Yellow Wolf or Ho'néoxheóvaestse (died 1864) was a

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

Chief who led the Rope Hair group of the Southern Cheyenne. He lived to be 85 years old, and died in 1864 along with his brother at Sand Creek, Colorado, at the

Sand Creek Massacre The Sand Creek massacre (also known as the Chivington massacre, the battle of Sand Creek or the massacre of Cheyenne Indians) was a massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho people by the U.S. Army in the American Indian Genocide that occurred on No ...

, which disrupted the traditional Cheyenne power structure, because of the deaths of eight members of the

Council of Forty-Four The Council of Forty-four is one of the two central institutions of traditional Cheyenne Native American tribal governance, the other being the military societies such as the Dog Soldiers. The Council of Forty-four is the council of chiefs, comp ...

. The massacre took place when two militia units, the 1st and 3rd Colorado Regiments, attacked the tribe when they were camping. More than 150 died in the attack; women and children and the elderly were not spared. Yellow Wolf was held up by George Grinnell, in 1915, as a leader who worked for peace. He said that he was a "constant worker" on behalf of peace. He said it was patriotic work, done out of love for the tribe and its future that he worked in this direction. Yellow Wolf had a son, Red Moon, who lived through the battle and went on to become another prominent chief.

References

1864 deaths Year of birth unknown Native American leaders Native American people of the Indian Wars {{US-hist-stub