Born into a unique convergence of cultures, **George Bent** stood as a pivotal figure in 19th-century American history. As a Cheyenne-American interpreter, a historian, a Civil War soldier, and a member of the formidable Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, Bent’s life journey traversed the tumultuous landscapes of the American West and the divided nation. His experiences offer invaluable insights into the complex interactions between Native American tribes and the expanding United States, making him a crucial voice in understanding this transformative era.
George Bent, known by his Cheyenne name *Ho-my-ike* (meaning Beaver), was born on July 7, 1843, at the legendary Bent’s Fort in what is now Colorado. His father, William Bent, was a renowned fur trader from St. Louis, Missouri, who, along with his brother Charles and partner Ceran St. Vrain, established one of the most influential trading posts in the American West. Bent’s Fort, nestled on the Arkansas River, served as a bustling hub for trade, diplomacy, and cultural exchange throughout the 1830s and 1840s. Its vast trade network extended far and wide, reaching south into the Staked Plains of Texas and north into Wyoming’s rugged Medicine Bow Mountains. The fort’s significance attracted many prominent figures of the fur trade, including legendary mountain men like Kit Carson, Jim Beckwourth, Old Bill Williams, Uncle Dick Wootton, Thomas Fitzpatrick, and Jim Bridger, all of whom were employed by William Bent at various times.
Early Life and Cultural Heritage
George’s mother, Owl Woman, was the daughter of a highly respected Cheyenne Chief and medicine man. Her marriage to William Bent solidified the trading post’s ties with the Cheyenne nation, leading to William being honored as an honorary chief of the tribe. This union produced four children: Mary, born in 1838; Robert, born in 1840; George, born in 1843; and Julia, born in 1846. Tragedy struck when Owl Woman died during Julia’s childbirth. Following Cheyenne tradition for successful men, William took Owl Woman’s two younger sisters, Island and Yellow Woman, as secondary wives. Island primarily took on the crucial role of raising Owl Woman’s four children, providing them with a strong Cheyenne upbringing. Yellow Woman later bore William a son named Charles in 1845, who became a half-brother to George and his siblings.
Raised according to traditional Cheyenne customs, young George initially went by his Cheyenne name, Ho-my-ike. Growing up within the vibrant, multi-ethnic environment of Bent’s Fort, he was exposed to a rich tapestry of languages and cultures from a very young age. This unique upbringing allowed him to develop an extraordinary linguistic proficiency, becoming fluent in English, Cheyenne, French, Spanish, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Comanche. This remarkable command of multiple languages would prove instrumental throughout his life, enabling him to navigate and mediate between vastly different societies.
Education in the White World
In 1853, seeking to provide his children with an education akin to that of other affluent Americans, William Bent sent George and his siblings to an Episcopal boarding school in Westport, Missouri. This progressive institution educated Native American children alongside white children. William entrusted their care to Colonel Albert G. Boone, a grandson of the legendary Daniel Boone and a trusted friend and business associate. Although George formed friendships with many young people from prominent Southern families during his time in Missouri, he often felt a profound sense of alienation, struggling to fully reconcile his bicultural identity within the confines of white American society.
After completing his primary education in 1857, George moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he was placed under the guardianship of Robert Campbell, a notable fur trader and businessman. Campbell was renowned for his humanitarian acts, including freeing his enslaved people and extending his care to numerous children of color. Under Campbell’s benevolent guidance, George began attending Webster College. This period further immersed him in the intricacies of American society, yet it also coincided with the escalating tensions that would soon plunge the nation into civil war.
The Civil War and Confederate Service
As the **Civil War** erupted in 1861, George Bent was just 17 years old. The simmering conflict reached a boiling point in St. Louis in May 1861, when Union troops, marching Confederate prisoners through the city streets, fired into an outraged crowd, resulting in multiple deaths. George and many of his peers at Webster College witnessed this brutal event, which fueled their indignation and prompted their decision to enlist in the Confederate army. This choice reflected the divided loyalties within Missouri and the significant Southern sympathy present in St. Louis at the time.
