Cheyenne Indians Argumentative Essay

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Introduction The Cheyenne wars were fights between the Cheyenne Indians and the American colonists or white men. Before all the fighting had started and the whites came to the New World, they had received an ancient prophecy from Sweet Medicine, a culture hero (Millard, 1964, p. 9). He had said that they would be introduced to an animal that they could ride on, and they, the Indians, would fight each other. He also warned that the whites would control them and will be all over the land (Millard, 1964, p. 9). Eventually the Cheyenne Indians would cease to exist. Fortunately, this never happened. With Sweet Medicine’s words in the recess of their mind, some Cheyenne Indians resented the whites while others wanted peace and friendship. On the…show more content…
Due to the whites chasing away buffalo and game, some hotheaded Indians started raiding wagon trains, killing and scalping and plundering. The whole East started to resent the “savages”. Emigrants also wanted protection. Little Wolf sometimes restrained his warriors with a pony whip, and he did not like the abuses he saw (Millard, 1964, p. 45). The Indians ended up killing innocents out of anger and revenge. The Cheyennes had raided a Hungate Ranch 25 miles east of Denver, killing the rancher, his wife, and two daughters who were six and three; their mutilated bodies were publicly displayed in a Denver store (Millard, 1964, p. 75). This added more fire to the fuel. Two Indians also caused the demise of a Cheyenne village just because they wanted to smoke. They had tried to stop a mail wagon to ask if the driver could give them some tobacco, but the driver ended up firing his six-shooter due to rumors of Indian trouble. The two angry Indians returned fire, pierced the man’s arm with an arrow, and caused him to go to Fort Kearny reporting of an Indian uprising. As a result, the Americans shot at the Indians’ village and killed 10 Cheyennes (Millard, 1964, p. 58-59). There were some Cheyennes that stilled believed in peace but those that didn’t were driven by anger and

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