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The best of history is told by our ancestors: Wooden Leg’s eye witness to victory day




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Battle of Little Big Horn was this past June 25th and northern plains tribes have been celebrating this day for their victory since the day it happened.

General George Armstrong Custer was defeated that day in battle by Lakota and Cheyenne people. What happened that day accumulated from the plains tribes wanting to keep control and protection of their land and territory. It was a battle of many between the U.S. government and tribes as the government worked to assimilate tribes into mainstream government controlled society.

In researching family history and digging around into genealogy, I always try to find history pieces that are from the Native side or the side of our ancestors. Those are far and few between as our history was more oral history back then. Stories were told from generation to generation until finally someone recorded it either in writing or oral.

In researching your family, find those stories that were told by ancestors either in written form or in oral form. They are out there, either at the local tribal college archives or other places that take on that task of archiving. For us, there is so much history that Oglala Lakota College has been archiving. The Catholic church has taken the task of arching tribal history through their schools and many of those are now at Marquette University.

 

 

Today, we are seeing old newspapers being archived online but back then there was so much ignorance or those journalist were biased of the side of tribes. You can see that when you read their pieces back in the 1800s and early 1900s. Some reek of ignorance and you just have to bypass those views and dig for the side of the Lakota.

Wooden Leg, was a Northern Cheyenne warrior , who found in historic battles during the Indians wars, including the Battle of Little Big Horn. Thomas Bailey Marquis, a doctor recorded Wooden Leg’s life and published it in book form ‘Wooden Leg.’ Many of the stories were told by the Northern Cheyenne to the doctor in sign language. It wasn’t a popular book as his descriptions was often not believed. It has been republished several times since that time and it fairly affordable. Only 99 cents on Kindle at Amazon. First published in 1931 and republished last in 2015.

It was easy for me to get lost in the book as the way it was written it is his words, the warrior’s words. The most interesting of the book is his detailed accounts of how life was back then, the struggles, the cultural laws, the family systems, the need for societies. He details how things were done and why they were done for their beliefs, their survival. He eventually like many of his relatives lived reservation life. At that time, because of their warrior skills and status, the Calvary sought them to be Indian Scouts. He became a scout. My great-grandfather Philip Slow Dog came from Northern Cheyenne roots, he was born in 1850 or there about and he was an Indian scout also. Reading about Wooden Leg’s accounts of Northern Cheyenne life and beliefs helped me understand my great-grandfather’s life. My mom knew her grandfather’s stories, she often talked of them. I sure wished I asked more questions and actually listened. I remember few. I am grateful for today’s technology, we can enjoy reading with the touch of download. The only thing is we can’t share like a good book from hand to hand.

Wooden Leg’s stories are laced with humor too. Wooden Leg told of a how some people brought back flour to camp from the trading post and his wife knew how to make bread, so they searched for soda to make the bread and a grandma accidentally gave them powder to poison wolves instead of soda. They all got sick, good thing nobody died. Should have learned then not to eat bread. His description of kinship rules were very interesting.

Of the battle, Wooden Leg told of the soldiers that were in fear, they took their own life. That account has been discussed by historians. People didn’t want to read things like that. He detailed what he saw in the battle. He took a blond scalp and when he returned to his camp, he gave it to his grandmother and told her it was good medicine. He talked of finding whisky among the dead soldiers and how it tasted. It was the first time some of them tried the whiskey.

Wooden Leg is a valuable book to historians as it is an eye witness account of the battle and of life on the plains at that time.

(Amanda Takes War Bonnet currently works for the Native Women’s Society of the Great Plains, has four children and 13 grandchildren. Her and husband Dr. Archie Beauvais do occasionally writing on culture. She can be reached at takeswar@goldenwest.net.)

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