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| Roman Nose was another great Indian Chief, the Cheyenne name for him was "The Bat". The white man called him Roman Nose because of his hooked nose, very prominent. Roman Nose was always very cautious to never violate the scared taboo that was associated with his war bonnet. If he were to eat food that had been touched by metal, then he believed that the power of his war bonnet would come to an end, and he would face certain death in battle. One particular battle against the Us Army in Upper Paltte River Bridge, Wyoming, Roman Nose mounted his horse and led a charge, ignoring the bullets that zipped past his war bonnet. A final rush by the Northern and Southern Cheyenne and Sioux tribes which had attacked a covered wagon, finally overwhelmed the wagon while remaining troops from Camp Dodge stood by helplessly. Three years later, Roman Nose led an all out campaign to drive the white settlers out of Kansas. He fought hard and fought proud, until one night Roman Nose ate food that had been touched by a metal fork, and he felt his own death was soon at hand. He fiercely donned his war bonnet in 1868 and led again another charge against Beecher Island. Roamn Nose fell dead 50 feet from the enemy, 50 volunteer scouts of Major George A Forsyth in the Arikaree River in Eastern Colorado. |
| Sequoyah was a Cherokee Genius who gave his people a gift greater than they could imagine.... writing. As a writer, I owe my ability to my forefather Sequoyah. The giant redwood tree of the Pacific coast is aptly named after this man. He is my biggest hero, even beyond Black Elk. Sequoyah was born in London County, Tennessee around 1773, he worked as a silversmith in 1809 when he first became interested in the white man's "talking leaves", which were books. Sequoyah deduced that the white man's progress was caused due to an ability to spread ideas through writing. (Wise man) Sequoyah resolved to put the Cherokee's spoken words on paper and give them the same power. He spent the next twelve years perfecting his system of writing, having to overcome much opposition as he did so. He first made pictographs which represented each word in the Cherokee language. It was his wife who destroyed all of his work because she was angered by his lack of interest in his job as silversmith. Some believed that the white man had snuck to Sequoyah's home and burned it to the ground to prevent the Cherokee from moving forward. So upon starting over, Sequoyah decided that he had made too many pictures to match each word, he quickly decided to invent a Cherokee alphabet, each of 86 symbols, one for each syllable of the Cherokee language. Sequoyah completed his syllabary in 1821, and after it was approved by the tribal council, it became an instant success. Though I do not write my books in Cherokee, I will always be grateful to Sequoyah for giving our people such a marvelous gift. Sequoyah died in Mexico in 1843. |
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