The Dog Soldiers were an elite force of the Cheyenne, waging war and policing the tribe for many years. But it was a drunken brawl that propelled them to prominence.
In the winter of 1838, Dog Soldier leader Porcupine Bear and several of his men were on a recruiting trip in Wyoming. They got into some whiskey, tempers flared, and one of the warriors was killed. The Cheyenne outlawed the society. But the Dog Soldiers used their independence to become a tight-knit band of great fighters—one t

True West March/April 2025
In This Issue:
Western Books & Movies
More In This Issue
- Truth Be Known
- What Has Taught Me: Deb Goodrich
- Earp, Cowboy Songs & Prairie Hygiene
- Trails of the Old West
- The Frontier Characters of South Dakota
- The Bowie Knife
- The Kindled Flame 1835
- King of the Scatterguns
- Selling the Mythic West and the Real West
- A Gut Punch Turns into a Miracle Reprieve
- The Beginnings of the Bird Cage
- Frontier Colossus