Amache Prowers

Early life from Solomon Nunes Carvalho's journey West in 1853 depicts a view of the Cheyenne village at Big Timbers. A pair of figures stand to the left; drying hides hang on the right. Courtesy of Library of Congress. Amache, a full-blooded member of the Southern Cheyenne tribe, was born possibly in the summer of 1846 during a forced march of her tribe across the plains of Southeastern Colorado. Her father Ochinee (Nah-ku-uk-ihu-us) was a Cheyenne Peace Chief who often camped near Bent's Fort (Big Timbers) with other Cheyenne. Also in 1846, Thomas Fitzpatrick was assigned as the first Indian resident agent at Bent's Fort. As a child in a Cheyenne tribe, Prowers would have had a lot of freedom, until she had her first menstrual cycle, when she would have learned how to clean, tan hides, cook, and take on other responsibilities of Cheyenne women. Although she always spoke English at home, she taught her children words of the Cheyenne language. The Prowers were frequently visited by Amache's mother and other family members. and he was buried at Las Animas cemetery. They visited Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she died in 1905. depicting Black Kettle at Sand Creek. (Buffalo Bill Center of the West) On November 29, 1864, the Cheyenne camp at the Sand Creek was attacked by 600 soldiers of the Colorado Volunteer Cavalry and her father, Peace Chief Ochinee (Lone Bear) and 160 other people, most of whom were children and women, were killed. She and her two oldest daughters and her mother each received reparations by the United States government in the form of 640 acres of land along the Arkansas River. Amache used her land to expand her family's cattle ranch. Years later, Amache was asked, as she was about to be introduced to Chivington at an Eastern Star meeting in Denver, whether she knew him. Her daughter Mary recounts that, "My mother drew herself up with that stately dignity, peculiar to her people, and ignoring the outstretched hand, remarked in perfect English, audible to all in the room, 'Know Col. Chivington? I should. He was my father's murderer!' and turned her back to him. ==Businesswoman==

Located on the Santa Fe Trail, she and her husband ran a store, hotel, post office, county office, and school where people of Euro-American, Native American, and Latin descent met and exchanged information. Prowers spoke English, Spanish, and the language of her birth, Cheyenne. She did not read or write, though. Their house, located in Boggsville, was in one of the earliest settlements in the area. Their neighbors included Kit Carson and his wife and Thomas Boggs, who established the settlement. She helped run her family's cattle ranch, where her husband was believed to have brought the first Hereford cattle into Colorado. He began buying cattle in 1862 and was considered the first and largest rancher in the area. By 1881, they had 15,000 head of cattle. In the winters of 1885–1886 and 1886–1887, "intense blizzards" resulted in a tremendous loss of cattle in Colorado, nearly wiping out the cattle industry. ==Mediator==

She became a leader in the Southern Cheyenne tribe and during Colorado's early years as a territory (1860s and 1870s), she was "an innovative mediator between cultures," including Mexican, Native American, and Euro-American people. As European Americans and Mexican Americans settled in Colorado, her diplomatic skills helped her protect the land that she received through treaty. Dr. Bonnie Clark, and archaeologist who wrote a biography of Amache Prowers, said of her, "Amache lived in a time that brought sweeping changes to the region, requiring the creation of a new society. Cultural mediators like Amache built the foundation of the American West." ==Death and legacy==

She died in 1904 She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2018. ==Archaeology==

The house in Boggsville was the subject of an archaeological study by Richard Carrillo of the University of Denver and graduate student Carson Bear. A tip of a biface, a type of a stone tool, and flakes were found under the floorboards of the living room. The presence of a ground stone for processing traditional foods and a stone tool set indicates that she was making and using stone tools. It is rare to opine that a native woman made stone tools, because it was traditionally considered a function performed by men, the hunters. Cheyenne women used stone tools, though, for hide-working. ==Notes==