Where Cowboys and Indians Meet: A Southern Cheyenne Web of Kinship and the Transnational Cattle Industry, 1877-1885

Abstract

Between 1877 and 1885, a Southern Cheyenne chief named Stone Calf gathered a coalition of Southern Cheyenne women and men, cultural intermediaries, ranchers, missionaries, and U.S. soldiers together in northwestern Indian Territory. Bound by kinship, gendered labor, economic opportunity, and political necessity, this alliance negotiated the transnational cattle industry's access to the environmental resources of the Southern Great Plains. Using these powerful ties, Stone Calf's coalition successfully shaped both the cattle industry's expansion and displaced the Office of Indian Affairs' influence in the region. By recognizing Stone Calf's coalition as a powerful transnational force, this article illuminates both the weight of kinship and Indigenous participation in a globally interconnected world.