Murder trial of seven Cheyenne (1879)

In September 1878, 353 Northern Cheyenne men, women, and children fled the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian Reservation in Indian Territory, seeking to return to their homeland on the northern Great Plains after being relocated there from Fort Robinson, Nebraska, the previous year. During the flight, the group fought several engagements with the U.S. Army and civilian volunteers, including the Battle of Punished Woman's Fork. Needing horses and supplies, Cheyenne warriors raided the Sappa Creek valley in northern Kansas. Despite orders from Cheyenne leaders to avoid harming non-combatants, warriors killed approximately 40 civilians and raped nine women in Decatur County.

After a roughly 900-kilometer flight, 150 of the Cheyenne surrendered at Fort Robinson in October 1878. When imprisoned and ordered back to Oklahoma, they broke out of the fort in January 1879; many were killed or recaptured. Seven surviving men — Old Crow, Wild Hog, Strong Left Hand, Porcupine, Tangle Hair, Noisy Walker, and Blacksmith — were arrested for the Kansas killings. They and 21 family members were sent to Fort Leavenworth. Kansas Governor George T. Anthony insisted the seven be tried in civilian court, and lawman Bat Masterson escorted them by rail to Dodge City, arriving 17 February 1879 amid large, sometimes hostile crowds; several Cheyenne were injured during the journey.

The seven were jailed in the damp basement of the Dodge City courthouse for five months, drawing visits from journalists and others. Sheriff Masterson provided food and medical care and later allowed the prisoners outdoor time and bathing privileges. Attorney J.G. Mohler represented them, arguing Kansas lacked jurisdiction, and the prosecution struggled to produce eyewitnesses. Indian agent John DeBras Miles secured the release of Old Crow, a former Army scout, who returned to Indian Territory. The remaining six were transferred to Lawrence, Kansas, arriving 25 June 1879, where they became local celebrities, attending a circus and staging a mock battle with local cowboys. Poet Walt Whitman visited them in jail, and a U.S. Senate committee interviewed them on 12 August 1879, with Wild Hog describing mistreatment on the Oklahoma reservation.

On 13 October 1879, the prosecuting attorney failed to appear in court, and the presiding judge dismissed all murder charges against the six remaining defendants. Still classified as prisoners of war, they were returned to the Cheyenne reservation in Indian Territory. Four years later, most received permission to relocate to the newly created Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in the north.

While imprisoned, several of the men created ledger art depicting scenes of Plains life, notably avoiding war imagery. Four small ledgers and four loose drawings survive, attributed variously to Wild Hog, Porcupine, and others; two are held by the Kansas State Historical Society and two are in Norway.