Bent served with the Missouri State Guard, actively participating in several key engagements. He fought valiantly at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek near Springfield, Missouri, on August 10, 1861, and at the First Battle of Lexington near Lexington, Missouri, on September 20, 1861, both of which resulted in Confederate victories. His service continued as a member of the 1st Missouri Cavalry Regiment, which saw action at the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas from March 6–8, 1862, a battle ultimately won by the Union. When the Missouri cavalry was reorganized and converted to infantry, Bent was attached to Landis’ Battery, Missouri Light Artillery, serving under the command of General Sterling Price. His artillery unit played a critical role in the siege and subsequent retreat from Corinth, Mississippi, famously providing cover for the retreat of 66,000 Confederates led by P.G.T. Beauregard, demonstrating their discipline and bravery under fire.
On August 30, 1862, George Bent was captured near Memphis, Tennessee, along with 200 other Confederate soldiers. He was subsequently required to swear an oath of allegiance to the Union and was sent to Gratiot Street Military Prison in St. Louis. However, his detention was brief; within two days, his guardian, Robert Campbell, secured his release, placing him in the care of his brother, Robert Bent. Together, the two brothers embarked on the long journey back to their home in Colorado, leaving behind the battlefields of the Civil War.
The Sand Creek Massacre and Its Aftermath
Upon his return to Colorado after nearly a decade away, George found the atmosphere charged with intense anti-Confederate sentiment. Unable to fully reintegrate into white society, he chose to embrace his Cheyenne heritage completely, joining Chief Black Kettle’s Cheyenne tribe. He settled there with his half-brother Charlie and Charlie’s mother, Yellow Woman.
The mid-1860s were a period of escalating conflict between Native Americans and white settlers in the region, primarily over land and resources. Chief Black Kettle, a leader committed to peace, sought to de-escalate these tensions. He gathered members of both the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes to initiate peace negotiations with the United States government. George’s father, William Bent, leveraging his status as an honorary Cheyenne chief, played a crucial role in these pivotal peace talks, hoping to avert further bloodshed.
Despite these efforts, tragedy struck on November 29, 1864. George Bent was present at Black Kettle’s camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho, located at **Sand Creek**, approximately 35 miles north of Lamar, Colorado. The inhabitants of the camp believed they were under the protection of the U.S. Army, having engaged in ongoing peace negotiations. However, Colonel John Chivington, leading a force of 700 Colorado volunteers, launched a brutal and unprovoked attack on the unsuspecting village. The ensuing **Sand Creek Massacre** resulted in the senseless slaughter of about 150 Indians, the vast majority of whom were elderly men, women, and children, with very few being armed. George’s brother Charles narrowly escaped death, rescued by friends, while another young mixed-race Cheyenne man, Jack Smith, was tragically killed. In a cruel twist of fate, George’s brother Robert had been coerced by the soldiers to lead them to the camp.
George Bent himself was among the few survivors, wounded in the hip during the chaos. He, along with approximately 100 others, fled upstream, finding desperate refuge in sandpits dug into the creek bed beneath a high bank. After enduring the horrors of the massacre, these survivors crossed the plains to reach Indian camps on the Smoky Hill River. There, a friend discovered the injured George and transported him back to his father’s ranch, where he slowly recovered from his wounds and the profound trauma.
The betrayal at Sand Creek profoundly impacted George Bent, igniting a deep-seated anger and solidifying his resolve. He publicly renounced his ties to the United States, fully identifying solely with the Cheyenne tribe. In the immediate aftermath, the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, fueled by a desire for vengeance for the massacre, began to plan retaliatory actions. George, his brother Charles, and Charles’ mother, Yellow Woman, joined the fierce **Dog Soldiers** band, which emerged as the primary force of Native American resistance against the United States. In the following months, they launched numerous raids, burning white settlements and effectively severing crucial trading routes to and from Denver. Though George himself was never noted as a primary warrior, he actively participated in many of these Dog Soldier raids, seeking justice for his people.
