Great Warriors II

The Arapaho are an Algonquian-speaking people closely allied with the Cheyenne and Lakota.  Sources differ on the etymology for the word Arapaho.  It may have come from a Pawnee word for trader, or from a Crow word for tattoo.  The Arapaho refer to themselves as people of our own kind.  They Cheyenne referred to them as people of the sky.  The Lakota and Assiniboine referred to them as Blue Sky people.  The Caddo knew them as the pierced-nose people.  Tribes who disliked the Arapaho for various reasons, such as the Ute and Pawnee, at times referred to them as dog-eaters.  Like many other Plains tribes,, the Arapaho oral tradition placed them in the Great Lakes area, what is now Manitoba and Minnesota.  They were eventually forced westward along with the Cheyenne by the Ojibwe during the turbulence of the 17th century Beaver Wars.  Once on the plains, the Arapaho acquired horses and learned to use dogs as pack animals to drag travois....

Some Native leaders won the respect of Whites while keeping the esteem of their people.  Red Cloud of the Oglala Lakota, 1822-1909, was a respected leader, warrior, diplomat and advocate for his people who stands in the same rank as Tecumseh, Osceola, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Geronimo, among others. Red Cloud was born in 1822, in what is now North Platte, North Dakota.  His mother, Walks as She Thinks, was an Oglala.  His father, Lone Man, was a Brule Lakota leader.  Sioux culture is matrilineal, meaning that a child took his mother's tribal membership and status from her.  Red Cloud's maternal uncle, Old Chief Smoke, provided his warrior's training and sponsored his rise in Oglala society.  After the deaths of Red Cloud's parents, Smoke raised Red Cloud as his own child.  Under Smoke's direction, Red Cloud began his career in skirmishes with Crow and Pawnee, gaining early experience.  Settlers began pouring into Wyoming and Montana.  ...