“Soon the People will disappear altogether, as the buffalo in our country disappear. I am the Sweet Medicine Chief. My duty is to see that my People survive. To do this we must enter the white man’s world—our children must become members of your tribe. Therefore, we ask the Great Father for the gift of one thousand white women as wives, to teach us and our children the new life that must be lived when the buffalo are gone.” Now a collective gasp rose from the room, peppered with scattered exclamations of astonishment. To interrupt a man while he was speaking, except to utter soft murmurs of approbation, was an act of gross impoliteness to the Cheyennes, and this outburst angered Little Wolf. But the Chief knew that white people did not know how to behave, and he was not surprised. Still, he paused for a moment to let the crowd settle and to allow his chiefly displeasure to be registered by all present. “In this way,” Little Wolf continued, “our warriors will plant the Cheyenne seed into the bellies of your white women. Our seed will sprout and grow inside their wombs, and the next generation of Cheyenne children will be born into your tribe, with the full privileges attendant to that position.”

From “One Thousand White Women” by Jim Fergus

I have just begun to read this book, and once again, a secretive, actual event in the history of the US surprises me. The novel uses fictional diaries to recount this remarkable episode. The account is well written and promptly captures my interest, awakening in my mind images of the audacity and courage of those Indians presenting their preposterous idea for a lasting peace, “My duty is to see that my People survive. To do this we must enter the white man’s world—our children must become members of your tribe. Therefore, we ask the Great Father for the gift of one thousand white women as wives, to teach us and our children the new life that must be lived when the buffalo are gone.”