Colony Courier, Jan. 16, 1913.
White Frog, Northern Cheyenne from Tongue River Agency, Montana, was here not long ago visiting friends. He says Northern Cheyennes and Northern Arapahoes of Wyoming have been counciling a good deal about the Black Hills, claiming this country belongs to them and the Sioux had no right to sell it to the government. These two tribes are going to Washington to see about it.
Colony Courier, Jan. 16, 1913.
Two Babies got a letter from his friend, a Northern Arapaho, from Wind River Agency, asking him to come up and be present at a big council they are going to have about the Black Hills country. They ask Two Babies to represent the Southern Arapahoes in this council.
Colony Courier, April 17, 1913.
White Elk, one of the Northern Cheyenne Chiefs from Tongue River Agency, Montana, is visiting William Fletcher and family. White Elk was one of the Chiefs that went to Washington D.C. to claim the Black Hills.
Colony Courier, Sept. 25, 1913.
A party of our Indians have gone to the Black Hills Country last week which was once their country before the pale faces foot got on it.
Colony Courier, Oct. 9, 1913.
"Cheyennes and Arapahoes at Sioux Meeting"
Delegation of Cheyennes and Arapahoes that went to South Dakota to attend big council that was held by Siouxs, came back home Oct. 2nd.The Soiux Chiefs told them that they did not want them to make any speeches, but they could attend the Big Council and hear the Siouxs making speeches. They could listen and hear what the Sioux Chiefs had to say. Watan said the Arapahoes went into the Council Lodge to hear the Sioux making speeches. The Cheyennes did not hear the Sioux. They all stayed away from the Council Lodge. Watan says next Big Council will be held near Pine Ridge Agency. Next year, he says all the tribes were invited to the Big Council and it will last for several days. Siouxs told them at this Big Council everybody would be permitted to make a speech. The Siouxs treated the delegation nice and gave them lots of gifts to bring home.
Colony Courier, Oct. 16, 1913.
Oliver Barber, one of the delegates to the Sioux country to see about the Black Hills, has returned home. He reports having a good time, plenty to eat and lots of presents given to him by Sioux friends.
Colony Courier, Aug. 19, 1915.
Tall Elk, who has been visiting his Sioux relatives and friends in South Dakota, returned last week. He reports that all what he heard about during his stay there was the Black Hills country which was formerly owned by the Cheyennes and Arapahoes.
Watonga Republican Newspaper, Feb. 8, 1917.
A delegation of Cheyennes and Arapahoes were received by President Wilson - Three Fingers presented him with a tobacco pouch and Magpie gave beaded moccasins - saw the President for ten minutes.
Delegation consisted of Three Fingers, Little Man, Tobacco, Magpie, Hicks, Howling Water, Bull Tongue, Alfrich Heap of Birds, Victor Bushy Head. 
Ernie Black and Deforest Antelope were interpreters.
While in Washington, they employed Victor J. Evans, a Washington attorney for the Black Hills claim, fee contingent upon winning the case.
Watonga Republican Newspaper Feb. 15, 1917.
Council held at Deforest Antelopes place. Victor J. Evans attended and eight chiefs and eight headsmen to sign the contract with Evans. Most signed with thumbmark. Deforest Antelope, chairman of the council with Alfred Wilson secretary.
Chiefs. Tobacco, Jacob Runner, Howling Water, Cloud Chief, Hicks, Little Hand, Springer, Turkey Legs.
Headmen. Tough Feathers, Porcupine, Buffalo Thigh, Short Nose, Sore Head, Blue, Victor Bushy Head, Alfrich Heap of Birds.
Interpreter Alfred Wilson and Deforest Antelope.
Delegates in fact. Deforest Antelope, Alfred Wilson and Ernie Black.
Note: Alfred Wilson not related to John Wilson family. (Sipes oral family history.)
Claims- U. S. Government File
March 2, 1917
Commissioner Cato Sells

Chief Henry Roman Nose
Chief Brave Bear
Chief Wolf Mule
Chief Bear Man
My friends:
I am in receipt of your letter of February 23, 1917, in which you say a lawyer has recently visited the Cheyennes in Oklahoma and attempted to have your people sign a contract with him to represent their claim against the Government for the so-called Black Hills Cession.
In answer you are advised that before the question of employing attorneys could receive consideration, Congress would have to authorize the Sioux and the Cheyenne and Arapahoes Indians to take their claim as indicated to the Court of Claims for final adjudication. It is not believed that any legislation of the character indicated will be enacted in this cession. However, your letter regarding the matter will be placed on file and will be given proper consideration should any attorneys attempt to negotiate contracts with the Cheyennes and Arapahoes without proper consent.
Your friend, (S) Cato Sells, Commissioner.
 

Concho, Oklahoma, July 17, 1918
Hon. Cato Sells
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington D.C.
