Past Tour Members Say...
Please extend all of our gratitude to everyone for making us feel at home and sharing all that they did on our big adventure. We felt that everyone bent over backwards to make our time special and that it was! We all had a FANTASTIC adventure. It was good to be disconnected from the high tech, fast paced life for a while. We all felt like we were gone for a month, not 10 days and I think it will take a bit of time to digest all the experiences.
Laura Fadden, Florida
Laura Fadden, Florida
On this amazing Go Native America Ed-venture, we search for understanding and discover the Dog Soldiers as we traverse Kansas, Colorado, and Oklahoma, as we go deep into the Dog Soldiers’ heartland, the inspiring Smoky Hill Country of Kansas, as we follow the Dog Soldiers struggle to preserve and protect the Cheyenne Nation.
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“The Dog Soldiers were the most famous of the Cheyenne bands and the least understood by the whites,” recollected George Bent, the illustrious Southern Cheyenne historian. On this amazing Go Native America Edventure, we search for that understanding and discover the Dog Soldiers as we traverse Kansas, Colorado, and Oklahoma, as we go deep into the Dog Soldiers’ heartland, the inspiring Smoky Hill Country of Kansas, as we follow the Dog Soldiers struggle to preserve and protect the Cheyenne Nation, from the Hancock Campaign to Beecher Island, and to the Washita where the Dog Soldiers weren’t, but were supposed to be.
The origin of the Dog Soldiers is found in the sacred narrative of Sweet Medicine, the holy
Tsetsehésestahase (Cheyenne) prophet, and we travel with the Dog Soldiers from that sanctified beginning. Walking within historic Dog Soldier village sites, such as the beautiful Pawnee Fork village that was at the center of the Hancock-Custer campaign, we explore the meanings of the most distinctive emblems of the society, including the Hotam’tsit, or Dog Rope, that a Dog Soldier uses to stake himself to the earth in the face of the enemy.
We discover how the Dog Soldiers achieved recognition as not only a military society, but also a distinct Cheyenne band with seats on the Chiefs Council of 44. The rise of the Dog Soldiers coincided with the establishment of Colorado Territory, Kansas overland trails, transcontinental communications, and railroads which devastated the Cheyenne Nation. The Dog Soldiers were in the vanguard of Cheyenne resistance and we follow them through 1866 to 1868. One man more than any other is associated with the Dog Soldiers, although he himself was not a Dog Soldier. Roman Nose, possibly the greatest and most influential warrior of any Plains Indian nation, was a headsman of the Cheyenne Elk Horn Scrapers military society, but he fought alongside his closest friends who were prominent leaders amongst the Dog Soldiers. The ascendancy of Roman Nose and the Dog Soldiers was simultaneous, and so we also touch upon the life and journey of Roman Nose. We follow Roman Nose and the Dog Soldiers during General Winfield Scott Hancock’s campaign, visiting the site of the famous village on the Pawnee Fork, and tracking the conflict that raged from Fort Larned to the posts on the Smoky Hill Trail, as men such as Roman Nose, Tall Bull and White Horse battled to preserve their nation, just as Hancock, Custer, and Major Eugene A. Carr sought to push their nation westward. We relive the triumph and tragedy at Beecher Island, walking where Roman Nose rode.
Moving toward the south, where the Comanche, Kiowa and Cheyenne were the “Lords of the Southern Plains,” we enter the notorious frontier town of Dodge City, visiting old Fort Dodge and the town as we begin the trail to what the Cheyenne call the Lodgepole River – the Washita – following the route of Custer’s 7th Cavalry. We explore Camp Supply, where the legendary frontier scout, Amos Chapman, was post interpreter, and where many esteemed Cheyenne leaders camped in the post-Washita, Red River War era. We discuss the establishment of the post directly before the Washita, and the command decisions made there, aside the dynamics within the Cheyenne Nation when Custer left Camp Supply, heading toward the Washita. At the Washita Battlefield we visit every
significant location to gain an insight into how the attack and counter-defense unfolded. Custer was following the orders of General Sheridan, and Sheridan advocated exterminating the buffalo to starve the tribes into submission. The Red River War followed, and we conclude by visiting the areas in Oklahoma that became critical to the survival of the Cheyenne – Darlington Agency and Cantonment on the North Canadian River, the latter founded by Col. Richard I. Dodge under the influence of Amos Chapman, who wanted to provide an outpost for the Dog Soldiers away from Darlington Agency.
Go Native America is a member/ supported / promoted by:
American Indian and Alaska Native Tourism Alliance
Montana Tribal Tourism Alliance
American Indian Crafts Association
Wyoming Travel and Tourism
RMI Rocky Mountain International, Real America
Black Hills, Badlands Association & the Rapid City Chamber
Premier hosts of Native American tours - travel American Indian lands & traditions - tribal culture and history
Included in National Geographic Traveler's TOP 50 Tours of a Lifetime
“Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents; it was loaned to you by your children.”
"Uñci maía þañyañ íuwaöi, nihuñúaúe úiñ uñ¤i maía niäuöi ßni. Ni¤iñca úiñ uñ¤i maía
ecel uñniäuöi. "
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ITINERARY
which includes dates, prices, itinerary and general trip information
ITINERARY
SPECIAL OFFER PRICE ($3497) $3299!
Day 1: Arrive Wichita, Kansas, and take a shuttle to the hotel where you have the rest of the evening free to relax.
Day 2: Dog Soldier Village on the Pawnee Fork, Fort Larned.
Day 3: Fort Hays, Smoky Hill River Country, Roman Nose’s Lookout, Sacred Monument Rocks.
Day 4: Fort Wallace, Bunch of Timbers Campsite, Kidder Fight Site
Day 5: Beecher Island Battlefield.
Day 6: Fort Dodge/Dodge City, Camp Supply
Day 7: Washita Battlefield, Chief Black Kettle Museum, Colony
Day 8: Fort Reno and Darlington Agency, Cantonment
Day 9: National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Depart OK City (pm)
Want to Extend Your Experience and Walk in the Footsteps of Quanah Parker,
Satanta, White Horse and others?
Then join us in Llano Estacado, the Staked Plains, for a three- day journey back to 1874 and the Comanche, Kiowa and Cheyenne struggle to save the buffalo in the “Buffalo” or “Red River War.” Visit the Buffalo Wallow Battle site, the legendary Adobe Walls Battlefield, and the stunning Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle. “We always had plenty to eat because the land was full of buffalo. We were happy. Then you came,” the great Kiowa warrior-chief Satanta once explained, and the struggle to preserve the sacred is epitomized by the Red River ‘War to Save the Buffalo.’ When the hide hunters traveled from Dodge City to the Panhandle and established the Adobe Walls outpost, the stage was set for the Red River War. We discuss the great deeds of Quanah Parker at Adobe Walls, and relive that engagement and the fight at the Buffalo Wallow, before entering Palo Duro Canyon. Departure - Oklahoma City, OK.
Cheyenne Heartsong 8 - 16 August, 2009, with optional add-on dates 8 - 20 August
