Roman Nose

Who was Roman Nose?

Hook Nose, historically better known as Roman Nose, was a Native American of the Northern Cheyenne. He is considered to be one of, if not the greatest and most influential warrior during the Plains Indian War of the 1860s. Born during the prosperous days of the fur trade in the 1820s, he was called môséškanetsénoonáhe as a youth. He later took the warrior name Hook Nose, which the whites interpreted as Roman Nose.

Considered invincible in combat, this fierce warrior distinguished himself in battle to such a degree that the U.S. military mistook him for the Chief of the entire Cheyenne nation. Following the Sand Creek Massacre in November 1864, Roman Nose became a principal figure among his People, leading retaliatory strikes against Euro-American settlements at the Battle of Julesburg along the Platte Road and Powder River regions of south-central Wyoming and in the Platte valley of Nebraska, western Kansas, and eastern Colorado. The Native American author and physician Charles A. Eastman allegedly wrote of Roman Nose that, "Perhaps no other warrior attacked more emigrants along the Oregon Trail between 1860-1868."