Owl Woman

Owl Woman
Cheyenne Negotiator
Unknown-1847
INDUCTED 1996

As a mediator, interpreter, negotiator, and business partner, Owl Woman was an essential player in Fort Bent, a key trading center along the Santa Fe Trail in Southeast Colorado in the 1830’s

Owl Woman (Cheyenne name Mis-stan-stur), the daughter of Cheyenne leader White Thunder, was the first wife of Colonel William Bent, an American trader. Bent and his brother Charles established Bent’s Fort, a key trading center along the Santa Fe Trail in the southeastern plains of Colorado, during the1830’s. Her son George Bent lived among the Cheyenne and whites alike, and documented his unique family story of living in two worlds.

“William and Charles Bent, White Thunder, and Owl Woman created a place and a moment that used the trading systems of the Native people and the roads, wagons, and goods made by Europeans to link two very different worlds. They envisioned ... a new world that would provide sustenance and honor for their children.” — George Hyde, biographer of Owl Woman and her son George.