The community exists.

That is not nothing.

His Wife: Medicine Woman Later

Medicine Woman Later deserves her own recognition, though the documentary record of her life is thinner than the record of her husband’s.

She was Black Kettle’s wife throughout the period documented in this account.

She survived the nine bullet wounds she received at Sand Creek — a medical survival that, without modern medical care, speaks to extraordinary physical resilience and the care she received from her husband and her community.

The names in the historical record for her are several — Medicine Woman Later is the most commonly used in historical accounts, but the specific Cheyenne name and its precise meaning require attention from Cheyenne linguistic specialists to render accurately.