The New Student's Reference Work/Cheyennes

Cheyennes, a tribe of Indians belonging to the great Algonquin family. They were found by the travelers, Lewis and Clarke, in 1803, on the Cheyenne River near the Black Hills. The tribe afterward divided, one part remaining in the north, joining the Sioux and fighting against the Crows; the other going south to the Arkansas and joining the Arapahoes. Treaties were made between both bands and the United States; but failure to carry out a treaty made in 1861 and an inhuman attack, made in 1864, by whites on what is known as Sand Creek village, killing 100 Cheyenne men, women and children drove the tribe into the field against the whites for the first time. This war cost the government many lives and about $30,000,000. The troops of General Hancock and Custer, in 1867, forced them to go on a reservation. The Cheyennes do not take kindly to schools. They number about 3,500.