Massacre of Eagles

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Following the Custer fight at Little Big Horn, the Northern Cheyenne were sent to Oklahoma, then known as Indian Territory. The Cheyenne were not accustomed to the hot conditions of Oklahoma and they began dying in great numbers. In desperation, a small band left the reservation and headed north, settling in the Tongue River watershed in Montana Territory. Here, they established homesteads in the northern edge of the Big Horn River Basin, which they considered their natural home. And, because their settlement was peaceful, President Arthur, by executive order, established the Tongue River Reservation, making it legal for them to stay there.

PROLOGUE

Tongue River Reservation, Montana Territory

One of the residents of the Tongue Reservation was Mean to His Horses, a member of the Crooked Lance Warrior’s Society, and a nephew of the most notable of all Cheyenne warriors, Roman Nose. Mean to His Horses was but a youth when he saw his uncle killed at Beecher Island in September of 1868. Later, Mean to His Horses had been by the side of Crazy Horse in the fight against Custer. Crazy Horse was killed September 5, 1877, at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. He had been told that he was going to a meeting with the white officials to correct a misunderstanding. The misunderstanding was the result of a deliberate misrepresentation of his words by a translator during an earlier conference. Instead Crazy Horse was arrested, and as they attempted to put him into a guard house, he resisted. During the altercation, Crazy Horse was stabbed and killed.

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