| Buffalo Calf Road's Story
An intriguing reference to a Cheyenne woman fighting
at the 1876 Battle of the Rosebud in Dee Brown's
Bury My heart at Wounded Knee first sparked our
interest. Who was she? Why was she in battle? That
reference led to a search that spanned years and
thousands of miles.
We understood how women's history is forgotten,
neglected, trivialized and even deliberately
concealed. Indeed, Dee Brown, unable to account for
Buffalo Calf Road's presence among warriors in
battle, mistakenly assumed she had come to help with
the horses.
In resurrecting Calf's story, several difficulties
emerged. The nomadic Northern Cheyenne lacked a
written language - no records, diaries, or letters.
A limited number of Northern Cheyenne narratives
from the period exist, recorded by white
interpreters. With two exceptions, they are provided
by men, who seldom speak of women. In accounts of
battle, for example, Cheyenne warriors seldom
mention Buffalo Calf Road, despite that fact that
she fought so bravely a battle was named for her.
Anthropologists and historians who interviewed
Plains Indians seldom spoke with women or showed
interest in them beyond domestic roles. Similarly,
photographers captured hundreds of images of the
Northern Cheyenne but rarely focused on women except
while doing domestic chores or as the "wife of"
prominent men.
Despite these limitations, we slowly pieced together
the story of Buffalo Calf Road. The richest
contemporary Cheyenne narratives referring to Calf
come from two women, Iron Teeth and Kate Bighead, as
well as a warrior, Wooden Leg. Having lived through
many of the same events, they provide a picture of
Calf's bravery in battle and aspects of her personal
life. A number of secondary sources using oral
tradition also provide some information on Calf's
life. As is the case with oral accounts passed
through time, contradictions emerged, sometimes
forcing us to choose.
We also examined visual materials - sketches,
paintings, photographs - providing a vivid record of
Plains Indian life, culture and military exploits.
Many are colored pencil drawings in ledger books
obtained from whites. Since men produced this ledger
book art, it focuses on military exploits and
occasionally on scenes of everyday life. Here we
found two sketches of Buffalo Calf Road; one depicts
her riding into battle with her brother and another
saving her brother at the Rosebud. We found no
photos of Calf, not surprising since she spent most
of her life as a "hostile," far from the agencies
where many Plains Indian portraits were taken.
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Buffalo Calf
Road Saving Her Brother
by Spotted Wolf
(click to enlarge) |
The National Archives contain another rich source on
Plains Indians, especially records of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs and Department of War. Correspondence
from military officials in the field, reports,
official accounts of events and census data provided
some information on Calf and her husband, Black
Coyote. The Smithsonian and National Museum of the
American Indian in New York provided additional
material.
We also searched newspaper accounts of the period.
Reporters covering the Indian wars who write about
battles Calf fought in, failed to mention her. We
did find accounts of her husband, Black Coyote,
being tried for murder. Our pursuit of Buffalo Calf
Road included a lengthy trip through Cheyenne
country on the Northern Plains to do research and
explore the land Calf traveled. We visited typical
terrain the Cheyenne roamed, battle sites, forts,
the Sand Hills where Calf and her people hid, the
area where Calf died, and the Cheyenne reservation
at Lame Deer, Montana. Here we searched tribal
census rolls, looked for Calf's descendents (we
found none) and interviewed older Cheyenne likely to
know Calf's story.
Museums, galleries, and libraries also featured
prominently in our travels. A special place was the
University of Nebraska, which houses the papers of
Mari Sandoz, who wrote Cheyenne Autumn, a
study of the flight from Indian Territory. Unlike
others, Sandoz interviewed Cheyenne women, including
Old Cheyenne Woman, who lived through many of the
events in Calf's life. So it is not surprising that
Calf and other women figure prominently in Sandoz's
account.
Sadly, much of Calf's story has been lost and we had
to fill in the gaps. This involved a good bit of
detective work such as unearthing clues that placed
her at various events. It included studying Northern
Cheyenne culture to accurately represent daily life,
physical features of camp, and religion. It meant
learning about regional terrain, weather, plant life
and animals. It involved examining artifacts and
dress of the Cheyenne in various museums in Montana,
Wyoming and Nebraska and studying period photos.
Combining these elements with factual data, we were
able to create an authentic, although partially
fictionalized, version of Buffalo Calf Road's life.
And then, there is the
controversy.... |
