03/10/2026
AMERINDIAN OURSTORY • DAY 19
In 1877, Northern Cheyenne people were forced from the northern Plains to the Darlington Agency in present-day Oklahoma. Conditions there were severe. Food was inadequate, disease spread through the community, and many people died. Their requests to return north were denied. On September 9, 1878, roughly 300 Northern Cheyenne men, women, and children under Dull Knife and Little Wolf left the reservation and began moving north toward their homeland.
U.S. troops pursued them almost immediately. The Cheyenne fought soldiers and armed civilians as they crossed Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. During their passage through Kansas, some members of the group attacked settlers, killed civilians, took livestock and supplies, and destroyed property. Contemporary and later sources differ on the exact civilian death toll, with some accounts describing nearly 40 people killed in northwestern Kansas, while other summaries place the broader white death toll during the exodus at around 50.
The larger story continued beyond Kansas. Dull Knife’s group was eventually captured and taken to Fort Robinson, Nebraska, where officials tried to force them back to Oklahoma by withholding food, heat, and other necessities. In January 1879, many escaped the fort, and most of those fugitives were killed or recaptured. Little Wolf’s group continued north and eventually reached Montana. The Northern Cheyenne were later allowed to remain in the north, and a reservation was established in Montana. National Park Service
So for the post, I would frame it this way:
In 1878, the Northern Cheyenne under Dull Knife and Little Wolf fled forced relocation in Oklahoma and attempted to return to their northern homeland. Their journey through Kansas included battles with U.S. troops, attacks on settlers, civilian deaths, and property destruction. The episode became part of what is now remembered as the Northern Cheyenne Exodus, a desperate flight shaped by forced removal, hunger, disease, and resistance