and the assumption of control over a number of services. This process was given further impetus by the 1975 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. Economic development is a high priority, but success has been spotty and many Cheyenne and other American Indian nations still live in poverty. Nevertheless, the Cheyenne have retained their essential identity, character, and traditions. The tribal government of the Northern Cheyenne runs numerous programs and offers services to its citizens, and the nation operates a community college called Dull Knife College. Close to 4,500 people lived on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana, according to the 2020 US Census.
In the 2010 US Census, 11,375 individuals identified as solely Cheyenne, with no other race or tribal membership reported. The total number of individuals identifying wholly or in part as Cheyenne, including those reporting two or more races, tribes, or both, was 19,051.
Bibliography
Berthrong, Donald J. The Cheyenne and Arapaho Ordeal: Reservation and Agency Life in the Indian Territory, 1875–1907. U of Oklahoma P, 1976.
Grinnell, George Bird. The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and Lifeways. Abridged and adapted by Joseph A. Fitzgerald, World Wisdom, 2008.
Grobsmith, Elizabeth S., and Beth R. Ritter. "The Plains Culture Area." Native North Americans: An Ethnohistorical Approach, edited by Molly R. Mignon and Daniel L. Boxberger, 2nd ed., Kendall/Hunt Publishing, 1997, pp. 199–252.
Hoebel, E. Adamson. The Cheyennes: Indians of the Great Plains. 2nd ed., Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978.
"Northern Cheyenne Nation." Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, americanindian.si.edu/nk360/plains-belonging-nation/northern-cheyenne. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
Sutton, Mark Q. An Introduction to Native North America. 5th ed., Routledge, 2017.