High Wolf Cheyenne Scout By Alexander Gardner

Filed under: Historical Photos

This is from a historical photo of High Wolf taken by Alexander Gardner. High Wolf (Tcah-Gm-Ani-Tah-An Ka-Ti-Ah) was a great Cheyenne chief and warrior. He was the man George Catlin painted and called Highback Wolf. High Wolf led many war parties and told Catlin of a great war raid when he was a leader in a great fight when many Crow prisoners were taken. Cheyenne Chief High Backed Wolf and other chiefs signed the Friendship Treaty of 1825 with the U.S. at the mouth of the Teton River. Later he served as a scout. On July 25 1866 a Cheyenne attack was made on the stockade at Platte River Bridge on the Overland Trail. A small body of warriors rode near the fort to entice the soldiers out. The main fighting force of warriors–near 3000 strong–was concealed in the hills. Some of the soldiers came out of the fort gate but refused to follow the retreating Indians into the ambush. Instead they shelled the hills with a howitzer. Late in the afternoon the head chiefs sent High Backed Wolf to order return of the advance party since they could not draw the soldiers into the trap. One of the advance warriors spoke angrily when Highback Wolf ordered the retreat. High Backed Wolf then dared the other to swim the river with their ponies and attack the soldiers near the fort. Both did so. In the fight High Backed Wolf was shot and fell from his horse at a little distance from the fort. His body was rescued by the Cheyenne and carried away for burial. On July 1 1921 Mr. Adam N. Keith a Wyoming cattle rancher was riding along the base of a high rocky mountain near the Powder River about twenty miles west of the inland town of Kaycee Johnson county and about ninety miles north of the old Platte River Bridge fort when he discovered an old indian burial. He promptly got help and dug it up. It was the grave of High Wolf. The Wyoming winds had embalmed his body and shrunk his skin upon his frame leaving its original form and features undestroyed. After fifty five years he was still recognizable. He was identified by an aged Sioux warrior from Pine Ridge who had hunted on the Wyoming plains with him nearly sixty years before.