Great Leader: Black Coal of the Northern Arapaho, 1840-1893

The Antelope Band of the Arapaho were also known as the Long Legs because they frequently moved camp.  Black Coal was born into this band c 1840.  How he rose to prominence among his people isn't known, except that great Arapaho leaders usually came from the Antelope Band.  He earned his name after a fight against the Utes, which he won.  He returned to camp and rolled in the ashes of a bunt out campfire until he was covered in black, the color of victory.  Later, he would lose 3 fingers in a fight against the Army, and was also known as Fingers Cut off.

Black Coal continued his rise in his society, and was part of the treaty parleys at Fort Laramie which led to the 1868 Treaty.  In 1871, he became Principal Chief of the Northern Arapaho.  In 1874, two women in the town of Lander, Wyoming were killed and the Arapaho were blamed.  Captain Bates took a detachment of the 2nd Cavalry to locate and subdue any hostile Natives in retaliation for the murders.  The Cavalry used Shoshone scouts, who led them to Black Coal's camp.  The Sioux and Cheyenne long suspected the Shoshone of aiding the Army and wanted to make a raid against them.  Black Coal objected and decided not to join the raid.  On July 4, 1874, his village was alerted to Bates' cavalry unit nearby. 

The Arapaho evacuated the village to some nearby bluffs.  Warriors fired arrows down at the cavalry, which was invading the village.  Bates occupied the village for awhile, but finally had to retreat and leave the Arapaho alone.  Meanwhile, the Shoshone auxiliaries ran off some of the tribe's cattle.  Black Coal later returned with his people to the Red River Agency.  By 1876, Black Coal was employed as an Army Scout, and led a raid on the Cheyenne under Dull Knife.  Later in life, Black Coal converted to Catholicism though he continued to practice traditional ways.  He died in 1893 and was buried on the Arapaho Reservation in Wyoming, near St. Stephen's Mission.

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