Survivors of the Custer Battlefield.

(I grew up 15 miles from the Battlefield. There is a lot of rumors that are simply wrong.
 (Jo Ann Boyd  Scott)

Custer hired many Crow Indians to be his scouts. (to tell him where the Crows are located)
Curly was seen up on a hill watching the Indians get murdered by the soldiers. Scroll down this page to see a picture of them as survivors. (yes the horse commanche survived). There is a book”A Good Day to Die.” The author interviewed the “Indian” side of the story. I included a small part on this web site.

Died. Shuh-shee-ahsh, 68, also known as Curley, (Curly) (Ashishishe) a Crow Indian  scout,
(there were other scout survivors, see picture below.           
 Custer  massacre,  Curly died of cancer of the liver, at the Crow Agency, Mont.
He is buried at  the Custer Battlefield. (Time, 1923) webmasters note, there are various  listings of cause of death.

Webmaster's note: Curley later gave  several variations on his account, and the accuracy of his recollections has  been questioned. (Wikipeda source is not accurate
The best sources have been” Friends of the Little Big Horn” which investigated and determined that he was indeed on a hill above the fight (he was one of the scouts for Custer) but his fight was watching from a distance.  See the complete story.

 The Custer National Cemetery,  Little Big Horn Battlefield and  Chicago Tribune.
June 4,  1923 Died. Shuh-shee-ahsh, 68, also known as Curley a Crow Indian scout, the  sole survivor.
Ashishishe was born in approximately 1856 in Montana Territory  , the son of Strong Bear (Inside the Mouth)
and Strikes By the Side of the  Water. Curley resided on the Crow Reservation in the vicinity of Pryor  Creek, and married Bird Woman.He enlisted in the U.S. Army as an Indian  scout on April 10, 1876 and was later chosen to scout for the Seventh Cavalry  during the Little Bighorn expedition in 1876 along with fellow Crow warriors White Man Runs Him , Goes Ahead Hairy Moccasin and others.
He  witnessed parts of the Battle of the Little Bighorn and his translated account  later appeared
in several newspapers as he was thought to be the only  surviving witness from the U.S. side of Custer's Last Stand. Curly later gave  several variations on his account, and the accuracy 
his recollections has  been questioned. The fact that is evident is that Curly witnessed the fight somewhere in the area.

However, two of the most influential historians of the  Battle of the Little Bighorn, Walter Mason Camp (who interviewed Curly on  several occasions) and John S. Gray accepted Curley's account.
Curley  later lived on the Crow Reservation on the bank of the Little Bighorn  River close to the site of the Battle.
He served in the Crow Police.  He divorced Bird Woman in 1886, and married Takes a Shield. Curley had one  daughter Awakuk Korita ha Sakush ("Bird of Another Year") who took the
English name Nora. Curley received a U.S. pension as of 1920. He died of  pneumonia in 1923, and his remains were interred in the National Cemetery at  the Little Bighorn
Battlefield National Monument  only a mile from his  home.

The  Custer National Cemetery, Little Big Horn Battlefield states the  following:
Curly was one of Custers scouts who accompanied the 7th Cavalry  to the Little Bighorn. Curly is said to have watched the battle from a  distant ridge. There was great interest in Curlys story but since he  spoke no English, his words may have been shaped by what his listeners wanted  to hear. Curly attracted so
much attention that the other scouts became  jealous and refused to associate with him, Eventually, Curly himself became  silent and withdrew from the limelight. He lived in a cabin near Crow Agency  where he died in 1923.

Chicago Tribune (29th July, 1876)
The Crow Indian Curly is believed to be  the only survivor of the 250 men who went into action with Custer. He is  very clear his knowledge of the fight, and has made a statement.....The fight
began about 2 o'clock, and lasted, Curly says, almost until the sun went  down over the hills....
Curly says more Indians were killed than Custer had  men. He also says the big chief (Custer) lived until nearly all his men had  been killed or wounded, and went about encouraging them.
S

Atop Last  Stand Hill on the Custer Battlefied, four of the 7th Cavalry Crow scouts  pay tribute to those who fell with Custer. L-R: White-Man-Runs-Him, Hairy  Moccasin, Curly and Goes Ahead.(photograph by Rodman Wanamaker,  1913.)

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BIG HORN COUNTY TOWNS

WYOLA,

LODGEGRASS

, HARDIN,

CUSTER  BATTLEFIELD

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Jo Ann if questions
ashevillejewelry @yahoo.com

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