Dear Mr. Commissioner:
Several older Cheyennes at this Agency who are interested with me in the Black Hills Claim of the Sioux were pleased to learn from Mr. Ellis of your attitude regarding our efforts to secure a hearing of our claim by the courts, and we are glad to hear you have pushed thru the Senate a bill which will give us this great previlege. We are also glad to hear that the officials at the Agencies and their employees are to help us all they can in writing down the information of our old men and other evidence that we have to offer. There are only a few of us in Oklahoma who are interested in this claim but we appriciate your efforts as much as the big Sioux tribes do and hope your bill will become a law by the end of the year.
I am sending you with this letter copies of statements made by the following Cheyennes of Oklahoma: Magpie, Turkey Legs, Bear Bow and Big Horse. Please file these safely in the Indian Office.
Thanking you for your kindly interest and the cooperation of the employees, I remain,
Sincerely yours, Turkey Legs, (His thumb mark). Delegate to Crow Creek (S.D.) Council. 
Witness: Robert Burns.
Statement Of Magpie.
My name is Magpie, and I am 67 years old. I am a full blood Cheyenne Indian and have lived here in Oklahoma since we were brought here, forty years ago, and am allotted at the Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency. Before coming here I lived with my tribe on the Tongue River in Montana and Wyoming. When we were away from our agency, which was the Red Cloud Agency.
I was with the Turkey Leg band when the treaty was signed at the Red Cloud agency in 1876 and I was present when the treaty was made, but the Black Hills were not sold by that treaty. The Black Hills were just leased to the Government and the white people allowed to mine the gold, the Indians to get half and the whites to get the other half of all the minerals mined. Old man Rowland interpreted to us and he told us the Black Hills were not sold by the paper they signed. This is my understanding of the treaty for the Black Hills, which was made when I was present. There about forty or fifty tepees at the agency at that time, being part of Turkey Legs band of Cheyennes. Most of the Cheyennes were away at that time and did not know anything about signing the treaty and they did not learn anything about it until they returned to the agency, and they had had some trouble with the soldiers and they did not return until peace messengers were sent out to tell them that it w ould be all right, there would be no trouble if they came in at that time, which they did. After they returned they first learned about the treaty. They could not have authorized them to sign the treaty because they did not know anything about it until after they returned to the agency.
Magpie, (His thumb mark) Witness to Mark: Mark, B. Adams.
I, Robert Burns, swear that I understand the English and Cheyenne language and that I correctly explained to Magpie the foregoing statement which he understood and signed in my presence. (S) Robert Burns, Interpreter.
Subscribed and sworn to me this 17th day of July, 1918, at El Reno, Oklahoma. My Commission Expires Sept. 5, 1918. (Seal) J.O. Chammess, Notary Public.
Statement Of Big Horse.
I am Big Horse, a full- blood Cheyenne, 67 years old and allotted at the Cheyenne and Arapaho agency in Oklahoma where I was transferred in 1878 from the north where we were under the Red Cloud Agency.
I was with the hostile camp of the Cheyennes which left the agency in the early fall before the Custer Fight. The greater part of all the Cheyenne tribe went with us and only a few of the Turkey Leg band remained behind at the agency. Nothing was said about selling the Black Hills before we left the agency and I first learned about it when I returned to the agency with the hostiles the next year after the Custer Fight and noticed white people going to the Black Hills and asked Calf Skin Shirt about it as I understood white people were not allowed to go into the Black Hills. Then Calf Skin Shirt told me about the paper he had signed the year before. Calf Skin Shirt told me that while we were away a commission came to the agency and told us that gold had been discovered in the Black Hills and it wished the Indians to make a treaty to permit the whites to mine the gold and for that previlege the Indians were to get one half of the gold mined or the value of the ore taken out, the rest to go to the white people. Calf Skin Shirt then went on to say that they made the treaty for the purpose of allowing the white people to mine the gold but the Indians did not sell the country. And that was the reason that the white people were coming into the Black Hills. We in the hostile camps did not authorize Calf Skin Shirt or the agency band of Cheyennes to make a treaty for us as there was no talk of the Black Hills treaty before we left the agency. At that time we did not object to the treaty because we understood that it only provided for mining the gold as I have said and not for sale of the Black Hills country. I was a member of the Turkey Leg Band most of whom had (Thumb mark over word and not readable) the hostile camp.
Big Horse (Thumb mark) Witness to Mark: B. Adams.
I, Robert Burns, swear that I understood English and Cheyenne languages and that I correctly interpretted the foregoing statement to Big Horse who understood the same and signed it in my presence. (S) Robert Burns, Interpreter. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 17trh day of July, 1918, at El Reno, Oklahoma. My Commission Expires Sept. 5, 1918. (Seal), J.O. Chammess, Notary Public.
