Northern Cheyenne Exodus

Northern Cheyenne Exodus
Part of the American Indian Wars
Little Wolf and Dull Knife, Chiefs of the Northern Cheyenne
Date September, 1878-April, 1879 Location Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Montana, United States Result Northern Cheyenne Reservation created
Belligerents
Northern Cheyenne	United States
Commanders and leaders
Dull Knife Little Wolf   Wild Hog Left Hand † Little Finger Nail †	William H. Lewis † John B. Johnson Henry W. Wessells George F. Chase William P. Clark
Strength
297 people	~1000 soldiers and civilians
Casualties and losses
~50 Killed, ~30 Wounded, ~70 Captured	~30 Killed, ~20 Wounded
Losses include civilian casualties.

Battle of Punished Woman's Fork
Part of Northern Cheyenne Exodus
Date September 27, 1878 (1878-09-27) Location West Kansas Result Northern Cheyenne escape
Belligerents
Northern Cheyenne	United States
Commanders and leaders
Dull Knife Little Wolf	Colonel William H. Lewis  †

The Northern Cheyenne Exodus, also known as Dull Knife's Raid, the Cheyenne War, or the Cheyenne Campaign, was the attempt of the Northern Cheyenne to return to the north, after being placed on the Southern Cheyenne reservation in the Indian Territory, and the United States Army operations to stop them. The period lasted from 1878 to 1879.

Following the Battle of the Little Bighorn attempts by the U.S. Army to subdue the Northern Cheyenne intensified. In 1877, after the Dull Knife Fight, when Crazy Horse surrendered at Fort Robinson a few Cheyenne chiefs and their people surrendered as well. The Cheyenne chiefs that surrendered at the fort were Dull Knife, Little Wolf, Standing Elk, and Wild Hog with nearly one thousand Cheyenne. On the other hand, Two Moon surrendered at Fort Keogh with three hundred Cheyenne in 1877. The Cheyenne wanted and expected to live on the reservation with the Sioux in accordance with an April 29, 1868 treaty of Fort Laramie of which both Dull Knife and Little Wolf had signed. However shortly after arriving at Fort Robinson it was recommended that the Northern Cheyenne be moved to the reservation at Fort Reno with the Southern Cheyenne.

Following confirmation from Washington the Cheyenne started their move with 972 people; upon reaching the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation on August 5, 1877 there were only 937. Some elderly had perished along the way and some young men crept away and headed back north. When reaching the reservation the Northern Cheyenne noticed how poverty-stricken the reservation was and began to fall sick in late summer of 1877. However, when conditions did not improve upon a federal investigation into reservation conditions the Cheyenne were given authorization to hunt. When the Cheyenne attempted to find game to hunt none was found, just a wasteland of dead buffalo remains; this was the winter of 1877-1878. Unfortunately in 1878 there was a measles outbreak that struck the Northern Cheyenne, and in August 1878 the Cheyenne chiefs began the organization to move north. On September 9, 1878 Little Wolf, Dull Knife, Wild Hog, and Left Hand told their people to organize to leave, leaving were 297 (the number could be as high as 353) men, women, and children.

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