Monday, December 11, 2006
Lieutenant John G. Bourke, Northern Cheyennes 1876-1877
I “There was much smouldering discontent among the Sioux and Cheyennes based upon our failure to observe the stipulations of the treaty made in 1867, which guaranteed to them an immense strip of country, extending, either as as a reservation or a hunting ground, clear to the Big Horn Mountains. By that treaty they had been promised one school for every thirty children, but no school had yet been established . . (” Bourke 1981: 242)
“It was never a matter of surprise to me that the Cheyennes, whose corn fields were once upon the Belle Fourche, the stream which runs around the hills on the north side, should have become frenzied by the report that these lovely valleys would be taken away from them, whether they would or no . . . In the summer of 1876 the Government sent a commission of which Senator William B Allison of Iowa was chairman and the late Major General Alfred H. Terry was a member, to negotiate with with the Sioux for the cession of the Black Hills, but neither Sioux nor Cheyennes were in the humor to negotiate . .” (Bourke 1981: 243 .)
Bourke was impressed more by the Cheyennes than by any other Plains tribe: He found them handsome,
“comparing favorably in appearance with any other people I’ve seen. In general character the Cheyennes are extremely fierce, cruel, skilled in battle, unequalled in horsemanship, precise as marksmen. From my acquaintance with them at Red Cloud agency in 1877, and my service against them, I formed a very high opinion of their general character, and always found them truthful and to be relied upon.” (Porter 1986 :60.)
“It was never a matter of surprise to me that the Cheyennes, whose corn fields were once upon the Belle Fourche, the stream which runs around the hills on the north side, should have become frenzied by the report that these lovely valleys would be taken away from them, whether they would or no . . . In the summer of 1876 the Government sent a commission of which Senator William B Allison of Iowa was chairman and the late Major General Alfred H. Terry was a member, to negotiate with with the Sioux for the cession of the Black Hills, but neither Sioux nor Cheyennes were in the humor to negotiate . .” (Bourke 1981: 243 .)
Bourke was impressed more by the Cheyennes than by any other Plains tribe: He found them handsome,
“comparing favorably in appearance with any other people I’ve seen. In general character the Cheyennes are extremely fierce, cruel, skilled in battle, unequalled in horsemanship, precise as marksmen. From my acquaintance with them at Red Cloud agency in 1877, and my service against them, I formed a very high opinion of their general character, and always found them truthful and to be relied upon.” (Porter 1986 :60.)
