After nearly two centuries of fighting other Indians and whites for
their lands, in the eighteenth century the Cheyennes were forced
to shift their range from the Minnesota River Valley to the Central
and Southern Plains. From 1861 to 1875 they fought to maintain
their nomadic existence. There were bloody wars with territorial
forces and army troops and a few years of intermittent peace and
retaliation, including the massacre at Sand Creek in 1864.