Custer Battle

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   Sitting Bull and his Sun Dance

Early summer is the season for Sun Dance among the Sioux

people. I had pledged one hundred pieces of flesh to the Great

Spirit, and I fulfilled my vow. My brother Jumping Bull cut

tiny pieces of skin—fifty from each arm—using an awl and a

sharp knife. I danced two days and two nights. God sent me a

vision. I saw white soldiers and enemy Indians on horseback

falling into the Sioux camp. They were coming down like

grasshoppers, head first, with their hats falling off. Just then I

heard a voice from above, saying, "I give you these because

they have no ears!"

Black Moon was conducting the Sun Dance. He announced this vision to all who were present, all the Sioux

and Cheyennes who were traveling together. We were

camped on the Rosebud River at that time, three days before we defeated the white soldiers there and ten days before our

victory on the Little Bighorn.

   Antelope Woman

The band of Cheyennes

that I lived with had about forty

family lodges. In the last part of the winter we camped on thewest side of Powder River, not far above the mouth of Little Powder River. Soldiers came early one morning in March

1876. They got between our camp and our horse herds, so

that all of us had to run away on foot. Not many of our people were killed, but our tepees and everything in them were burned. Three days later, all of us walking, we arrived at the camp of Crazy Horse, the Oglala Sioux chief.

The Oglalas gave us food and shelter. After a few days the

two bands went northward and found the Hunkpapa Sioux,

where Sitting Bull was chief. The leaders of the three tribes

decided that all of us should travel together for the spring and summer hunting.

We moved from place to place as the grass came up.

Because Indians kept coming from the Dakota reservation,

our three bands grew larger and larger. Other tribal bands

joined us. Miniconjou Sioux, Blackfeet Sioux, Arrows All

Gone Sioux—all came with us. There were then six separate

camp circles, each having its own chiefs, wherever we

camped. In some of the other camps there were small bands of

other Sioux—the Burned Thigh, the Assiniboine, and some

Waist and Skirt people.

 

All of us traveled together to the west side of the lower

Powder River, on west across the Tongue River, and then to

the Rosebud valley where the grass was high and our ponies

became strong. Our men killed many buffalo, and we women tanned the hides and dried the meat as we moved from place to place up the Rosebud.

Low Dog Oglala

At that time we Oglalas had no thought that we would ever fight the whites. Then I heard some people talking that the chief of the white men wanted the Indians to live where he ordered and do as he said, and he would feed and clothe them.

I was called into council with the chiefs and wise men, and we had a talk about that. My judgment was, Why should I allow

 any man to support me against my will anywhere, so long as 1

 have hands and so long as I am an able man, not a boy? Little I thought then that I would have to fight the white man, or do as he should tell me.

 When it began to be plain that we

would have to yield or fight, we had a great many councils. I said, Why should I be kept as a humble man, when I am a brave warrior and on my own lands? The game is mine, and

 the hills, and the valleys, and the white man has no right tosay where I shall go or what I shall doIf any white man tries to destroy what is mine, or take my lands, I will take my gun,get on my horse, and go punish him.

(some data from "It Is a Good Day to Die. The Indian side of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Thanks

To H. J. Viola and Jan Danis, please check the book out.

 

 

Low Dog Oglala

At that time we Oglalas had no thought that we would ever fight the whites. Then I heard some people talking that the

 chief of the white men wanted the Indians to live where he ordered and do as he said, and he would feed and clothe them.

 

I was called into council with the chiefs and wise men, and we had a talk about that. My judgment was, Why should I allow

 any man to support me against my will anywhere, so long as 1

 have hands and so long as I am an able man, not a boy? Little I thought then that I would have to fight the white man, or

 do as he should tell me.

 

 When it began to be plain that we

would have to yield or fight, we had a great many councils. I

said, Why should I be kept as a humble man, when I am a brave warrior and on my own lands? The game is mine, and

 the hills, and the valleys, and the white man has no right tosay where I shall go or what I shall do,

 If any white man tries

to destroy what is mine, or take my lands, I will take my gun,get on my horse, and go punish him.

(some data from "It Is a Good Day to Die. The Indian side of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Thanks

To H. J. Viola and Jan Danis, please check the book out.

 AFTER READING THIS

PAGE GO TO THE

BATTLE.

 

White Man Runs Him

Crow, a scout in Custer's cavalry unit
 The scouts with General Custer were all Crows and Arikaras.

Mitch Bouyer, a half-blood Sioux, was Chief of Scouts.

Crow scouts were Half Yellow Face, White Swan, Goes
Ahead, Hairy Moccasin, Curly, and 1, White Man Runs Him.1 was one of the oldest of the scouts and did most of the advance scouting. knew this country very well.On June 24 we were camped at a place just below whereBusby is now. Hairy Moccasin, Goes Ahead, and I took some
soldiers' horses and rode to a high point on the dividebetween the Rosebud and the Little Horn. This place wasused by the Crows as a lookout during campaigns, and from and you could see for miles around. In this hill was a pocket where horses could be hidden.

As soon as it became light enough to see, we could makeout smoke from the Sioux camp down in the Little HornValley and could see some white horses on the other side of

he Little Horn River. The soldiers had marched during the
night and were now camped a little below us on Davis Creek.
We could see the smoke of their campfires as they cooked

White Man Runs Him

Crow, a scout in Custer's cavalry unit

The scouts with General Custer were all Crows and Arikaras.Mitch Bouyer, a half-blood Sioux, was Chief of Scouts. The
Crow scouts were Half Yellow Face, White Swan, Goes
Ahead, Hairy Moccasin, Curly, and 1, White Man Runs Him. was one of the oldest of the scouts and did most of the advance scouting.he knew this country very well.
On June 24 we were camped at a place just below where


Busby is now. Hairy Moccasin, Goes Ahead, and I took some


soldiers' horses and rode to a high point on the divide


between the Rosebud and the Little Horn. This place was


used by the Crows as a lookout during campaigns, and from it


you could see for miles around. In this hill was a pocket where


horses could be hidden.


As soon as it became light enough to see, we could make


out smoke from the Sioux camp down in the Little Horn


Valley and could see some white horses on the other side of


the Little Horn River. The soldiers had marched during the


night and were now camped a little below us on Davis Creek.


We could see the smoke of their campfires as they cooked

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BIG HORN COUNTY TOWNS

WYOLA,

LODGEGRASS

, HARDIN,

CUSTER  BATTLEFIELD

E-MAIL
Jo Ann if questions
ashevillejewelry @yahoo.com

 

[bighorn] [Residents] [Wyola] [1930 Census] [Biographies] [Lodge Grass] [1930 Census 2] [Rodeo Queen] [Hardin] [Hardin 2] [Pryor] [cowboys] [Bios] [Crow Fair] [Obits1] [Crow Agency] [Gen. Scott] [WW2] [Census 1870] [1930] [WW2 (2)] [Obits 1] [PAGE2 Census] [Deaths, Custer] [Cemeteries] [Long Hair'] [Fetterman Fight] [Custer Battlefield] [Custer data] [Custer Battle] [Custer Bios] [Internments] [Ft. Custer and Ft. Keogh] [MT Fort PARKER] [1870 Census] [Dipping Vat] [Fort Smith] [A-H obits] [First Familes] [Volume 1] [Missonaries] [Crow History] [Art,culture]