Author Description

At Summit Springs, Colorado on July 11, 1869, Maj Eugene A. Carr led the Fifth United States Cavalry and a force of Pawnee scouts in an attack on Chief Tall Bull's Cheyenne Dog Soldier village. Also prominent in the fight was chief of scouts, William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. When the day's fighting was over, fifty-two Cheyenne Dog Soldiers lay dead. On that day, too, a soldier picked up what appeared to be a plain army ledgerbook. When opened, the book revealed page upon page of colored drawings - all rendered by Cheyenne warrior-artists. The book came to the Colorado Historical Society in 1903, and there it remained for nearly one hundred years, largely unknown or forgotten. Until now. Working in close association with Cheyenne people, the authors have produced an unprecedented look at the Dog Soldiers, treating these ledger drawings as historical documents - as the history of the Dog Soldiers by the warrior-artists themselves. Using Cheyenne sources - both past and present - as well as U.S. military records, legal depositions, diaries, and contemporary newspaper accounts, the authors analyze drawings, identifying the warriors and describing the actions depicted. With more than one hundred beautifully reproduced color drawings, this volume presents not only a groundbreaking departure from standard ledgerbook interpretation but also a riveting story of the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers making a last stand for their existence as a free people.