Crazy Bull and Friday, 1873. Photo taken by Alexander Gardner.

By Sue Abbott Schneider

A Northern Arapaho child, born around 1822, was named either ‘Warshinun’ which meant “black spot” or “black coal ashes” or ‘Teenokuhuh’ which meant “sits meekly”. There were multiple sources that reported one name and others that reported the other as his original birth name. For some First Nations tribes it was common for a person to have different names at different stages of their lives which no doubt is the cause of the confusion. We will refer to him during these early years as ‘Warshinun’. His tribe often camped in northern Colorado in the Cache la Poudre River valley (near current day Ft. Collins) but as a nomadic tribe they also traveled throughout Wyoming, Kansas and Nebraska. In 1831 ‘Warshinun’ and his band were camped next to a band of Gros Vintre (Atsina) near the Cimarron River (somewhere between current day Dodge City, KS and Lamar, CO). A fight broke out, the Arapaho chief was stabbed, and the Atsina chief was killed. All hell broke loose and the young boy and two others were separated from their band and ended up wandering into the Colorado Territory along the Arkansas River. (Interestingly the oral history passed down in his family is completely different. They say he went hunting, got lost and hid out in a canyon where a wolf brought him rabbits and other small game to keep him alive.)

The boys were discovered by Thomas Fitzpatrick, an Irish fur trapper. Fitzpatrick worked for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and was in the area for an annual rendezvous. Fitzpatrick took a liking to ‘Warshinun’ and named him “Friday” after the day of the week he was found. Fitzpatrick took Friday back to St. Louis and enrolled him in school. Friday became fluent in English and the ways of the newcomers who were slowly moving into his peoples’ land. When not in school Friday accompanied Fitzpatrick on his trapping journeys. He was known to other trappers for having an “astonishing memory”, and a keen sense of “observation and amusing inquiries”.

In 1838 Fitzpatrick and Friday came across a band of Arapaho when a woman recognized Friday as her son and with Fitzpatrick’s blessing he returned to his tribe. During this time, he was known as a skilled hunter and warrior and fought against the Ute, Shoshone and Pawnee people. Tribal members called Friday the “Arapaho American”. He acted as an interpreter and translator and was known as a peacemaker. He and Fitzpatrick remained close until Fitzpatrick’s death in 1854.

Friday traveled with and translated for explorers John C Fremont in 1843 (Northern Colorado) and Rufus Sage in the spring of 1844 (Arkansas Valley). He assisted Ferdinand V. Hayden during his surveying expedition in the winter of 1859-1860 (Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers) and taught Hayden Arapaho vocabulary. During this time Friday became leader of a band that centered in the Cache la Poudre River valley.

As the “white men” began to encroach on Arapaho territory and their way of life Friday became more involved in negotiations between the two. He attended the largest treaty council to ever take place near Ft. Laramie at Horse Creek in 1851. Between 10,000 and 15,000 Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains attended. The treaty stipulated that the land from the area of Casper, Wyoming down to Trinidad, Colorado and from the edge of the Rocky Mountains to sections of Kansas and Nebraska were reserved for the Northern Arapaho and Cheyenne. The treaty included an annuity of $50,000 to be paid to the tribes for the next 50 years as well as the protection of the U.S. military against any attacks or crimes by American citizens against the native peoples. (Unfortunately, in 1852 Congress changed the terms of the payout to 10 years, without consulting any of those involved.) As part of the agreement the tribes agreed to stop attacking non-native travelers and allowed the military to build forts and roads on the land. Friday traveled to Washington, D.C. with other Arapaho and Cheyenne delegates to resolve some of their concerns.

Antoine Janis, a French trapper who had passed through the Poudre River valley in the 1830s, returned in 1858 with his wife, First Elk Woman of the Oglala Sioux tribe. They settled just north of the river (near where Vern’s is today). When Janis had visited the valley in the 1830s, he reported it was “black with buffalo” and the creeks ran high. Although the bison had been significantly diminished by the late 1850s, Janis chose to settle in the valley next to 150 Arapaho lodges, including Friday and his ten wives and children.

