Seven Chiefs
A Drama of the Blackfeet Sioux and the Battle of Little Bighorn, June 25, 1876
excerpt:
3
​
The morning sun woke them, once agian, and they were off to home.  Traversing the plains landscape, they made it back a half day quicker than when they had come.  Many of the villagers came to greet them on their arrival and, to say the least, Falling Leaves was very pleased at their safe return.  "You might was well not unpack."  she said, referring to the Council Fires meeting that was soon to take place.  Running Water smirked, knowing she really meant to remind him of his duties to the tribe.
​
The coming meeting had the camp abuzz with anticipation.  Dark Cloud greeted his son with a stern look, as if to say, yoiu should have been preparing yourself.  Soaring Heart responded with a deflecting glance, hoping his father would not notice his contempt.  The ways of the Sioux had been passed down from generation to generation, and the spiritual journey was not one to be taken lightly, although it was hard for some to appreciate those who took time to connect with the other world.  To those people the dangers of the world they lived in were preeminent, and they often ingnored the voices of the gods.  Running Water and Soaring Heart were unique in that, instead of steadfastly following the course of a warrior, they took time to explore other realms.  Soaring Heart wanted badly to explain this to his father, to tell him of other things he needed to know.  But his father was very domineering, and used that trait to maintain control over his son and his world.
​
Red Cloud's bravery in the Fetterman Fight, farther to the west of the Blackfoot camp, was well known to the tribe.  Up to now, no Indian force had completely wiped out a Federal unit the way his braves had.  At Fort Phil Keearney, on what was known as the Bozeman Trail, Red Cloud's men lured Fetterman's infantry and cavalry into a trap and enclosed them with two thousand warriors.  General William Tecumseh Sherman, of Civil War fame, had been on the warpath since then, and war had been delcared on the Sioux, south of the North Platte river, the Comanche's and the Arapaho.  Running Water and the Blackfeet Sioux were north of that river and out of the way of the brewing conflict.  However, many of the braves fought with thier allies to the south, and the threat of war still loomed over their tribe.

In one instance, Running Water, and other /black warriors joined in with the Cheyenne and Arapahoe, for a raiding party on a wagon train.  Just before the raid,  Sherman, commander of the Army of the West issued an order that all India tribes return to their reservations or be killed.  Serving under him, Lieutenant General Phillip Sheridan, also of Civil War fame of Civil War fame, ordered Major George A. Forsyth to hire "fifty first-class frontiersmen, to be used as scouts against the hostile  Indians, to be commanded by yourself."  Upon his entering into Fort Wallace, Kansas, Forsyth stuck with it. and followed it across the border into Colorado.  There he made camp on the banks of the Arickaree River. 

Nor knowing he was near a large Indian camp, he was spotte3d and attacked in the morning.  The Indian braves took up positions on both banks of the river, firing on the troops who were positioned on an island, riding past its sides, while others charged through it.  The result of the action, after the first days of the siege like warfare, most of tjhe warriors withdrew, leaving Forsyth, and the remnants on his men, dug in the sand for five more days, fearful of enemy reprisal.

                                                       **(*


    



​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​