Gerry Robinson

Gerry Robinson is a writer, historian and member of the Northern Cheyenne Nation. Born and raised on the reservation, he now lives in East Helena, Mont. He has published poetry, short fiction, and nonfiction. His historical novel, The Cheyenne Story: An Interpretation of Courage, is based on the true story of his ancestors and the history of his tribe. It received the 2020 Western Heritage Award for Outstanding Western Novel from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

The Cheyenne Homecoming

In a saga of bitter hardship and resolve, 350 Northern Cheyenne led by Little Wolf and Dull Knife escaped the Darlington Agency in present Oklahoma late in 1878. Struggling north, they were imprisoned in Nebraska, broke out and, crossing a corner of Wyoming Territory, finally returned to their Montana homelands.

The Dull Knife Fight, 1876: Troops Attack a Cheyenne Village on the Red Fork of Powder River

In November 1876, about 700 cavalry and 400 Indian scouts led by Col. Ranald Mackenzie, burned the main village of the Northern Cheyenne to the ground near the Red Fork of Powder River about 20 miles west of present Kaycee, Wyo. Seven soldiers were killed and about 40 Cheyenne, but the economic and cultural loss to the tribe was devastating. The Northern Cheyenne surrendered to government authorities the following spring.