Amache Prowers
Amache Ochinee Prowers, also known as Walking Woman (1846–1905), was a Native American activist, advocate, cattle rancher, and operator of a store on the Santa Fe Trail. Her father was a Cheyenne peace chief who was killed during the Sand Creek massacre on November 29, 1864, after which she became a mediator between Colorado territorial settlers, Mexicans, and Native Americans during the 1860s and 1870s. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2018. Personal life Early life Amache, a full-blooded member of the Southern Cheyenne tribe, was born 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. In 1846, the Cheyenne of the Arkansas River Valley were subject to significant change as they saw whites arrive in significant numbers. General Stephen W. Kearny led United States soldiers through Colorado during the Mexican–American War. In late July, when the Cheyenne were encamped at Bent's Fort, 1,700 soldiers were encamped for miles along the Arkansas River. The Cheyenne had noticed an increase in the number of white people that traveled with wagons on the Santa Fe trail to trade with the New Mexicans. 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. Marriage and children John Wesley Prowers was a trader who visited and then employed by William Bent at Bent's Fort. He saw Amache perform a Cheyenne dance around 1860. Later, he asked Chief Ochinee if he could marry Amache the following year. They were engaged in a typical Cheyenne courtship, which involved exchanging gifts. In 1861, at the age of 15 or 16, she married 25-year-old John Wesley Prowers, a cattleman and trader. After their marriage, they spent a few months in Westport, Missouri, where she learned the traditions of white women. She experienced prejudice, being called "that Indian woman" by John's brother-in-law, John Hough. Then they lived at Bent's Fort. John and Amache worked together in their business and personal pursuits and settled along the Santa Fe Trail in Boggsville, Colorado in 1867. They lived in a 14-room adobe house, which is a Boggsville Historic Site in Bent County, where they raised nine children who were familiar with the cultures of people of European and Native American heritage. The children were Mary, Susan (who died as an infant), Kathrine, Inez, John, Frank, Leona, Ida, and Mary. Prowers was adept at integrating her o culture with Mexican and Euro-American cultures. She adopted the dress of white women at the time, but would not adopt the corset. Although she always spoke English at home, she taught her children words of