In January 1865, the Dog Soldiers, alongside a formidable Indian army of 1,000 warriors, successfully attacked Julesburg, Colorado, resulting in the deaths of many townspeople and soldiers. Following this victory, many Cheyenne moved north to join the Lakota under Chief Red Cloud on the Powder River in Wyoming. Before their departure from the South Platte River Valley, they carried out extensive raids, burning numerous homesteads as a further act of retribution.
Joining the Resistance: The Dog Soldiers
Throughout 1865, George Bent continued to fight alongside the Cheyenne in their struggle against U.S. expansion. He participated in a series of significant engagements, including the Battle of Mud Springs and the Battle of Rush Creek, both near present-day Broadwater, Nebraska. He also fought in the Battle of Platte Bridge Station/Red Buttes on July 26, 1865, near what is now Casper, Wyoming, and the three-day Battle of Bone Pile Creek in August, near Wright, Wyoming. These battles were part of the broader conflict known as the Powder River War.
In the summer of 1865, the U.S. Army dispatched the Powder River Expedition, led by Brigadier General Patrick E. Connor, into the Powder River Country. Connor’s orders were stark and brutal: to punish the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes, with explicit instructions to kill all men and boys over the age of 12. On September 8, 1865, the Bent family, camped with the Cheyenne at the confluence of the Big and Little Powder Rivers near present-day Broadus, Montana, sighted soldiers just a few miles away. These troops comprised the Eastern and Central columns of the Powder River Expedition, under Colonel Nelson D. Cole and Brevet Brigadier General Samuel Walker, respectively. The Cheyenne, led by the renowned warrior Roman Nose, launched a fierce attack on the moving column to protect their vulnerable village. This engagement, later known as the **Battle of Dry Creek**, is considered by many historians to have potentially averted another devastating massacre on the scale of Sand Creek, highlighting the desperate bravery of the Native resistance.
While George Bent participated in a remarkable 27 Cheyenne war parties, he consistently provided limited details about his specific role in the broader **Indian Wars**. This reticence may have stemmed from a desire to protect himself or his family, or simply from a personal discretion regarding the brutal realities of warfare. The Dog Soldiers, a group George had proudly joined, suffered a significant loss in 1869 when many of their members, including George’s brother Charles, were killed at the Battle of Summit Springs in Colorado, marking a tragic turning point for the resistance.
Interpreter, Agent, and the Dawes Act
Following the devastating loss at Summit Springs, George Bent made another pivotal shift in his life’s trajectory. Recognizing the futility of continued armed conflict and driven by a desire for lasting peace, he agreed to serve as an interpreter between the United States government and the remaining Dog Soldiers. His deep understanding of both cultures and fluency in their languages made him an invaluable asset. The Americans were so impressed by his abilities and his unique background that they offered him a permanent position as an interpreter for the Indian Agent overseeing the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes.
Bent commenced his career as a U.S. government employee, working for the newly established Indian Agency headed by Brinton Darlington, the first U.S. Indian Agent for the Cheyenne and Arapaho. By 1870, the Agency was located in El Reno, Oklahoma. For most of the remainder of his life, Bent lived on the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservation near Colony, serving as a crucial liaison between the two worlds he inhabited. His bicultural knowledge made him a prominent and influential figure on the reservation, particularly during the early years when he dedicated himself to moderating hostilities and fostering understanding between the two vastly different cultures.
Despite his initial successes, this period of his life was not without challenges. Bent developed a serious problem with alcohol, which affected his personal and professional standing. Moreover, he became deeply involved in helping cattlemen secure grazing leases on Indian land, a practice that, while profitable for him, led to a loss of trust among some Cheyenne leaders and ultimately resulted in his dismissal as a U.S. interpreter. A more profound and controversial role came in 1890, when Bent became the crucial go-between in persuading the Cheyenne and Arapaho to accept the allotment of land by individual households under the **Dawes Act**. This federal legislation, presented as a means for Native Americans to assimilate into Euro-American farming practices, had a devastating long-term impact. It dismantled communal tribal landholdings, allocated small parcels to individual tribal members, and declared any remaining land
