The Cheyenne Indians are settled today in two tribes in Oklahoma and Montana and speak their own dialect of the Algonquin tribe, a language that only contains 14 letters in its alphabet. Cheyenne tribes hunted buffalo in the Midwest between Oklahoma and Montana and parts of Colorado before American settlers forced them into reservations. Their culture is rich with history and are best known for their storytelling and the custom of smoking the peace pipe.
The national historic site park is located two miles west of the town of Cheyenne, OK, near the New Mexico border. On November 27, 1868, General Custer and his troops attacked a Cheyenne village lead by Black Kettle, slaughtering and capturing the tribe. Visit the Black Kettle Museum to learn about the events leading up to this battle.
The Antelope Hills are a natural landmark found 30 miles northwest of the town of Cheyenne, OK and were once the boundary between the United States and Mexico. Mesas and dry grassland decorate the landscape where the Cheyenne once lived.
Established in 1875, Fort Reno is located in El Reno, south central Oklahoma. At the time it was built the fort was used to protect Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians from white settlers who attacked the peaceful indians as they lay claim to the land, as Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians were forced onto reservations.
Sand Creek located in southeastern Colorado was the site of a Cheyenne massacre. U.S. Army Colonel John Chivington lead his troops in an attack on Black Kettle and White Antelopes' tribes which were camped by the Sand Creek. The survivors of the attack, which was brutal resulting in deaths and mutilations of hundreds of men, women and children, hid in holes dug in the banks of the Sand Creek and then fled to another Cheyenne camp by the Smoky Hill River.
Custer's Last Stand took place on the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876 near the Little Big Horn river in eastern in Montana when the Cheyenne Indians joined forces with the Lakota and Sioux tribes to defend their territory in the Black Hills after years of broken treaties and slaughtered tribes. The Cheyenne and Lakota warriors killed every single one of General Custer's soldiers in what is known as the worst American military disaster ever. There is now a memorial and national cemetary located over the mass grave of the soldiers.
