John H. Monnett. Tell Them We Are Going Home: The Odyssey of the Northern . Norman: University of Press, 2001. ix + 252 pp. $27.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-8061-3303-4.

Reviewed by Jason Charles Newman

Published on H-AmIndian (February, 2002)

An Epic and Defning Journey for the North‐ tory at the and Arapaho Reservation ern Cheyennes (Darlington Agency, ) led to the Although several authors have chronicled the determined exodus of 353 individuals in an at‐ history of the Cheyennes, none have paid as close tempt to fnd safety near the Tongue and Powder attention as Metropolitan State History Professor rivers in . The 1500-mile journey began John Monnett to the fight of Little Wolf and Dull with the initial breakout of the Northern Knife along with their people to freedom in Mon‐ Cheyennes from barracks at the Darlington Agen‐ tana, South Dakota, and northern be‐ cy on September 9. It culminated in the fnal sur‐ tween 1878 and 1879. Both George B. Grinnells su‐ render of Little Wolf and his people near the Yel‐ perb trilogy and Mari Sandoz epic, Cheyenne Au‐ lowstone River in Montana on March 25, 1879. tumn (1953), focus on the extended history of the The context for their refusal to remain at Darling‐ Northern and Southern Cheyennes. Monnett's ton lay in the Great War of 1877, during more narrowly focused work, however, is the frst which the Cheyennes aided the Lakotas in their academic, nonfction, and extended treatment of military attempt to oust non-Indians from the sa‐ the yearlong journey that embodies the central cred . event of modern Cheyenne history. To Monnett, Forced by military authorities to remove the exodus of the Cheyennes is equally as impor‐ south to Indian Territory from temporary confne‐ tant, though far less chronicled, than the heroic ment at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, approximately travail of the Nez Perce under Chief Joseph, a ma‐ 972 Cheyennes (predominantly northerners) be‐ jor media event that transpired in 1877, the year came dissatisfed at the lack of freedom, poor before the Cheyennes began their odyssey north. food, and distant relocation they were forced to Monnett demonstrates that the adamant re‐ endure. According to the author, within weeks of fusal of the Northern Cheyennes under Dull Knife their arrival, both Dull Knife and Little Wolf, ac‐ and Little Wolf to live in Southern Cheyenne terri‐ complished and respected leaders of the Northern H-Net Reviews

Cheyennes, organized over a third of their people young Cheyenne warriors, they were acquitted in to fee north. They were unsuccessfully pursued part due to sympathetic public sentiment and fed‐ by waves of federal troops, beginning with the 4th eral disinterest in the case. Favorable press out‐ Cavalry sent from . The superb execu‐ side of , Nebraska, and Wyoming also en‐ tion of military maneuvers by the out-numbered abled the Northern Cheyennes in 1884 to secure a Dull Knife and Little Wolf, chronicled extensively reservation (the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reser‐ by Monnett, enabled the Cheyennes to choose the vation, formerly the Tongue River Reservation) in location and timing of engagements as they made their ancestral homeland, rather than remain in rapid progress towards their homeland. exile along with other tribes in Indian Territory. At a critical juncture north of the Platte River Monnett explains his approach to the subject in southern Nebraska, Dull Knife and Little Wolf in terms of threading multiple perspectives to‐ split up their party in early October 1878. Dull gether to tell the story of one event. He gives Knife and 150 Cheyennes continued further equal credence to all viewpoints regarding the ex‐ northeast, fnally deciding to surrender near Fort odus in an attempt to acknowledge the historical Robinson in the hopes of receiving favorable presence and integrity of all peoples in the Ameri‐ treatment from federal troops. Little Wolf and his can West (p. xix). The author synthesizes a collec‐ band hid for weeks, rushing further north into tion of fragmented sources gleaned from many ar‐ Powder River country and fnally surrendering chives, including manuscripts left by white mili‐ near Ft. Keogh on the Yellowstone River. tary ofcers, records of enlisted men in the Na‐ While imprisoned at Fort Robinson, Dull tional Archives, and Cheyenne oral accounts Knife and 120 of his followers on January 9 or‐ recorded by anthropologist George Grinnell, to chestrated a daring but costly breakout during the provide a coherent and gripping narrative of the dead of winter that ranks in the top echelon of odyssey. Still, one wonders if conducting exten‐ stories of American resistance according to the sive oral interviews amongst modern Cheyenne author. Cheyenne women, some of them carrying descendants might have revealed an even children, fought soldiers as Cheyenne men creat‐ stronger Indian voice. Monnett also successfully ed a rear-guard action against the garrison at Fort utilizes biography to briefy fesh-out key charac‐ Robinson. But most of the Cheyennes were cut- ters and connect their history to developments af‐ down less than a mile from the barracks as they fecting the Cheyennes in the late nineteenth and attempted to fee to safety across the White River. early twentieth century. To the author, the history Dull Knife and several other Cheyennes miracu‐ of the Cheyennes and the non-Indians around lously escaped and later hid amongst the Lakotas them is forever intertwined since all interacted on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where they were over the same space and time, though often in di‐ allowed to stay. rect competition for land and resources. A running battle that embarrassed the federal Attempting to distance himself from naming government and military, the successful fight of victims and victimizers, Monnett avoids laying the Northern Cheyennes elicited widespread cov‐ blame to any one side during the confict. Instead, erage by the press (particularly the Chicago Sun he examines the actions of the Cheyennes, local Times and Frank Leslies Illustrated Newspaper), white settlers, and the federal government ac‐ leading to severe public criticism of the military. cording to the cultural norms of the Victorian-era The author reveals that although several and Cheyenne society in the late nineteenth cen‐ Cheyenne leaders were later put on trial in east‐ tury. The result is a multi-perspective history of ern Kansas for the killing of white settlers by the exodus, one that elevates this important phase

