Cheyenne Dog Soldiers: A Ledgerbook History of Coups and Combat

Since the Battle of Summit Springs on July 11, 1869, a ledgerbook of over one hundred color drawings lay neglected in the archives of the Colorado Historical Society for nearly a century. The authors, working in close association with the Cheyenne nation, have produced an unprecedented look at the Dog Soldiers based on this ledgerbook. Unlike other books that interpret ledgerbook art, the authors treat the Summit Springs ledger drawings as historical documents, a history of the Dog Soldiers recorded by the warrior-artists themselves.

In Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, the earliest of the extant Cheyenne ledgerbooks, the authors have painstakingly matched drawings with known events, such as the 1865 sack of Julesburg, Colorado, and the 1865 battles of Rush Creek, Platte River Bridge, and Tongue River in the Dakota and Montana territories. Also identified are such noted Dog Soldiers as Tall Bull, Big Crow, Whirlwind, and Wolf with Plenty of Hair.