“Cheyenne Threat”

Before the battle of the Rosebud, Cheyenne tribal medicine men supplied buffalo horns to the warriors that were to be attached to their war bonnets. These horns were believed to give protection in battle, making the wearer bulletproof. At the time of the battle only fifty-nine pairs were available so only fifty-nine warriors took part in the battle, even though the entire tribe was camped on the Tongue River nearby. It was considered extremely unlucky to ride into battle without wearing the horns. However, by the time of the Custer Battle, a week later, all of the northern Cheyenne warriors wore the protective horns.

The sculpture “Cheyenne Threat” depicts one of the fifty-nine warriors as he might have looked on the morning of June 17, 1876, before the Battle of the Rosebud. This battle represented a strategic victory for the Sioux and Cheyenne against the United States military troops staged at the zenith of the Sioux war of 1876-1877.

The Indian victory at the Rosebud was a prelude to and directly led to a still greater triumph eight days later on June 25th,1876, when Lt. Col. George A. Custer and his immediate command were wiped out to a man by these same warriors who had opposed General Crook on the Rosebud.