Friday had good relationships with many of the other local EuroAmerican settlers, including John Provost, John Coy and E.W. Sherwood who allowed the band to camp on their properties on or near the Poudre River. These relationships allowed him to secure jobs for his tribal members on farms and ranches after they had lost access to their tribal hunting grounds. No doubt these positive relationships and his affiliation with Fitzpatrick and others gave Friday optimism that things could work out between the settlers and the tribe. Unfortunately, for him and his tribe, he was wrong.

At some point residents of the Poudre River valley started calling Friday “Chief Friday”, even though he was never appointed a chief by the tribe. To the Arapaho “Chief” is a title reserved for someone who leads in battle. The Arapaho saw Friday as a different kind of leader and referred to him as “peace chief” which is more in line with Arapaho perspective.

When gold was discovered near Englewood in 1859 the Pikes Peak Gold Rush ensued. The land that had been promised to the Arapaho and Cheyenne in the Treaty of Horse Creek was suddenly prime real estate. The US government decided another treaty with the First Nations was needed. In 1861, the US offered the Treaty of Fort Wise. Friday and others refused to sign the document, which would significantly shrink his people’s land as well as move them to an area, between current day Limon and Rocky Ford, that his tribe rarely, if ever, visited. He remained in the Poudre River valley.

Friday petitioned the government to allow for a reservation that extended north of the Poudre River from Boxelder Creek to Crow Creek (around Timnath) and north into Wyoming. Indian Agent Whitley ignored these requests saying it would be unfeasible due to its proximity with the Overland stage route and the sixteen EuroAmerican families who were living (actually squatting illegally) within the proposed reservation. The US government, despite having apportioned the land to the Northern Arapaho and Cheyenne in 1851, was acting as though it had been ceded in the 1861 Treaty of Fort Wise, despite not having been ratified by all parties. The Arapaho to this day say the land was never ceded and is still their homeland.

The Arapaho frequently met to socialize and trade at an old Cottonwood tree which the white settlers called the Council Tree. The tree was on the bank where Boxelder Creek joins the Poudre River. The site was used for various ceremonies, including sky burials. The site of the tree (long since gone) is in the Arapaho Bend Natural Area. Having to abandon this sacred site was extremely difficult, and it is said the sky burials were removed by the tribe in fear that the new settlers would desecrate the bodies.

By the 1860s the Arapaho were being forced out of Colorado. The Sand Creek Massacre occurred in 1864 where over 150-250 Arapahoe and Cheyenne (mostly elders, women and children) were killed indiscriminately by 700 soldiers of the 1st Colorado Cavalry Regiment. Friday and his band were not involved in the massacre, but by this time Friday’s band had been reduced in size to about 175 due to army attacks, disease and hunger.

In 1868 Friday was hired by government peace commissioners to communicate an ultimatum to the Northern Arapaho band. In order to get provisions, they would have to sign a treaty. The Northern Arapaho and Northern Cheyenne met at Fort Laramie and signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie on May 10, 1868. The Northern Arapaho were to move to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) but they wanted to stay in Wyoming. Although the Shoshone were their traditional enemies, the Arapaho preferred to stay on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming and a temporary agreement was reached.

In 1869 Colorado Governor Alexander Hunt permanently pushed the band out of Colorado into Wyoming and in 1870 the Arapaho were given permission by the Shoshone to join them on the Wind River Indian Reservation. Friday continued to negotiate for the Northern Arapaho to protect their traditional lands in Wyoming into the 1870s. Friday traveled one last time to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Rutherford B. Hayes in September 1877. He lobbied for a reservation for the Northern Arapaho in Wyoming but returned unsuccessful to the Wind River Indian Reservation. Friday died in May 1881 on the reservation. A sculpture recognizing Friday is in a strip mall on the SE corner of Horsetooth and Shields in Fort Collins. Otherwise, there is no visible recognition of his presence in the Poudre River valley. To this day Friday’s descendants retain the last name Friday and many still reside on the reservation, but they still consider the Poudre River valley home.