Murder trial of seven Cheyenne (1879) (original) (raw)

The murder trial of seven Cheyenne took place in 1879 in Dodge City and Lawrence, Kansas. Seven Native American (Indian) warriors were accused of killing 40 civilians in Decatur County, Kansas. The killings took place during the Northern Cheyenne Exodus in which 353 Cheyenne men, women, and children fled their reservation in Indian Territory (later Oklahoma) and attempted to return to their homeland on the northern Great Plains. The imprisonment and trial of the seven Cheyenne took place over a period of eight months and was widely publicized and controversial. A judge concluded the trial by dismissing the murder charges on the seven. The Ledger art created by several of the Cheyenne while imprisoned is preserved in museums.