28 Facts About Amache Prowers

Amache Prowers's 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.

Amache Prowers was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2018.

Amache Prowers's father Ochinee was a Cheyenne Peace Chief who often camped near Bent's Fort with other Cheyenne.

John Wesley Amache Prowers was a trader who visited and then employed by William Bent at Bent's Fort.

Amache Prowers saw Amache perform a Cheyenne dance around 1860.

Later, he asked Chief Ochinee if he could marry Amache Prowers the following year.

Amache Prowers experienced prejudice, being called "that Indian woman" by John's brother-in-law, John Hough.

John and Amache Prowers worked together in their business and personal pursuits and settled along the Santa Fe Trail in Boggsville, Colorado in 1867.

Amache Prowers was adept at integrating her native culture with Mexican and Euro-American cultures.

Amache Prowers maintained Cheyenne traditions among her family, like preparing food from her culture, such as pickled prickly pears and rolls of thin slices of sweetened and spiced buffalo meat for special occasions.

Amache Prowers's mother taught her grandchildren of the ways of the Cheyenne people.

Amache Prowers kept a tepee at her home to stay grounded in Native American tradition.

The Prowers were frequently visited by Amache's mother and other family members.

Amache Prowers knew many Native American holy men and chiefs and was friends with Mary Bent, the daughter of Owl Woman and William Bent.

Amache Prowers was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star.

John Wesley Amache Prowers served in the territorial and state legislature.

Amache Prowers died in 1884 and he was buried at Las Animas cemetery.

Amache Prowers went later to the Congress with her husband and testified to seek justice for the Cheyenne.

Amache Prowers used her land to expand her family's cattle ranch.

Years later, Amache Prowers was asked, as she was about to be introduced to Chivington at an Eastern Star meeting in Denver, whether she knew him.

Amache Prowers spoke English, Spanish, and the language of her birth, Cheyenne.

Amache Prowers helped run her family's cattle ranch, where her husband was believed to have brought the first Hereford cattle into Colorado.

Amache Prowers began buying cattle in 1862 and was considered the first and largest rancher in the area.

Amache Prowers became a leader in the Southern Cheyenne tribe and during Colorado's early years as a territory, she was "an innovative mediator between cultures," including Mexican, Native American, and Euro-American people.

Cultural mediators like Amache Prowers built the foundation of the American West.

Amache Prowers died in 1904 or 1905, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Camp Amache Prowers, located near Granada, Colorado, was named after her after it was established in 1942.

Amache Prowers was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2018.