Bloody Knife’s horse

[stephanurus]

What is the source of the story about Bloody Knife’s horse walking 500 miles back home? Is it oral tradition or is it in print somewhere?

[noggy]

Mar 12, 2021 22:52:17 GMT -6 stephanurus said:

What is the source of the story about Bloody Knife’s horse walking 500 miles back home? Is it oral tradition or is it in print somewhere?

Well, the only time I've seen this story was in a "Folklore" article, where it said that according to the Arikara his horse came came and told them stories about the battle... I recently admitted to not being an expert on horses, but do now that they seldom speak. Mister Ed is from what I've learned about American pop culture and honorable exception, maybe alongside Jolly Jumper.

(Never seen "academic/serious" claims about his horse walking back home)

(Found the article ancestralfindings.com/american-folklore-north-dakota/ )

Noggy

[herosrest]

Mar 12, 2021 22:52:17 GMT -6 stephanurus said:

What is the source of the story about Bloody Knife’s horse walking 500 miles back home? Is it oral tradition or is it in print somewhere?

Bobtailed Bull. Ree.

[herosrest]

^Ducemus

www.astonisher.com/archives/museum/bobtailed_horse_little_big_horn.html

[herosrest]

^Ducemus

OK, got it by a very tortuous path. My memory didn't click and search got awkward. The source is John Stands in Timber (Cheyenne)

One interesting thing was told by Plenty Crows (Cheyenne). He did not know it until later, but his brothers, both Arikaras, were in the battle on the other side, as scouts for Custer. One was named Bobtailed Bull, and the other Little Soldier or Fighting Bear. Plenty Crows gave two of his sons those names. They are both dead now, but there are descendants who still use them.

Plenty Crows learned about his brothers years later. One of them was in on the only horse story that came from the Indian side of the battle. Everyone knows of Comanche, the cavalry horse that was found alive on the battlefield when the soldiers discovered it. But the Indians had a famous horse too, though it was on the soldiers' side. He was ridden by this Arikara scout. He was a big pinto, trained ever since he had been a colt. His mother was a travois mare, and the kids played with the colt so much he was gentle from the time he was small. He would even follow them into a tepee. They trained this horse never to leave when he was turned loose. When this warrior went scouting he never tied him, but left him loose, and he would graze around where the warrior slept. In camp he could make a special noise to call him, and the big pinto would come running, and he would slip the rope over his jaw and jump on.

Bobtailed Bull rode this horse into the Custer fight and he was killed there. The horse was hit twice but not badly, once on the mane and once somewhere else. After the battle he got away and went all the way back to the Arikara reservation. The Indians recognized him, and they always called him Famous War Horse after that time.

He is still famous. They made up a song about him way back there, and it was used during the two world wars in a kind of victory dance. They sang it at celebrations when the soldier boys came home. When I heard this I wanted to find out more, and one of the Arikaras gave me a written statement that said: "During my lifetime on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota, I can say that a certain Indian war song was composed for a returned wounded pinto horse, whose master was Scout Sergeant Bobtailed Bull, killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn."

By the time the other soldiers got to the battlefield the Indians were gone. A Cheyenne named Lost Leg rode back a few days later looking for horses. A lot of them had strayed away and they thought they might be able to get some of them. They said they could smell the battlefield a long way off. They had planned to go in and look at it, but they could not even come close, it was so strong.

So they gave up and returned another way to Reno Creek and met some of the Cheyennes moving up that way. There was no more real fighting that summer. Cheyenne Memories, by John Stands In Timber and Margot Liberty, 1967.

The Cheyenne version attributes the horse to Bobtailed Bull/

In Running Wolf's account, a Custer scout with Dakota Column, the horse was Little Brave's and brought back by Young Hawk. There's a bit of confusion which is the way of oral traditions. Running Wolf's Story of the Battle An Arikara scout's account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn

Of course there were Many Horses. One of them was crazy!

[herosrest]

^Ducemus

There is one more twist to the story which I am aware of.

Little Brave and Bloody Knife were brothers in some fashion. Whether blood or sworn, I don't recall but this helps explain the confusions. Both had Siox and Arikara connection.

[kenny]

I haven't read the book almost 30 years. I think it was mention in The Son of The Mourning Star by Evan S. Connell.

[herosrest]

^Ducemus

Col. A.B. Welch visit to Fort Berthold and ruins of old fishhawk village Oct 12-15/1921

Little Brave's Pinto and Gerrard killing seven Sioux. The Wilds and Old Fort Berthold's Cemetery.