Statement of Turkey Legs.
My name is Turkey Legs and I am about 53 years of age. I am a full blooded Cheyenne and came here with my tribe about 40 years ago and am allotted at the Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency. My father was Turkey Legs who signed the 1876 treaty at the Red Cloud Agency and he came here with us and he died before the allotments were made.
I was just a young boy when at the time the Black Hills Treaty was signed, therefore do not know the treaty very much. The only thing I know is what my father told me about it after it was made. My father told me that gold had been discovered in the Black Hills and the purpose of the treaty was to allow white men to mine the gold and for the previlege the Indians were to get one half of all the gold mined and the other half to go to the white people. My father also told me in accordance with a previous treaty we would be transferred to the Southern Cheyenne reservation but by such transfer he would not lose his right to the Black Hills country. These commissioners told him that by allowing the white people to mine the gold he would become rich in a little while. Clear up to this time I have been expecting to get something on account of the treaty made by father for the Black Hills country. These statements that I have made were told me by my father. Thats all I know about the Black Hills Treaty.
Turkey Legs (His thumb mark). Witness to Mark: Mark, B. Adams.
I, Robert Burns, swear that I understand English and the Cheyenne language and that I have correctly interpretted the foregoing statement to Turkey Legs and that he understood the same and signed in the presence. (S) Robert Burns, Interpreter.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 17th day of July, 1918, at El Reno, oklahoma.
My Commission Expires Sept. 5, 1918. J.O. Chammess, (Seal)
Statement Of Bear Bow.
My name is Bear Bow. I am about 60 years old and a full blood Cheyenne, and am allotted at the Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency in Oklahoma, where I have lived since my tribe was moved here about 40 years ago.
My father was Calf Skin Shirt and signed the Black Hills treaty in 1876, and he was allotted at this agency and died here in Oklahoma in 1891. I was not at the council when the treaty was signed but was in the Cheyenne camp near the agency. My father told me that they made a treaty with the commissioners giving the white people the right to mine gold in the Black Hills for half of the gold mined, but they did not sell the Black Hills. Only the friendly Indians and the men who were in the service of the Army as scouts were at the agency at the time of the treaty (Black Hills) was made. There were forty or fifty tepees. Most of the Cheyennes were hostile and away from the agency. Early next spring myself and three other Cheyennes were sent out to hunt the Cheyennes and bring them in if we could get them. I was a scout at that time and clear up to the time we were brought to Oklahoma. We found the hostile Cheyennes camped on a large stream east of the Powder River, called the Redpaint river.
Only about one-sixth of the Cheyennes were at the treaty making at the agency, the balance being at the hostile camp. Little Wolf and Wild Hog with a few of the hostiles returned to the agency before I left with the other men to visit the hostile camps. And when we got to the hostile camps the Cheyennes decided to return with us to the agency and we lead them in. The hostiles did not know anything about the making of the Black Hills treaty until they returned to the agency and nothing was said about making the treaty before they left. They did not give the friendly band at the agency authoity to make the treaty for them.
Bear Bow (Thumb Mark) Witness to Mark: B. Adams.
I, Robert Burns, swear that I understand the English and Cheyenne languages and that I correctly interpretted the foregoing statement to Bear Bow and he understood the same and signed same in my presence. (S) Robert Burns, Interpreter.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 17th day of July, 1918., at El Reno, Oklahoma.My Commission Expires Sept. 5, 1918. (Seal) J.O. Chammess, Notary Public.
Department of the Interior
U.S. Indian Service
Cantonment Indian Agency, Headquarters of  Superintendent, Canton, Oklahoma
March 18, 1920.
Subject: Petition by the Headmen of the Cheyenne Tribe, Cantonment, Okla.
Hon. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington D.C.
(Through Supt. Cantonment Indian Agency, Okla.)
Our Friend:
"We, the Headmen and Chiefs of the Cantonment Indian jurisdiction-Cheyenne Tribe of Indians- do hereby repudiate a certain petition drawn by an Attorney named, Victor J. Evans, of Washington D.C. and declare that we do not desire to have him represent us or our Tribe in a certain Black Hills claim or any other claim we may have against the Government or anyone else past or present."
(Petition has signature/thumb mark, traditional title (Chief or Headman) and witness to signature)
Mower, Yellow Hawk, Man on Cloud, Necklace, Big Man, White Wolf, Bears Lairiet, Star, Deafy, Standing Water, (These are Cheyenne Chiefs)
Alfred Brown, Nibbs, Yellow Eyes, White Thunder, Meat, Leonard Big Bear, Russell Tall Bull, William Hill, Ben Buffalo, Bear Man, Tough Feather, Left Hand, No-Me-Eze, Bob Fingers, Red Legs, Tall Bull, Star Black, Red Bird Fat, Joi Hamilton, Gold, Paul Red Bird, White Face Bull, Wolf Chief, Red Hat, Mouse Trail, Fred Lone Bear, Willie Pawnee, Miles Osage, Walter Bear Head, Little Robe, Chief Medicine, Walking Stone, Big Head, Hawk, Bull Coming Up, George Curtis, (These are Headmen).