2 H-Net Reviews of Cheyenne history within the larger history of orchestrated the Cheyenne odyssey, however, the American people. must surely have continued to fght for their While in fight, young Cheyenne warriors, an‐ rights on sacred ground won back from the feder‐ gry at the total war being inficted upon them and al government. desperately needing horses and supplies to con‐ A well-documented and meticulous study tinue the exodus, attacked scores of white settlers composed of ten chapters written in clear prose, in western Kansas and Nebraska, killing over Tell Them We Are Going Home also provides efec‐ forty and raping several women and girls. Their tive photos. These bring to life vital and little- actions infamed local whites and still remain known aspects of the Cheyenne odyssey, such as problematic for modern Indian-white relations in the remarkable survival story of Iron Teeth, who the region. Although Monnett adequately explores for ffty years held fast to an elk horn scraper Cheyennes' motivations regarding the murders, made by her husband who was killed during the he fails to provide an equally penetrating analysis fight. Of particular merit is an extensive chronol‐ of the military actions of white soldiers against ogy that parallels the detailed reconstruction of the Cheyennes during the fight. The cultural rea‐ the exodus. Two maps also help to visualize the sons behind the murder of Cheyenne women and precise movements of the Northern Cheyennes children by federal troops never receive adequate during their escape northward. treatment in the book, producing at times a two- For both a general audience and scholars of dimensional portrayal of white soldiers and feder‐ Cheyenne history, Tell Them We Are Going Home al decision-making. provides a penetrating look into a central event in Monnett refreshingly modifes many of the American history. monolithic portraits of Indian behavior portrayed by previous scholars of Cheyenne history. In par‐ ticular, he calls attention to the diversity of view‐ points within Northern Cheyenne society over most issues confronting them. He also reveals a clear tension existing between the Northern and Southern Cheyennes at the Darlington Agency, which shaped the actions of Dull Knife and Little Wolf in returning north. Monnett demonstrates that due to warfare with the whites, many of the Northern Cheyennes since the 1850s held more of an afnity for the Lakotas with whom they had extensively intermarried than they did for the Southern Cheyennes, who were geographically isolated from their northern relatives. One point that could be further clarifed con‐ cerns the level of freedom achieved by the Cheyennes after winning their reservation. Utiliz‐ ing the aboriginal lifeways of the Cheyennes as a point of comparison, Monnett claims that the Cheyennes completely lost their independence following the 1878-79 exodus. A people who had

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Citation: Jason Charles Newman. Review of Monnett, John H. Tell Them We Are Going Home: The Odyssey of the Northern Cheyennes. H-AmIndian, H-Net Reviews. February, 2002.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=5925

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