Herman J. Viola

103 Pages·2016·27.54 MB·English

by  It is a Good Day to Die

HERMAN J. VIOLA

ITISA

GOOD DAY

TO DIE

Indien Byewinesses
‘fell the Story

of the
Battle of the Little Bighorn

CROWN PUBLISHERS, INC.
New York
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Introduction:
f

“hr Is 2 Goo Day 1 Dic”
7

Epilogue
B

Biographical Notes
5
Chronology
9
A Note cin Sources
a
Index
oF
yor much of the pas) conmury, ie bas besa customary to refer

to che Lskotw peoples of the northiesn Great Plains as the

Sious, The Laleota tody profer nor te use this word, &
Jdenogitory name ven 20 them by theie Ojibvac neighbors |
have theiclore used the term Takota, except im the Indien

daecounrs of the Battle of che Little Bighom, where it mains

as originally recorded.

Tam an olds
the spits uf
telling what}
Geneeal Cus

at | do noe

This is how
Indisn isibe
battle know
Tast Stand”
yours old, w
the Lakom
Crow peool
was one oft
then 2500
of the Link

Laakora
Introduction

Taam ate old man, and soon my spit mest lave this earth rs jn
ie spas of my: fathers. Thereone, 1 shall speak sly the ert in
telling what i know of sv: fighu on the Linke Hom. Rever sthere
General Creer tas Filled, Curly, tho was with ws, el al yor

sha I dis ru te

This fs howe White Mary Runes Hin, a member of che Crow
Teian ibe, replied to questions about his pant in the famous
sctle Known tn genercsions of white Ameticuns os SCusier’
Las: Seam” Hes bard heen a young warrinn only abvas eightewn.
yeas old whee he sgioos so help che U.S. Army ind and fight
the Faken and Cheyennes, who were batter enuinizs of bis
‘Cao peuple. Wich White Men Runs Him were five oder Crow
‘wattions serving as scouts for Css Seventh Cavalry. Curly
‘was one of dhe. Thiy survived dhe battle, bur Guscer and anore
uw 250 eroopers did no. Fought on June 25, 1876, the Barale
of the Tittle Biphote, River—or the “Greasy Grass” as ic was
mown to the Plains Indians—uns a dramatic victory for the
|akora nnd Chueycane peoples over the US. goverment.
In their ok! age, the former scoms and Lakora «vd
Chegenne veterans nf che hontle were often questioned by

reporters, Historians, and other inlividusls curious ti knew

exaily whut had takes place ar the battle. Hew was it thar
the fpdians, who most whites kelieved e» be unuisesplined
and prialy yrinod, wets able wo defeat one of the finest
fighting forces in thre U.S. Amy? Was it poor leadershie by
Canter? Was iv sidestread panic und for by inexperienced
soldiers? Was it the clover yonetsbship of Situng Bull, who
Jased Custer into an claborase rap Or was it he Fverpshere
Spice, lubfilling a prediction muse wo Sitxing Bull, wh bal
hod a vision during the Soa Dance of soldiers falling mpside
down into his villas?

The Nevthern Cheyenne still believe the vicuory vais due
to Custer’ failure to keep a promise: made almost a decade
eatior to their Kinsmen, the Somber Cheyenses of
Olklahonna by 1569, ster fightin and Tefentiny the Soutetn
Cheyernes, Custer stked » pipe of pouce with Cheyenne
leader As part of dhe ceremony, Castor make a promise
never to riske war on the Clhoyernes again. Fhe Cheyene
chiefs wamed birm that if he fails to iste catefully co thei
swords arn! fled us keep this solemn vos, gteat hart: woul
bf hint, That is why, alter bis body wae found and recog
nized on the bactletld, nwo Cheyenne wonten panceuzed his
cas with cheir sewing awls. They did this to help him hear
better in the afterlife because he had obviously ‘ales vo
hear, or heel, the weming their eels bad nual i 1868.

Ac fist, Indian veterans of the battle refused! 10 tell these
stocivs out of fei of punishment hy the US. government,
ren today, some descendants vf the Lakota and Cheyennes
‘ho foughe char dey are refucromt ro tell eutsiders the stories
about che hartle that they hand from their parenisand grande
parents, Feer when Indians calked about the bart amy
investigarors and historians tended to discredit their
accounts, believing, hat they were sonechow teying to conceal

che truth, Now, ster she passage ef so many years, this ete

tide has changed. The Indians’ stories are acknowledged as

providing 4 vivid picture of events thar day. And kecuuse
vue ef the soldiers with Custer lived ww tl what happened,
theits is rhe anly aevoune that survives

the follrmoers of ving Bull, Gall, asd Craoy Lose eg
as individuals, wot as numbers of military units like 2 troop of
cavalry and their stories are individual versions of events
Pecause the Indian village was caught by surpise, theze was no
overall battle plan Each wsman, child, smd ssiatioe had only
4 personal penpective of the barrle, I requires the comparison:
ul matsy individ stories te obtain some is al what hiap-
pened. In ruth, there was a geout deal of confusion, Clouds of
ast chrosstt up by galloging horses und the black since fromm
bumureds of gunshots obscured everything. Ac che high of
the batde it was hard to tell Indien fiom white nv.
Therefore, no pretixe accouncing sf what bappened during
che hatrle will ever be possible

Mest of the individuals sho appear in this book nil theiz
stories nuamy years after the barcle, Lven fy their old age, howe
‘vee they had vivid memories of thar Jone day in 1876 when
Custer and the Seventh Cavalry surprised the followers of

Sitting Bull an their camp along the bsanks of the Creasy Grass

The tril tn the Cressy Grase began in the 1845, wher the

Virat white settlers started erasing the Great Plains in their

covered wagons. serkinw homes in the festile valleys of

Cabfornia and Oregon. ‘The small trickle of setelere event
ally became a tourent, thanks oo the smstruction of tailrsads
and goverment initiatives such as the 1867, Hameseciel Act,
which gave land (roe to homestealers
Ax che flow of settlers increased, Indians actoss the Wes!
tried to dofeod their Land wud their way of life. Among the
Lakowa people i! the nerthurn Great Mains, the Sete, whe
lived in present-day Minaesoia, fought aes unsuccessfal cam:
paign against setelers and the U.S. Ariny it 1862. Defeated hy
the superior firepower and qumbers of Uae army, some of rhe
Santee fled wes! in join Dakota Hands living in he Dakota
Temicony.
More successful was Red Cloud, a leader of che Oxlala,
whose two-year fight agaiost the US. Amay forced the
govermnint to abandon forts
built along the oceans Trl,
sehich an through Fskow hunt
ing grounds in sdhat is now east
em Moneana and Wyoming. At
Fo Laramie, Wyoming, in 1868,
Red Cloud and other Lakota
leaders signed wary thu ce:

potarily eaded hostilices on the

octhern plains and created the

Red Cut Great Sioux Reservation, iw
shat is now Souch Dakora, wear of the Missouri River, Lhe