But women who actively chose warrior paths, who went on raids, who counted coup, who earned the recognitions and honors that warrior status conferred.

Among the Northern Cheyenne specifically, the warrior societies — the Kit Foxes, the Elk Soldiers, the Dog Soldiers, the Bowstrings — were male institutions.

But the community’s recognition of extraordinary courage was not limited to members of these societies.

When someone — of any gender — demonstrated the kind of courage that the Cheyenne valued above almost all other virtues, the community recognized it.

The act of counting coup — touching an enemy in battle, often at great risk — was the highest honor a Cheyenne warrior could earn.

There are documented cases of Cheyenne women counting coup.

Not many — the sources that record these cases are limited and partial — but enough to establish that the category of “woman who fights” was not, in Cheyenne culture, a contradiction in terms.

Buffalo Calf Road Woman’s act at the Rosebud fits within this tradition.

She did not violate a cultural boundary — she fulfilled a cultural ideal.

The courage to ride into danger for someone you love was the kind of courage that the Cheyenne honored regardless of who demonstrated it.