Posts Tagged ‘Bear Who Walks on a Ridge’
I looked through the pages of “People of the Sacred Mountain” by Father Peter Powell. He listed the Northern Cheyenne Chiefs in 1876 and who of them was at the Little Bighorn in detail.
The traditional 44 Cheyenne Chiefs were chosen in a ceremony after a Sun Dance in 1874. This “Renewing of the Chiefs” took place normally every ten years. For the first time the Northern Cheyenne elected their own Council of Chiefs independent of the Southern branch of the tribe. The following Cheyennes were chosen in 1874:
Old Man Chiefs:
Little Wolf, Northern Suhtai and Sweet Medicine Chief
Morning Star (a/k/a Dull Knife), Head Chief of the Omisis
Old Bear, Omisis
Black Moccasin (a/k/a Limber Lance)
Council of the Forty-Four:
Box Elder, Head Chief of Northern Suhtai
American Horse, Northern Suhtai
Black Wolf, Northern Suhtai
Black Eagle, Head Chief of Northern Scabby
Little Chief, Little Chief’s band of Lakota/Cheyenne
&
Turkey Leg, (Young) Spotted Wolf, Old Wolf, Black Moccasin (a/k/a Iron), Bald Bear, White Dirt (a/k/a Powder), White Head (a/k/a Gray Head), Old Crow, Strong Wolf (a/k/a Big Wolf), Plum Man, Magpie Eagle, Crazy Head, Black Crane, Medicine Bear, Medicine Wolf, Twin, Standing Elk, Spotted Elk, Living Bear, Black Bear, Cut Foot, Broken Dish (a/k/a Calfskin Shirt) and some others.
The great majority of these Chiefs were at the Little Bighorn in 1876.
Only Morning Star/Dull Knife, Turkey Leg, Spotted Elk, Standing Elk, Living Bear, and Black Bear remained at the agency that year. Little Wolf arrived shortly after the battle and was harangued badly by the Lakotas.
In addition to the Chiefs all of the thirty headmen of the Northern Cheyenne warrior societies were probably present at the Little Bighorn, with the exception of Little Wolf, head chief of the Elkhorn Scrapers.
Elkhorn Scraper:
Lame White Man
Wild Hog
Broken Jaw
Crow-Split-Nose
Tall White Man
White Hawk
Left-Handed-Shooter
Goes-After-Other-Buffalo
Plenty Bears
Wolf Medicine
Kit Foxes:
Last Bull
Two Moon
Bear-Who-Walks-On-A-Ridge
Wrapped Hair
Plenty-of-Buffalo-Bull-Meat
Little Horse
Sits-Beside-His-Medicine
Mosquito
Rattlesnake Nose
Weasel Bear
Crazy Dogs:
Old Man Coyote
Strong Left Hand
Little Creek
Snow Bird (a/k/a White Bird)
Crazy Mule
Iron Shirt
Black Knife
Beaver Claws
Red Owl
Crow Necklace
The most important holy men in the Little Bighorn village were Coal Bear (Keeper of the Sacred Hat), Box Elder, and White Bull (Ice).
— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
Bear Who Walks on a Ridge or Ridge Bear was a little chief or headman of the Kit Fox Society among the Northern Cheyennes.
He was in the village at the Bighorn Mountains that Reynolds attacked in early 1876, fighting there together with Two Moons, another Kit Fox little chief. Like all the other warrior society headman of the Northern Cheyenne, Ridge Bear was present at the Little Bighorn in June 1876. In spring 1877, he was among those Cheyennes surrendering to General Miles at the Yellowstone.
Some other sources indicate that Ridge Walker was another name for Bear Who Walks on a Ridge.
Ridge Walker was known to be an army scout in the 1880s. Later he and Porcupine were the Cheyennes who visited the prophet Wovoka to learn something about the Ghost Dance.
Does anybody know if these men are one and the same?
Here are two photos of Ridge Walker:
Ridge Walker
— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
Elva Stands In Timber, Northern Cheyenne Tribe:
I believe myself to be a bearer of the Cheyenne sacred traditions. They were taught to me by my Grandfather Robert Ridge Walker and Grandmother Ethel Ridge Walker. Both were born close to the time of the Little Big Horn fighting. My Grandmother Ethel was born three days after the battle, as the victorious Cheyennes were moving South to hunt buffalo, where Sheridan, Wyoming is today.
Ridge Walker was a bit older, and later he joined the Cheyenne Scouts at Fort Keogh. A strong traditionalist, he was one of the Piercing People. He offered the sacrifice of his own flesh eight times, twice the sacred four times, to bring Maheo’s blessing to our people. Later, he was Stock Association Manager for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. Strong in the old holy ways, he and his Grandmother carried that strength through-out their lives of nearly a century each.
The name “Ridge Bear” was also known among the Arapaho at Darlington.