TRIBAL SYNONYMY
Ba′hakosĭn—Caddo name; “striped arrows,” băh, arrow. The Caddo sometimes also call them Siä′näbo, from their Comanche name.
Cheyenne—popular name, a French spelling of their Sioux name. It has no connection with the French word chien, “dog.”
Dzĭtsĭ′stäs—proper tribal name; nearly equivalent to “our people.”
Gatsa′lghi—Kiowa Apache name.
Hĭtäsi′na (singular Hĭ′täsi)—Arapaho name, signifying “scarred people,” from hĭtäshi′ni, “scarred or cut.” According to the Arapaho statement the Cheyenne were so called because they were more addicted than the other tribes to the practice of gashing themselves in religious ceremonies. The name may have more special reference to the tribal custom of cutting off the fingers and hands of their slain enemies. (See tribal sign, [page 1024].)
Ităsupuzi—Hidatsa name, “spotted arrow quills” (Matthews).
Ka′naheăwastsĭk—Cree name, “people with a language somewhat like Cree” (Grinnell).
Niere′rikwats-kûni′ki—Wichita name.
Nanonĭ′ks-kare′nĭki—Kichai name.
Pägănävo—Shoshoni and Comanche name; “striped arrows,” from päga, “arrow,” and nävo, “striped.”
Säk̔o′ta—Kiowa name; seems to refer to “biting.”
Sa-sis-e-tas—proper tribal name according to [Clark] (Indian Sign Language, 99, 1885). The form should be Dzĭtsĭ′stäs as given above.
Shaiela or Shaiena—Sioux name; “red,” or decorated with red paint. According to Riggs, as quoted by Clark, the Sioux call an alien language a “red” language, while they designate one of their own stock as “white,” so that the name would be equivalent to “aliens.” The Sioux apply the same name also to the Cree.
Shiä′navo—another Comanche name, probably a derivative from the word Cheyenne.
Shiĕ′da—another Wichita name, derived from the word Cheyenne.
Staitan—unidentified tribal name, given, by Lewis and Clark. Identical with the Cheyenne, from their own word Hĭstä′itän, “I am a Cheyenne.”
TRIBAL SIGN
The Cheyenne tribal sign, made by drawing the right index finger several times across the left forefinger, is commonly interpreted “cut fingers” or “cut wrists,” and is said to be derived from their custom of cutting off the fingers and hands of slain enemies. Although the same practice was found among other tribes, the Cheyenne were particularly distinguished in this regard. In Mackenzie’s great fight with the Cheyenne in Wyoming, in 1876, two necklaces made of human fingers were found in the captured Indian camp, together with a small bag filled with hands cut from the bodies of children of the Shoshoni tribe, their enemies. One of these necklaces was afterward deposited in the National Museum at Washington. (See [Bourke] in Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.) Some competent Indian authorities say, however, that the sign is intended to indicate “stripe people,” or “striped-arrow people,” referring to the fact that the Cheyenne usually feathered their arrows with the striped feathers of the wild turkey. This agrees with the interpretation of the name for the Cheyenne in several different languages.
SKETCH OF THE TRIBE
The Cheyenne are one of the westernmost tribes of the great Algonquian stock. In one of their ghost songs they sing of the “turtle river,” on which they say they once lived. (Cheyenne song 3.) From several evidences this seems to be identical with the Saint Croix, which forms the boundary between Wisconsin and Minnesota. This statement agrees with the opinion of [Clark] (Indian Sign Language), who locates their earliest tradition in the neighborhood of Saint Anthony falls. They were driven out by the Sioux and forced toward the northwest, where they came in contact with the Asiniboin (called by them Hohe′), with whom they were never afterward at peace. At a later period, according to Lewis and Clark, they lived on the Cheyenne branch of Red river, in northern Minnesota, whence they were again driven by the Sioux into the prairie.
In 1805 they wandered about the head of Cheyenne river of Dakota and in the Black hills, and were at war with the Sioux, though at peace with most other tribes. Since then they have pushed on to the west and south, always in close confederation with the Arapaho. These two tribes say they have never known a time when they were not associated. About forty years ago, in Wyoming, the band since known as the northern Cheyenne separated from the others (Clark), and have since lived chiefly in Montana or with the Sioux, with whom the Cheyenne made peace about sixty years ago. The other and larger portion of the tribe continued to range chiefly on the lands of the Arkansas and Canadian in Colorado and the western part of Kansas and Oklahoma. They and the Arapaho made peace with the Kiowa and Comanche in 1840, and raided in connection with these tribes into Texas and Mexico until assigned in 1869 to a reservation in what is now western Oklahoma. In 1874 they, as well as the Kiowa, Comanche, and Kiowa Apache, again went on the warpath in consequence of the depredations of the buffalo hunters, but the outbreak was speedily suppressed. In 1890 they sold their reservation and took allotments in severalty. The northern Cheyenne joined the Sioux in the “Custer war” of 1876–77. At the surrender of the hostiles they were removed to Oklahoma and placed with the southern Cheyenne, but were much dissatisfied with their location, the dissatisfaction culminating in the attempt of a large party, under Dull Knife, to escape to the north, in September, 1878. They were pursued, and a part of them captured and confined at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, whence they made a desperate attempt to escape on the night of January 9, 1879, resulting in the killing of nearly all of the prisoners. They were finally assigned a reservation in Montana, where they now are, with the exception of a few among the Sioux. According to the official report for 1892, the southern Cheyenne in Oklahoma numbered 2,119, the northern Cheyenne in Montana, 1,200, and those with the Sioux at Pine Edge, South Dakota, 120, a total of 3,439.
The Cheyenne have eleven tribal divisions. They have at least two dialects, but probably more. The tribal divisions in their order in the camping circle are—
1. Evĭ′sts-unĭ′pahĭs (“smoky lodges”—Grinnell, fide Clark).
2. Sŭta′ya or Sŭ′tasi′na. This is one of the most important divisions and formerly constituted a distinct tribe, but was afterward incorporated with the Cheyenne. According to concurrent Cheyenne and Blackfoot tradition, as given by Grinnell, they seem originally to have been a part of the Blackfeet, who became separated from the main body of their tribe by the sudden breaking up of the ice while crossing a large river. They drifted to the southward and finally met and joined the Cheyenne in the Black hills. Their name, spelled Suti by Grinnell, is said to mean “strange talkers.” They live now on the upper Washita in Oklahoma and speak a dialect differing considerably from that of the rest of the tribe.