The Cheyenne Story: An Interpretation of Courage

By Gerry Robinson

Book Overview

What should a man do when the army sends him to help kill his wife's family? His grandson and Northern Cheyenne tribe member, Gerry Robinson, reaches back through time to unravel the emotional and complex story.

Bill Rowland married into the Northern Cheyenne Tribe in 1850, eventually becoming the primary interpreter in their negotiations with the U.S. government. On November 25, 1876--five months to the day after Custer died at the Little Bighorn--Bill found himself obligated to ride into the tribe's main winter camp with over a thousand U.S. troops bent on destroying it.

The Cheyenne Sweet Medicine Chief, Little Wolf, had been to the white man's cities. He knew how many waited there to follow the path cleared by soldiers who were out seeking revenge for their great loss. He also knew that the hot-blooded Kit Fox leader, Last Bull, emboldened by their recent victory and convinced he could defeat them all, posed a dangerous threat from within. Tradition and the protestations of the boisterous young leader prevented Little Wolf's warnings from being taken seriously.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1733426604
• ISBN13: 9781733426602
• Release Date: December 2019
• Publisher: Sweetgrass Books
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Deeply moving, an immersive perspective of history.

This book is a great peek into Cheyenne cultural ways, and would be valuable to readers looking for indigenous perspectives on histories that are almost exclusively taught from the dominant culture's perspective. Additionally, the figures each display their true human-ness, adding color and depth to an otherwise static view of the 'wild indian' and 'heroic soldier'.