The Northern Cheyenne Exodus in History and Memory - by James N Leiker & Ramon Powers (Paperback)

About the Book

The exodus of the Northern Cheyennes in 1878 and 1879, an attempt to flee from Indian Territory to their Montana homeland, is an important event in American Indian history. More than a century later, the story remains familiar because it has been told by historians and novelists, and on film. In The Northern Cheyenne Exodus in History and Memory, James N. Leiker and Ramon Powers explore how the event has been remembered, told, and retold.

Book Synopsis

The exodus of the Northern Cheyennes in 1878 and 1879, an attempt to flee from Indian Territory to their Montana homeland, is an important event in American Indian history. It is equally important in the history of towns like Oberlin, Kansas, where Cheyenne warriors killed more than forty settlers. The Cheyennes, in turn, suffered losses through violent encounters with the U.S. Army. More than a century later, the story remains familiar because it has been told by historians and novelists, and on film. In The Northern Cheyenne Exodus in History and Memory, James N. Leiker and Ramon Powers explore how the event has been remembered, told, and retold. They examine the recollections of Indians and settlers and their descendants, and they consider local history, mass-media treatments, and literature to draw thought-provoking conclusions about how this story has changed over time.

The Cheyennes' journey has always been recounted in melodramatic stereotypes, and for the last fifty years most versions have featured "noble savages" trying to reclaim their birthright. Here, Leiker and Powers deconstruct those stereotypes and transcend them, pointing out that history is never so simple. "The Cheyennes' flight," they write, "had left white and Indian bones alike scattered along its route from Oklahoma to Montana." In this view, the descendants of the Cheyennes and the settlers they encountered are all westerners who need history as a "way of explaining the bones and arrowheads" that littered the plains.

Leiker and Powers depict a rural West whose diverse peoples--Euro-American and Native American alike--seek to preserve their heritage through memory and history. Anyone who lives in the contemporary Great Plains or who wants to understand the West as a whole will find this book compelling.

Review Quotes

"An exceptionally well-written account of a well-known episode that sheds new light on that episode, and, more significantly, uses it to explore areas of special concern to historians today. Doing so, the authors do not sacrifice the power of the story itself, which is one of the more dramatic, touching, and disturbing of its time. . . . Excellent research and scholarship."--Elliott West author of The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story

"Leiker and Powers have written a truly authoritative study of how the Northern Cheyenne trek home in 1878?1879 is remembered and revered today by both Cheyennes and descendants of the Kansas settlers who were in their wake. An excellent balance of narrative and interpretation, Indian and white viewpoints, this work extends the narrative story to memory and celebrations of the odyssey to modern times, filling an important gap in the literature. Extensively researched, handsomely written, and readable for anyone interested in western history."--John Monnett author of Tell Them We Are Going Home: The Odyssey of the Northern Cheyennes