The Cheyenne are a tribe of Algonkian linguistic stock who were closely allied with the Arapaho and loosely allied with the Lakota Sioux. One of the most prominent of the Plains tribes, they primarily lived and hunted on hills and prairies alongside the Missouri and Red Rivers. They call themselves "Tsitsistas," which translates several different ways to “people alike,” “our people,” “red talker,” or “people of a different speech.”

Originally, the Cheyenne resided in the great lakes area in Minnesota and on the Missouri River. Here, they lived in earth-covered log houses in permanent settlements, farmed, and made pottery. However, in the late 1600’s they began a westward migration, most likely due to competition and conflict with the Ojibwe, Ree, and Mandan Indians.

As they migrated southwestward, their lifestyle changed to that of nomadic hunters and gatherers. In the 1700s, the Cheyenne acquired horses from the Spanish and became expert buffalo hunters, which was the life they were leading when Lewis and Clark encountered them in 1804 in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Pushed farther into the plains by the hostile Sioux, the Cheyenne, in turn drove the Kiowa tribe further south.

In 1832, the Cheyenne split into two groups, one inhabiting the Platte River near the Black Hills, and the other living near the Arkansas River further south in Colorado. However, bands of the tribe were known to have inhabited every state in the American West at various times.

Those who had moved to the Arkansas River found themselves in conflict with the Kiowa, who, with the Comanche, claimed the territory. Numerous battles took place between them up until 1840, when an alliance was formed with the Kiowa, Apache, and Comanche.  

By the Fort Laramie Treat of 1851, the first Cheyenne territory was established in northern Colorado consisting of the present-day sites of Ft Collins, Denver and Colorado Springs.

Their peace with the Kiowa enabled them to extend their incursions farther to the south, and in 1853 they made their first raid into Mexico with disastrous results losing all but three of their men in a battle with the Mexicans.

As more and more white settlers pushed west in the 1850s, the Cheyenne, along with their new allies, began to rebel against the pioneers, as well as the U.S. Army. When gold was discovered in Colorado, the 1851 treaty was broken and the territory that had been ceded to them was taken away. The Pike's Peak Gold Rush in 1858 brought the tension to a boiling point.

Indians soon began to attack wagon trains, mining camps and stagecoach lines, a practice that increased during the Civil War, when the number of soldiers in the area was greatly decreased. Soon, this led to what became known as the Colorado War of 1864-1865.

Cheyenne Indians, 1910, photo by Edward S. Curtis

This image available for photographic prints HERE!