THESIS STRATEGIES OF THE ARAPAHOS AND CHEYENNES FOR COMBATING NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICAN COLONIALISM Submitted by Stephen Hilger History Department In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado Summer 2009 Copyright by Stephen Hilger 2009 All Rights Reserved E99 .A7 H545 2009 COLORADO STATE UNIVERSI1Y July 13, 2009 WE HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER OUR SUPERVISION BY STEPHEN HILGER ENTIlLED [STRATEGIES OF THE ARAPAHOS AND CHEYENNES FOR COMBATING NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICAN COLONIALISM] BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING IN PART REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF HISTORY. ii COLORADO STATE UNIV. USRARla ABSTRACT OF THESIS STRATEGIES OF THE ARAPAHOS AND CHEYENNES FOR COMBATING NINETEENTH CENlURY AMERICAN COLONIALISM The nineteenth century was a period of ttttbulence for the Cheyenne and Arapaho people and both tribes relied on existing culttttal systems of socio-political organization to confront the new challenges brought by this new era of change. At the dawn of the century, the two tribes elected to embrace the horse and a nomadic equestrian lifestyle on the Great Plains. Although the adoption of the horse offered a path to acquire great wealth, the animal's ascendance as the critical material good within both societies stressed existing social relationships. The second new phenomenon confronting the Cheyennes and the Arapahos during the nineteenth century was the influx of American settlers onto the Front Range following the Colorado gold rush. American setders not only brought a contending ecological relationship with the nattttal environment, but also competing conceptions of property and power. These new dynamics threatened the viability of equestrian lifestyles as nattttal resources were put under high levels of stress and became privatized by the new boundaries of capitalism. To confront the challenges brought by the horse and American expansion, the Cheyennes and Arapahos developed indigenous political strategies expressed through their respective socio-political institutions. In Arapaho cultttte, males were progressively organized into peer groups through the lodge system. The lodge system directed Arapahos' interactions with foreign actors, as the tribe utilized intermediaries to relay pre-established iii political decisions made by the tribe's elders known as the Water Pouring Men, functioning to avert instances of violence with the United States and limit tribal factionalism. Similarly, the Cheyennes own socio-political institutions, the Council of Forty Four and the warrior societies, directed their relationship with United States in a different historical trajectory. While the chiefs of the Council of Forty Four strived to use peace and diplomacy in solving critical political issues, the warrior societies preferred methods of violence to advance Cheyenne interests. After the violent massacres of Cheyennes at Sand Creek and along the Washita River, however, a new generation of Cheyenne council chiefs, who embraced policies of both war and peace rose to leadership and were more successful in achieving Cheyenne political goals. Stephen Hilger History Department Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523 Summer 2009 iv Table of Contents Illustrations ........................................................................................................................................ vii Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter I: "The Pull of the Great Plains." The Cheyennes' and Arapahos' Choice to Adopt Nomadic Equestrian Cultures ........................................................................................................... 8 I Development of Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribal Structures of Social Organization ................... 12 The Cheyenne Village at Biesterfeldt ............................................................................................... 16 II Weighing the Pros and Cons of Equestrian Life ............................................................................... 19 The Pre-Contact Trade Network ...................................................................................................... 21 Economic Advantages afforded by the Horse and Bison ............................................................ 23 III Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 27 Chapter II: "To Walk a New Road." The Arapahos' use of Technology in Confronting Nineteenth Century Political Dilemmas ........................................................................................ 30 I Origins and Structure of the Lodge System ........................................................................................ 36 II Arapaho Strategies Facilitating the Assimilation of the Horse....................................................... .41 Early Diplomatic Interactions with American Traders and Explorers ...................................... .43 III 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie ................................................................................................................ 48 Discovery of gold along the Front Range ....................................................................................... 52 Niwot's journey to the East ............................................................................................................... 53 Little Raven's and Niwot's bands first encounters with American Settlers ................. 55 IV Arrival of Gov. John Evans to Colorado, 1863 ............................................................................... 60 The Sand Creek Massacre & Treaty of the Little Arkansas .......................................................... 62 Little Raven secures a new reservation after the confusion at Medicine Lodge ...................... 67 V Red Cloud's War .................................................................................................................................... 70 Diplomatic outreach to the Shoshones and ChiefWashakie ....................................................... 72 Sharp Nose and Black Coals' audience with President Hayes, 1877 ............................ 74 VI Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 78 Chapter III: "Some man might be at the same time both a Warrior Chief and a Tribal Big Chief." Violence and the Evolution of Cheyenne Political Structures in the Nineteenth Century ............................................................................................................................................... 81 I Sweet Medicine and the creation of the Council of Forty-Four .................................................. 88 II The Horse's Impact on Cheyenne Domestic and Foreign Affairs ................................................ 91 The Plains Indian Peace of 1840 ..................................................................................................... 94 III The Colorado Gold Rush .................................................................................................................... 96 v The Sand Creek Massacre ................................................................................................................. 99 IV A New Generation of Council Chiefs participate in Red Cloud's War...................................... 103 V Massacre Along the Washita River and the Dilemma of American Power .............................. 107 The War to Save the Buffalo .......................................................................................................... 111 VI The Cheyennes in the Great Sioux War .......................................................................................... 114 The Dull Knife Fight ....................................................................................................................... 118 The Diplomacy of Sweet Taste Woman ...................................................................................... 122 VII little Wolf and Morning Star's Trek North ................................................................................... 125 Morning Star's Breakout From Fort Robinson, January 9, 1879 ............................................. 128 VIII Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 131 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 134 Work Cited ....................................................................................................................................... 137 vi Illustrations Fig. 1.1 Old map of the Great American Desert.......................................................................... 10 Fig. 1.2 Map of Cheyenne Eighteenth and Nineteenth century migrations ............................. 18 Fig. 1.3 Map of the Western Comanche trade center ................................................................. 26 Fig. 2.1 Map of Arapaho territories in the nineteenth century................................................... 50 Fig. 2.2 Denver in late 1858 ..........................................................................................................