("The Custer Fight" by Charles Marion Russell (1864–1926), [Public Domain] via Creative
Commons)
Around 1874, the United
States discovered there was gold buried in the Black Hills of the Dakota
Territory. When this information was made public, prospectors and
fortune-seekers poured into the region in search of wealth, all the while disregarding
the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), in which the U. S. recognized Sioux and
Arapaho authority over the region. The United States government did not want to
forcibly remove the prospectors from the Black Hills, so they instead offered
to purchase the territory from the tribal leaders. When the natives refused to
sell, and the gold-hunters continued to arrive, the U. S. finally issued an
ultimatum, decreeing that all the Native Americans who did not return to their
reservations by late January of 1876 would be considered hostile combatants. When
the deadline passed, the military was sent into the Dakota territories to suppress
the remaining dissident Native Americans—mainly the Lakota Sioux leaders, Crazy
Horse and Sitting Bull. Among the many natives following these two charismatic
leaders was a thirteen-year-old boy named Black Elk (1863-1950), who would grow
up to be one of the most important figures in Native American religion and
mysticism.
In Black Elk Speaks, a pseudo-autobiography narrated by Black Elk, but
transcribed and edited by John Neihardt, Black Elk talked about some of the
first battles he witnessed or participated in. He stated that his first
skirmish occurred when he was thirteen. Black Elk’s family was traveling with a
small band of Oglala Lakota Sioux and Cheyennes who were all traveling to join
the forces of Crazy Horse. They camped near the Bozeman Trail (probably around
May 1876) and spotted a United States wagon train heading their way. The convoy
also spotted the Native American scouts and began shooting. When the gunshots
started, the Sioux and Cheyennes gathered their weapons and attacked the wagons.
Black Elk hesitated only for a moment, then equipped his six-shot revolver that
was given to him by his sister and joined in the attack.
When the caravan noticed
there was a threat, they made a defensive circle with their wagons, providing
shelter for themselves and their animals. The Sioux and Cheyenne warriors began
circling around the wagons on their horses, firing shots at the people who were
crouching behind their defenses. Black Elk said that he and the warriors kept
inching ever closer to the wagons as they rode round and round. Nevertheless,
they could not break through the defenses. The warriors finally decided to
withdraw and resume their journey to meet with Crazy Horse.
Black Elk also witnessed, and
may have participated in, the famous Battle of Little Bighorn on June 25-26,
1876, when he was still only thirteen years of age. He was living in a camp
village made of various tribes who decided to fight alongside Sitting Bull and
Crazy Horse against the United States. The camp at Little Bighorn (known to the
natives as the Greasy Grass) is thought to have been populated by as many as
8,000 people, with more than 1,500 warriors.
The battle occurred when Lt.
Colonel George Armstrong Custer camped his 7th Cavalry force of around six
hundred men at Wolf Mountain, near the Little Bighorn River. His main objective
was to scout out the hostile encampments, and possibly to push the Native
Americans into a larger ambush planned by General Terry. Yet, Custer’s men (or
his own Native American scouts) were spotted, causing the people of the camp
village to panic. After being discovered, Custer decided to attack the enemy
immediately.
Custer divided his already
outnumbered 7th Cavalry force into three fighting divisions, not including
those men handling the supply line and ammunition. Lt. Col. Custer kept one
division for himself, and divided the rest between Major Marcus Reno and
Captain Frederick Benteen. Reno’s division crossed the Little Bighorn River and
attacked the Native American camp from the south. Custer took his troops and
threatened the camp from the north. Meanwhile, Benteen hovered with his troops
near the center of the enemy camp.
Major Reno’s attack was
disastrous. He was outflanked and the Native Americans chased his men down as
if they were hunting buffalo. The survivors of the Reno division found their
way back to Benteen’s force and they ended up being besieged on a hill until
June 26th. Lt. Col. Custer’s division, however, was attacked from multiple
angles by forces led by the Sioux leaders, Crazy Horse and Gall (battle leader
of the Hunkpapa). Custer and his men were surrounded and were massacred. The
rest of the 7th Cavalry were only saved when the Native American force withdrew
after they heard that General Terry was approaching with reinforcements.
Black Elk stated that he did
not participate in the battle, itself, but he did help the warriors execute the
wounded. He scalped at least two soldiers that day. Black Elk commented on one
particularly gruesome scalping: “He had short hair and my knife was not very
sharp. He ground his teeth. Then I shot him in the forehead and got his scalp”
(Black Elk Speaks, Chapter 9). Like
any proud kid, the thirteen-year-old Black Elk took his new trophy and proudly
displayed it for his mother, who let out a huge cheer.
Written by C. Keith Hansley.
- Black Elk Speaks, narrated by Black Elk and recorded by John G. Neihardt. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2014.
- https://www.nps.gov/libi/learn/historyculture/battle-of-the-little-bighorn.htm
- http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/battle-of-the-little-bighorn
- https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-the-Little-Bighorn
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