this incident that he received the name of Dull Knife, which was
handed down to his descendant.

As is well known, the Northern Cheyennes uncompromisingly
supported the Sioux in their desperate defense of the Black Hills
and Big Horn country. Why not? It was their last buffalo region
-- their subsistence. It was what our wheat fields are to a
civilized nation.

About the year 1875, a propaganda was started for confining
all the Indians upon reservations, where they would be practically
interned or imprisoned, regardless of their possessions and rights.
The men who were the strongest advocates of the scheme generally
wanted the Indians' property -- the one main cause back of all
Indian wars. From the warlike Apaches to the peaceful Nez Perces,
all the tribes of the plains were hunted from place to place; then
the government resorted to peace negotiations, but always with an
army at hand to coerce. Once disarmed and helpless, they were to
be taken under military guard to the Indian Territory.

A few resisted, and declared they would fight to the death
rather than go. Among these were the Sioux, but nearly all the
smaller tribes were deported against their wishes. Of course those
Indians who came from a mountainous and cold country suffered
severely. The moist heat and malaria decimated the exiles. Chief
Joseph of the Nez Perces and Chief Standing Bear of the Poncas
appealed to the people of the United States, and finally succeeded
in having their bands or the remnant of them returned to their own
part of the country. Dull Knife was not successful in his plea,
and the story of his flight is one of poignant interest.