Cheyenne moccasins feature stepped triangular designs, distinctive color combinations, and neat workmanship.
The Ghost Dance moccasin, in the upper left corner of the photo above, is part of a pair that was made in the Cheyenne and Arapaho tradition of Ghost Dance clothing, which is painted with nonrepresentational designs.

After the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876, the U.S. Army hunted down all Indians who were not on reservations. After being stalked for months, chiefs Dull Knife and Crazy Horse surrendered at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, in the spring of 1877. One thousand Cheyenne were marched from there to Fort Reno, where they suffered from hunger and sickness on the reservation.

On the evening of September 9,1878, Chiefs Dull Knife and Little Wolf summoned an elderly woman to guide them home. It is said that this elderly woman had a special gift from Ma 'heo 'o (God)––the ability to see at night. The entire band of nearly four hundred men, women, and children placed their trust in this one woman. They followed her through the darkness of night to their homelands along the Tongue River, a place that is now known as the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Lame Deer, Montana.

After being overtaken and confined at Fort Robinson again, Dull Knife told an army officer, “Tell the Great Father that we ask only to end our days here in the north, where we were born . . . If he tries to send us back, we will butcher each other with our own knives.”

Eventually, chiefs Dull Knife and Little Wolf established a reservation for the Northern Cheyenne, but the cost was high. Chief Dull Knife, also known as Morning Star, is still honored by the Northern Cheyenne, who call themselves the “Morning Star People.”

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