Sky Chief - Pawnee

Sky Chief ?-1873

During the Plains Indian wars , the Pawnees allied with the United States against their traditional enemies, the powerful Sioux confederacy. Sky Chief was one of the main architects of the Pawnees' policy of accommondation; he provided scouts forthe U.S. Army and guards for crews building the transcontinental railroad. In 1873, Sky Chief was leading of the last Pawnee buffalo hunts in southern Nebraska when his party was ambushed by a large body of Sioux warriors. Sku Chief and about 150 other Pawnees were killed by the Sioux before the army came to the rescue of a few survivors. The site of the ambush later became known as Massacre Canyon.

Source: The Encyclopedia of Native American Biography, by Bruce E. Johansen and Donald A. Grinde, page 357.