The awesome dog warriors were "armed to the teeth with revolvers and bows . . . proud,haughty, defiant as should become those who are to grant favors, not beg them."
Ohio reporter covering the negotiations at Medicine Lodge, Kansas on
October 27, 1867
Of all the typical Plains tribes, the Cheyenne were most
distinguished for warlike qualities. Few in number, they overcame or held in
check most of the peoples who opposed them, and when the westward movement of
European civilization began, they made more trouble than all the rest combined.
In short, they were preeminently warriors among peoples whose trade was war.
As in other prairie tribes, the warriors of the Cheyenne
were organized into societies or orders. These societies were fraternal,
military, and semi-religious organizations with special privileges, duties, and
dress, usually tracing their origin to some mythical culture hero or medicine
man. Each society had its own songs and secret ritual, and exacted certain
observances and standards of its members.
Of these organizations, none has played such a part in the
history of the Plains as the
"Dog Soldiers” of the Cheyenne. It is the purpose of
this short paper to outline the origin, customs and history of this society of
warriors.
The best version of the story of its origin is that recorded by George
A. Dorsey in The
Cheyenne Ceremonial
Organization, 1905 and is as follows:
"The Dog-Man
(Dog Soldier) Society was organized after the organization of the other
societies, by a young man without influence, but who was chosen by the great
Prophet. One morning the young man went through the entire camp and
to the center of the camp circle, announcing that he was about to form a
society. No one was anxious to join him, so he was alone all that day. The other
medicine-men had had no difficulty in establishing their societies, but this
young man, when his turn came to organize, was ridiculed, for he was not a
medicine-man, and had no influence to induce others to follow his leadership.
At evening he was sad, and he sat in the midst of the whole camp. He prayed to
the Great Prophet and the Great Medicine Man to assist him. At sunset he began
to sing a sacred song. While he sang the people noticed that now and then the
large and small dogs throughout the camp whined and howled and were restless.
The people in their lodges fell asleep. The man sang from sunset to midnight;
then he began to wail. The people were all sleeping in their lodges and did not
hear him. Again he sang; then he walked out to the opening of the camp-circle,
singing as he went. At the opening of the camp-circle he ceased singing and
went out. All the dogs of the whole camp followed him, both male and female,
some carrying in their mouths their puppies. Four times he sang before he
reached his destination at daybreak. As the sun rose he and all the dogs
arrived at a river bottom which was partly timbered and level.
The man sat down by a
tree that leaned toward the north. Immediately the dogs ran from him and
arranged themselves in the form of a semi-circle about him, like the shape of
the camp-circle they had left; then they lay down to rest; as the dogs lay
down, by some mysterious power, there sprang up over the man in the center of
the circle a lodge. The lodge included the leaning tree by which the man sat;
there were three other saplings, trimmed at the base with the boughs left at
the top. The lodge was formed of the skins of the buffalo. As soon as the lodge
appeared, all the dogs rushed towards it. As they entered the lodge they turned
into human beings, dressed like members of the Dog-Men Society. The Dog Men
began to sing, and the man listened very attentively and learned several songs
from them, their ceremony, and their dancing forms.
The camp circle and the center lodge had the appearance of a
real camp circle for three long days. The Dog Men blessed the man and promised
that he should be successful in all of his undertakings and that his people,
his society, and his band would become thegreatest of all if he carried out their instructions.”
Later, the Cheyenne discovered the camp. But "as they came into view of the wonderful camp the Dog lodge instantly disappeared and the Dog-Men were transformed into dogs. The medicine-men and warriors were by this time very sorry that they had refused to join this man’s society—and the next day,according to instructions of the Great Prophet, he again asked the warriors to join his society, and many hundreds of men joined it. He directed the society
to imitate the Dog Man in dress, and to sing the way the Dog-Men sang. This is why the other warrior societies call the warriors of this society 'Dog-Men
Warriors’.”
A LOVE STORY OF A
DOG SOLDIER AND HIS
WHITE CAPTIVE
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2 comments:
Great post, Keta! I really enjoyed WHERE THE RAIN IS MADE, and much of the reason for that is the book made the Dog Soldiers culture come alive. :-)
I posted a comment here earlier but guess it swallowed it. Hope this one fares better. I found that quite interesting on the Dog Soldiers. I bought the book Where the Rain is Made a week or two ago when I could resist no longer. I had held off because of the captive angle which generally I don't like but it has so many other interesting ideas in it that, I got it anyway. I will get a chance to read it on our vacation (whenever we manage to get the farm ready to leave) and look forward to it very much as it is an interesting premise and this info adds to that.
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