Resurrecting History's Forgotten Women: A Case Study from the Cheyenne Indians

Abstract

Since 1879, when a band of mourning women buried her in the rocky hills outside Fort Keogh, Buffalo Calf Road's story has been largely forgotten. Aside from a few old-timers among her people who still remember her exploits and a few scholars who have noted her briefly in their studies, this remarkable Cheyenne warrior is one of the countless women lost to American history. This article will explore the long process of resurrecting Buffalo Calf Road, which proved revealing in many ways. First, Buffalo Calf Road emerged as an outstanding person who made substantial contributions to the defense of the free, nomadic lifestyle of the Northern Cheyenne Indians during a period of time when the U.S. Army relentlessly pursued and attacked them in an effort to force their withdrawal to designated reservations (1876-1879). Secondly, the process of researching Buffalo Calf Road proved important not only in itself but as an indicator of the broader problems involved in trying to unearth women's history, especially Native American women's history. This case study reveals in a graphic way how it is that women's history has been forgotten, neglected, and even deliberately concealed. Thirdly, the story of Buffalo Calf Road, together with the women who emerged around her during the search, relates to stereotypes about Plains Indian women. Having discovered this remarkable woman, we found that she was not as atypical as she seemed at first glance. This finding had a direct bearing on prevailing stereotypes of Native American women. Finally, given what turned out to be the lack of enough information to construct a complete biography of Buffalo Calf Road, the resurrection of this important woman became a problem in itself. This paper thus will explore 1) the outline of the biography of Buffalo Calf Road as it is known, 2) the search involved in discovering the historical facts and what it revealed about Native American women's history, 3) how the story of Buffalo Calf Road and the women around her challenges stereotypes of Plains Indian women, and 4) the process of publicly resurrecting this forgotten