Pawnee capture of the Cheyenne Sacred Arrows
They recovered one from the Pawnee directly, either given to them or taken by them, and a second was captured by the Lakota and returned to the Cheyenne in exchange for horses.
The two corresponding replicas were ceremonially returned to the Black Hills, where the arrows were traditionally believed to have originated.
Likely, the Pawnee lived in villages of earth lodges in the present-day state of Nebraska[1]: 32 and northern Kansas[2]: 5 already in the 16th century.
[3]: 121 At the time of the battle with the Cheyenne, the Skidi Pawnee populated the banks of Loup River in the central part of Nebraska.
[1]: 71–84 The final groups of Cheyenne Indians seem to have crossed the Missouri River from eastern North Dakota in the last quarter of the 18th century.
[6]: 47 [7]: 31 They captured horses[6]: 101 and confronted each other on the plains, but neither side achieved any definite lasting advantage over the other.
[12]: 543 When the four arrows were tied near the top of a lance in two separate pairs[12]: 557 and carried against an enemy after the performance of the proper ceremony, they promised victory,[6]: 50 and had already been present in the total destruction of a big Crow camp at Tongue River in 1820.
[6]: 24–26 The renewal of the arrows forms one of the most sacred of the Cheyenne ceremonies and traditionally takes place during the same time every summer, as well as in response to unfortunate events, such as a homicide or other tragedy.
[10]: 268 A year before this historic battle, a party of Cheyenne warriors intended to raid the Pawnee near the lower Platte.
The special custodian or keeper of the Sacred Arrows, White Thunder, and his wife led them.
[12]: 557 The scouts finally located a large camp of Pawnees at the head of the South Loup.
Without having performed the required ceremony, he handed over the arrow bundle to a selected medicine man named Bull.
The leggings were a part of a tribal war bundle, and they seemed to make Big Eagle fearless.
[14]: 66 Further, Big Eagle was dressed in a red shirt and wore a government medal on his breast.
[13]: 651 With the Sacred Arrows gone and morale low, the Cheyenne failed to withstand a renewed charge by the Pawnee and retreated.
"[6]: 51 [6]: 152 Pawnee Chief Big Eagle concluded they had captured something of extraordinary importance when he examined the arrows.
[13]: 657 Another source recounts that three Cheyenne, White Thunder, Old Bark, and Doll Man traveled to a Skidi village in 1835 where they were received in Big Eagle's lodge and given one Buffalo Arrow.
