Northern Cheyenne Tribe

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Tribal Headquarters
Northern Cheyenne Tribe 600 Cheyenne Ave / PO Box 128 Lame Deer, MT 59043 Phone: 406-477-6284 Website

History
The Northern Cheyenne and the Southern Cheyenne share their early history as the Cheyenne Tribe. The Cheyenne Tribe divided into the Northern and Southern Cheyenne in 1825.

For the Cheyenne, the Indian Wars of the west involved ongoing conflict with the U.S. Military for nearly twenty years 1857-1879. The Sand Creek massacre, occurred in 1854 when 400-500 Cheyenne under the leadership of Black Kettle were attacked. Black Kettle had a large American Flag flying over his camp and had been promised as long as it flew over his camp it would be protected. During 1866-1868 the Cheyenne and many of their Indian neighbors opposed the Bozeman Trail.

Among the many tribes involved in the Battle of the Little Big Horn, the Northern Cheyenne helped defeat General Custer's army.

The Northern Cheyenne divided into four groups -- Two Moon going to Fort Keogh, the second group joining other Cheyenne bands in Nebraska, the third group joined the Southern Cheyenne in Oklahoma, and the fourth group joining the Northern Arapaho at the Wind River Agency in Wyoming

The Tongue River Reservation became home to the Northern Cheyenne in 1884. The name of the Reservation was later changed to the Northern Cheyenne Reservation.

Brief Timeline

 * 1700: Living in Minnesota River valley
 * 1700's: During 1700s migrated to the Cheyenne River valley in North Dakota
 * 1800's: Pressures forced them to the Missouri River, North and South Dakota.
 * 1820's: Formed an alliance with the Oglala Sioux and fought the Crow Indians
 * 1825: "Friendship Treaty of 1825" -- fifteen Cheyenne leaders received a medal which bore the design of clasped hands.
 * 1825: Tribe division of the Cheyenne into northern and southern bands.
 * 1830: Bent's Fort established
 * 1850: Migrated to North Platte River in eastern Wyoming.
 * 1851: Treaty at Fort Laramie gave the Cheyenne and other tribes land between the Platte and Arkansas Rivers, in what became Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, and western Kansas.
 * 1857-1879: The Cheyenne fought an ongoing war with the U.S. Army
 * 1864: Sand Creek Massacre 400-500 Southern Cheyenne under leadership of Black Kettle and Arapaho killed by U.S. Soldiers
 * 1864-65: Southern Cheyenne, and allies Arapaho and Sioux angered by the Sand Creek Massacre raided the South Platte area, and wagon trains
 * 1866-1868: Northern Cheyenne, Sioux (Miniconjous, Oglala, Sans Arcs, Brules), and Northern Arapaho were opposed to the construction of the Bozeman Trail. At the battle of Massacre Ridge (December 1866) 2,000 warriors killed eighty-one soldiers under the command of Captain William J. Fetterman. Three forts were built to protect the developing trail and workers -- Fort Reno, Fort Phil Kearny and Fort C.F. Smith. The Bozeman Trail was abandoned as the Union Pacific Railroad would make the trail obsolete.
 * 1868: May 10 -- Treaty at Fort Laramie with the Northern Cheyenne and Northern Arapaho.
 * 1875: Indian Homestead Act, precluded the need for a reservation. By this land law, Indians were free to file claims of 160 acres.
 * 1875-76: There were approximately 15,000 gold seekers in the Black Hills
 * 1876: Battle of Powder River -- U.S. Army under command of Colonel Mackenzie -- 1,100 soldiers attacked and burned the Northern Cheyenne village on Powder River.
 * 1876: The Northern Cheyenne participated in the Battle of the Little Big Horn
 * 1876: Battle of Wolf Mountain
 * 1877: In April the Northern Cheyenne divided into four groups: Two Moon group went to Fort Keogh where they surrendered to Colonel Miles, and the warriors became scouts, later fighting against Sioux and Nez Perce Indians. Second group - largest group- moved east and joined other Cheyenne bands, who surrendered at Red Cloud Agency in Nebraska. Third group- went to Oklahoma and joined the Southern Cheyenne. Fourth group- joined the Northern Arapaho at Wind River Agency in Wyoming.
 * 1877 May 28: Northern Cheyenne tribe left Red Cloud Agency for the Cheyenne-Arapaho Agency at Darlington, Oklahoma. The Fourth Cavalry under Lieutenant Henry W. Lawton escorted them and two days later they arrived at the Cheyenne-Arapho Agency. Some of the Northern tribesmen not welcomed.
 * 1877: Cheyenne surrendered and were removed to the Southern Cheyenne Reservation in Indian Territory
 * 1878: Part of the Northern Cheyenne were allowed to go back north.
 * 1880-1891: The tribe gathered to southeastern Montana
 * 1884: Tongue River Reservation was established for the Northern Cheyenne on 16 November by executive order of President Chester A. Arthur.
 * 1884: Northern Cheyenne Reservation is established
 * 1884: St. Labre Catholic Indian Boarding School was established at site of Ashland, Montana
 * 1900: The Tongue River Reservation was enlarged by executive order on 19 March 1900 to include from the west bank of the Tongue River to the eastern boundary of the Crow Reservation
 * 1935: Constitution and bylaws of the Northern Cheyenne was approved on 23 November 1935, under the Indian Reorganization Act.



