Death of the Iron Horse

Death of the Iron Horse

By: Paul Goble

Realistic or Historical Fiction

The Cheyenne Indians used to live happily until the white people came and destroyed their villages and tried to take all the land for themselves. The Cheyenne people tried to fight back but they were not much of a match for the white people. Then one day some scouts came to their village and told them about an Iron Horse that breathed smoke and had the voice of thunder. Some men in the tribe wanted to protect their people from the Iron Horse so they set off on a journey to defeat it. They took apart some of the railroad track and when the train came, it was derailed and the Indians raided the train and took many goods back with them.  They then set the train on fire.

I would use this book to teach about the battle between the settlers of America and the Native Americans. The Native Americans experienced very few victories and this story is based on one of the few triumphs they had.  I would ask the students if they thought what the white people did to the Indians was okay and to think about ways that they could have better dealt with the Indians. I’d also have them write about if they thought what the Indians did to the train was okay and why or why not.