Drawing from their book, The Northern Cheyenne Exodus in History and Memory, authors James Leiker and Ramon Powers recount the epic story of the escape of the Cheyennes from their Indian Territory reservation and their arduous trek to their northern homeland.

Leiker and Powers explain why the trip, marked by bloody confrontations in western Kansas, was not simply a tale of right and wrong as depicted in popular culture. “The Cheyennes’ flight,” the authors write, “had left white and Indian bones alike scattered along its route from Oklahoma to Montana.”