CHEYENNE AUTUMN

by Mari Sandoz ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 17, 1953

Third, after Old Jules and Crazy Horse, in Miss Sandoz' projected six-book study of the trans-Missouri country from the Stone Age to the present, this is the story of the Cheyenne Indians' last desperate fight with the white men for a reservation in their native north country. Essentially a peaceful if nomadic, buffalo-hunting people, the Cheyenne were drawn along with all other Indian tribes into the maw of Manifest Destiny--and made to suffer brutally just for existing athwart the white man's new trails to the West. In the late 1870's less than 1,000 survived and these were taken forcibly to played-out reservations in the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) far to the south of their native grounds. There they found neither their natural hunting nor any food at all, but much sickness. And soon they decided their only chance for survival lay in escape back to the Yellowstone country. This is the story of that last desperate forced march and the one autumn they enjoyed in familiar woods before the army overtook them, decimated their number down to a pitiful 114 and once again took all but a fortunate few, who hid in the woods, back to the old Indian Territory reservations. But by then a few white voices were raised in protest and finally the Cheyenne were allowed to have a Yellowstone reservation. A story well-written in the idiom of the Cheyenne Indian.

Pub Date: Nov. 17, 1953

ISBN: 0803293410

Page Count: -

Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1953

Categories: NONFICTION