Chief Henry Roman Nose (June 30, 1856 – June 12, 1917) was a highly respected Southern Cheyenne Chief. Living during turbulent times, Roman Nose was recognized for facilitating a peaceful transition to a non-nomadic way of life, while retaining elements of his Cheyenne culture.
This Cheyenne war chief was a contemporary of Dull Knife. He was not so strong a character as the other and was inclined to be pompous and boastful, but with all this, he was a true type of Native American in spirit and bravery.
While Dull Knife was noted in warfare among Indians, Roman Nose made his record against the whites in defense of territory embracing the Republican and Arickaree rivers. He was killed on the latter river in 1868 in the celebrated battle with General Forsythe.
As a young warrior, Henry Roman Nose participated in the Red River War. After being captured, he was sent in 1878 to Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida, where he was listed as a “ringleader”. After release, he attended the Hampton Institute in Virginia and the Carlisle Institute in Pennsylvania. In 1892, he received a land allotment in current-day Blaine County, Oklahoma. This land later became part of the Roman Nose State Park, which was named in his honor.
Henry Roman Nose died in 1917 in the canyon on which Roman Nose State Park was established.
He is depicted in a mural, “Roman Nose Canyon”, at United States Post Office Watonga, painted by Edith Mahier in 1941