The Battle of Greasy Grass

July 10, 2020.

The two Cheyenne women, relatives of Moh-na-se-tah, said that Custer should have listened better to Medicine Arrows.

The Cheyenne considered Moh-na-se-tah to be Custer’s wife. She was the daughter of chief Little Rock until the battle (arguably a massacre) at Washita in the Oklahoma territory eight years before. Her parents had been shot from behind while running away. Seven months pregnant, with Custer’s child, she was taken hostage at Washita along with 52 other non-combatants. During the Washita fight, Custer had used hostages as human shields.

The two Cheyenne women claimed to be present after Washita when Custer listened to Medicine Arrows (aka Stone Forehead) and promised that he would no longer fight the Cheyenne.

Eight years later Custer’s men approached a village camped on the Little Bighorn River. In addition to Cheyenne, the village had Arapaho and many Sioux tribes: Oglala, Hunkpapa, Lakota, Sans Arc, Brulé, Minneconjou, and Santee. There may have been 7,000 people, with a third of them fighters, but no one had a count. There was no single person in command, and people were constantly arriving and leaving.

The tribes called the area Greasy Grass. They had left their government reservations to gather here. For them, Sunday, June 5th, 1876, was just another day. People swam in the river, took horses to graze, gathered roots, and traveled between hunt camps. One eyewitness, Good White Buffalo Woman, said there was “no thought of fighting” and that they “expected no attack”.

Elders were smoking in a central lodge mid-afternoon when reports of a cavalry raid started coming in. A boy and a woman had been shot. The elders were puzzled. Soldiers wouldn’t attack such a large village, especially mid-day. Runs the Enemy later said “We could hardly believe that the soldiers were so near. We sat there smoking.”

Most other people in the camp reacted quickly. Non-combatants started beating a retreat upriver, while the young fighters rushed to meet troop formations. One exception was Crazy Horse. While waiting for his mount, he took so much time to prepare for battle Standing Bear claimed, “that many of his warriors became impatient”. According to Standing Bear, Spider and others, he called a medicine man for prayer and song, wove grass into his hair, burnt a sacrificial pinch of snuff, painted his face, and dusted himself, his horse, and his companions with dry earth before he was ready to do battle.

The Sioux didn’t take male prisoners. After the battle, they did take out their vengeance on dead soldiers. Our two Cheyenne women, relatives of Moh-na-se-tah, stopped some Sioux men before they got to Custer’s body, saying “He is a relative of ours”. They got out their sewing kits. Then, since he hadn’t listened better to Medicine Arrows, they pushed needles deep into his ears so he could hear better in the afterlife.

Much has been written about Custer’s role in this battle. The Smithsonian Magazine’s article “How the Battle of Little Bighorn Was Won” has many details from Native American eyewitnesses, though. I’ll share some more of these below. After all, as Churchill said, “History is written by victors”.

* Pics are click to enlarge.