Clara Caufield: 'We are on Cheyenne time. When the time is right, it will happen'

Monday, July 8, 2019  

June 25, 2019, marked the 143rd anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, aka Custer’s Last Stand or the Fight at the Greasy Grass, depending upon who is describing it.

On that day, the Indians once again take over the battlefield: Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Arikara, Mandan Hidatsa and this year some Southern Utes. They come together to celebrate a great historic victory, although as one tribal spokesperson said: it was the beginning of the end for our ancestor’s way of life.

It was not always so. Until about 1985, tribal people were decidedly unwelcome upon those grounds. That is when Austin Two Moons, a highly esteemed Cheyenne traditional person convened the first annual prayer ceremony for “World Peace” attended by hundreds of tribal and other good-hearted people, running for many years, gaining national and even international acclaim. War is especially hard upon the old ones, women and children, he taught. Then, they prayed for all people in the world so that such a terrible thing will not happen again.

In 1985, the tribal people were not allowed to conduct that prayer ceremony on the Battlefield site, opting for a nearby location. Federal agents then pounced, searching vehicles and people’s persons, a memory particularly horrifying to Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a participant. After the name change which he sponsored as a member of Congress and more time went by, the "gates" of the Battlefield were opened to the tribal people. And even their horses which historically, and still do, carry them there.

Although I have been to that celebrations many times, this year, it was my privilege and honor to escort a wonderful Irish friend from New York, him a longtime and far-away admirer of the Cheyenne and Sioux. The annual anniversary agenda goes from sunup to sundown, beginning with a sunrise prayer ceremony, supposed to begin at 6:00 a.m. The sunrise prayer ceremony follows in the tradition started by Austin Two Moons.

My guest and friend was particularly anxious to arrive punctually, for in his world if you are not fifteen minutes early, you are late. This necessitated a 3:30 a.m. wake-up call from the Billings hotel, leaving only a few minutes to grab a truck stop sandwich and coffee before a mad 70 mph mad dash to the Battlefield.

“We really don’t’ need to be in such a hurry,’ I suggested.

“We cannot be late,’ he countered, ever driven by the clock, anxious about that master. “What time is it?” he frequently asked, eyes and white-gripped knuckles intent upon the highway.

“Don’t know.”

“Where is your watch?”

“Don’t have one. Don’t need one.”

“Just want to know if we are on target...”

“I don’t think we will be. We are on Cheyenne time. When the time is right, it will happen.” I suggested, but there was no sense in arguing.

Clara Caufield can be reached at acheyennevoice@gmail.com