Agencies
The following agencies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs had jurisdiction over the Northern Cheyenne for the time periods indicated. BIA agencies were responsible to keep such records as census rolls, allotment (land) records, annuity rolls, school records, correspondence, and other records of individual Indians under their jurisdiction. For details, see the page for the respective agency.


 * Tongue River Agency, 1868-
 * Northern Cheyenne Agency, -present

Records
The majority of records of individuals were those created by the agencies. Some records may be available to tribal members through the tribal headquarters.They were (and are) the local office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and were charged with maintaining records of the activities of those under their responsibility. Among these records are:


 * Allotment records
 * Annuity rolls
 * Census records
 * Correspondence
 * Health records
 * Reports
 * School census and records
 * Vital records

Census Records
The Bureau of Indian Affairs compiled annual Indian Census Rolls on many of the reservations from 1885 to 1940. They list the names of individuals, their age, and other details about each person enumerated. For more information about these records, click here.

The following table lists the census rolls for the Northern Cheyenne Indians:

Tribal Office Records
The Tribal Office is responsible for enrollment records, vital records, tribal police records, tribal court records, employment records and many others. They are an entirely different set of records from those kept by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Most of them remain in the Tribal Office. For details, contact that office at the address for the Tribal Headquarters listed above.

Important Websites



 * Constitution and By-Laws of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Tongue River Reservation, Approved November 23, 1935
 * State Office of Indian Affairs article on the Northern Cheyenne Tribe
 * Tribal Website for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe
 * Wikipedia article on the Cheyenne Tribe
 * Wikipedia article on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation

General

 * Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives; Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
 * Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1906 Available online.
 * Klein, Barry T., ed. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. Nyack, New York: Todd Publications, 2009. 10th ed. WorldCat 317923332;.
 * Malinowski, Sharon and Sheets, Anna, eds. The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1998. 4 volumes. Includes: Lists of Federally Recognized Tribes for U.S., Alaska, and Canada – pp. 513-529 Alphabetical Listing of Tribes, with reference to volume and page in this series Map of “Historic Locations of U.S. Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Canadian Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Mexican, Hawaiian and Caribbean Native Groups” Maps of “State and Federally Recognized U.S. Indian Reservations. WorldCat 37475188;.


 * Vol. 1 -- Northeast, Southeast, Caribbean
 * Vol. 2 -- Great Basin, Southwest, Middle America
 * Vol. 3 -- Arctic, Subarctic, Great Plains, Plateau
 * Vol. 4 -- California, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Islands


 * Sturtevant, William C. Handbook of North American Indians. 20 vols., some not yet published. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978–.


 * Volume 1 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 2 -- Indians in Contemporary Society (pub. 2008) -- WorldCat 234303751
 * Volume 3 -- Environment, Origins, and Population (pub. 2006) -- WorldCat 255572371
 * Volume 4 -- History of Indian-White Relations (pub. 1988) -- WorldCat 19331914;.
 * Volume 5 -- Arctic (pub. 1984) -- WorldCat 299653808;.
 * Volume 6 -- Subarctic (pub. 1981) -- WorldCat 247493742;.
 * Volume 7 -- Northwest Coast (pub. 1990) -- WorldCat 247493311
 * Volume 8 -- California (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 13240086;.
 * Volume 9 -- Southwest (pub. 1979) -- WorldCat 26140053;.
 * Volume 10 -- Southwest (pub. 1983) -- WorldCat 301504096;.
 * Volume 11 -- Great Basin (pub. 1986) -- WorldCat 256516416;.
 * Volume 12 -- Plateau (pub. 1998) -- WorldCat 39401371;.
 * Volume 13 -- Plains, 2 vols. (pub. 2001) -- WorldCat 48209643
 * Volume 14 -- Southeast (pub. 2004) -- WorldCat 254277176
 * Volume 15 -- Northwest (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 356517503;.
 * Volume 16 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 17 -- Languages (pub. 1996) -- WorldCat 43957746
 * Volume 18 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 19 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 20 -- Not yet published


 * Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 Available online.
 * Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, New York: Facts on File, 2006. 3rd ed. WorldCat 14718193;.