Witness to signatures/thumb marks were: George Curtis, Richard Nibbs, Young Bird and Harriett Coggeshall.
Watonga Republican Newspaper, May 12, 1921, Thursday.
The C&A council held a meeting at Watonga, Okla., on Friday last. A struggle occurred between the younger educated leaders and the older, traditional leaders.
The council decided to go to Washington and present tribal claims to the Black Hills (South Dakota), which was signed away years ago without tribal authorization.
Temporary Chairman--Grant Left Hand but lapsed into Cheyenne quickly and the Arapahoes quickly found an interpreter. 
President- Robert Burns- Concho
Vice- Pres.- Henry Rowlodge-Greenfield
Sec.-Jesse Rowlodge- Geary
Treas.- Ed Shield- Calumet
Delegates. Watonga--Deforest Antelope, Magpie, Little Hand, George Rearing Bull; Fay-- Turkey Legs and Chas. Starr; Concho--Robert Burns and Ed Shields; Calumet-- Mack Haag and Wm. Curtis; Geary--Jesse Rowlodge, Hail and Bird Chief; Clinton-- Alfrich Heap of Birds; Colony--Alfred Wilson and Left hand; Hammon-- Standing Water and Howling Water, Cantonment-- Ernie Black, White Wolf and Geo. Curtis; Carlton and Canton-- Henry Lincoln, Joe Williams, Frank Harrington, Little Raven, White Shirt, Bringing Good and Rabbit Run.
Watonga Republican Newspaper, August 2, 1923.
Meeting at the Council Hall north of Watonga about the Black Hills Claim. Attorney from Washington to meet with council.
November 1, 1923.
Cheyennes and Arapahoes elected delegates to go to Washington from Watonga and Cantonment with Supt. Bost. Cheyennes were Chief Yellow Hawk, Frank White Wolf. Herbert Walker.
Arapahoes were Leo Chatahurcht (?) and John Williams.
Watonga Republican Newspaper, April 3, 1924.
Meeting at Canton for Black Hills Claim. Committeemen for the district (Arapahoes) are Walter Fire Sec.; Dave Big Head Treas.
Committee---Frank Harrington, Charles Harrington, Robert Sankey, Henry Lincoln, Dave Black Horse, White Shirt and Little Raven.
To testify against government; Chiefs. Coming on Horse Back, Sitting Bull, Rabbit Run, Heap of Crows, Broken Rib and Mrs. Buckett(?).
April 10, 1924, Sitting Bull, a scout for Custer gave testimony to committees meeting for Black Hills claim.
 
Watonga Republican Newspaper, Feb. 2, 1928.
Representatives of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes going to Washington on Feb. 1, 1928. Robert Burns, Concho; Alfred Wilson, Weatherford; Jesse Rowlodge, Geary; Arnold Woolworth, Calumet were delegates chosen January 6th, at El Reno for special council on Black Hills Claim.
Daniel B. Henderson of Washington will present their claims. Jesse Rowlodge was a member of the delegation two years previously. Senator Hendricks of Wyoming and Senator Walsh of Montana supported a bill for the claim. The Oklahoma delegation also supports the bill.
Delegates to the meeting: Cantonment- Herbert Walker and Red Bird, Cheyennes; Watonga- John Block and Deforest Antelope, Cheyennes; Clinton- Kias and John Fletcher, Cheyennes; Colony- Theodore Haury and Henry Little Bird, Arapahoes; Weatherford- Jacob Runner and Alfred Wilson, Cheyennes; Canton- Little Raven and White Shirt(Man), Arapahoes; Cantonment- Ben Buffalo and Left Hand, Cheyennes; Geary- Henry Rowlodge and Arnold Woolworth, Arapahoes; Calumet- Henry Miles and Bird Chief, Jr., Arapahoes; Calumet- Mack Haag and Harry Black, Cheyennes; Kingfisher- Joe Yellow Eyes and Clarence Shepard, Cheyennes.
 
Watonga Republican Newspaper, Jan. 8, 1930.
Chief Turkey Legs of Watonga, one of four selected by tribal council to go to Washington. Others are Jesse Rowlodge, Geary; White Horse, Canton; Alfred Wilson, Thomas. Turkey Legs and Wilson are Cheyennes. To appear before Congress. Request sent by Daniel B. Henderson, tribal attorney in Washington, requested delegation.
Other matters also before the Court of Claims.
Text Copyright (c) 2004 Sipe/Berthrong Collections. Black Hills and Chiefs Section.