Post by Diane Merkel on Feb 4, 2008 20:28:17 GMT -6
If you've got a few minutes, the entire article is quite good.
Isaiah Dorman, the only black man to fight and die at the Battle of Little Big Horn, was also the only soldier whose dying words have been preserved. Dorman spoke the Sioux language perfectly, and while mortally wounded, tried unsuccessfully to talk the Indians out of maiming his already bloody body. The first known account of Dorman was as a courier for the Army in the Dakota Territory. In 1871, the Army hired him to guide the Northern Pacific Railroad survey team, then later that same year as a Sioux interpreter. In 1876, Custer ordered him to accompany the Little Big Horn expedition. Dorman refused, having had a family by this time, so Custer sweetened the pot by raising his pay from $50 to $75 a month. Dorman never lived to collect his increased pay. To this day, he or his heirs are still owed $102.50 back pay, plus more than a 130 years’ interest.
Black history, American history -- aren’t they the same thing? Somewhere along the way, the notion that we have different values and different cultures has been fostered and believed. But in spite of the ugliness and distance that we maintain to this day, our histories have always been intertwined. Let us celebrate black heroes this month, but someday, I hope, we can become one community of non-hyphenated Americans, solving all the problems that we all share.
Post by Diane Merkel on Nov 28, 2020 13:59:01 GMT -6
Lilah Morton Pengra gave me permission to offer an article about the strip of skin taken from Isaiah Dorman (about whom she wrote Isaiah Dorman: Interpreting the Evidence).
A more detailed examination of that topic was presented as "Battlefield Mutilation and a Strip of Skin" at the Custer Battlefield Historical & Museum Association's 2015 symposium. The Association publishes digests of its symposiums that can be purchased if you want to learn more about the topic.
If you've got a few minutes, the entire article is quite good.
Isaiah Dorman, the only black man to fight and die at the Battle of Little Big Horn, was also the only soldier whose dying words have been preserved. Dorman spoke the Sioux language perfectly, and while mortally wounded, tried unsuccessfully to talk the Indians out of maiming his already bloody body. The first known account of Dorman was as a courier for the Army in the Dakota Territory. In 1871, the Army hired him to guide the Northern Pacific Railroad survey team, then later that same year as a Sioux interpreter. In 1876, Custer ordered him to accompany the Little Big Horn expedition. Dorman refused, having had a family by this time, so Custer sweetened the pot by raising his pay from $50 to $75 a month. Dorman never lived to collect his increased pay. To this day, he or his heirs are still owed $102.50 back pay, plus more than a 130 years’ interest.
Black history, American history -- aren’t they the same thing? Somewhere along the way, the notion that we have different values and different cultures has been fostered and believed. But in spite of the ugliness and distance that we maintain to this day, our histories have always been intertwined. Let us celebrate black heroes this month, but someday, I hope, we can become one community of non-hyphenated Americans, solving all the problems that we all share.
Nope, I think it is in the same category as the Crazy Hore photograph..."supposedly". Kinda hard to prove it is him now, nearly 150 years since he died. It would need either a previously unknown photograph or a piece of documentation connected to an existing photo to be deemd "prooved".
Post by Diane Merkel on Feb 18, 2023 9:50:04 GMT -6
I've read a bit about him but I've never seen a photo. Findagrave gives a link to the contributor, so you could write to him/her and ask for provenance. (There are two sites for Dorman on Findagrave. Don't bother with the one with photos contributed by Mike Nunnally. He is deceased.)
Jenny, I don't understand what you are asking in your post above. Is what still the case?
Sorry, Diane. I was wondering if Dorman was still owed all that money. Sounds like research!
FYI I received this email from Quintard Taylor, a black history expert in Seattle: I am not an expert on the Isaiah Dorman story but I can tell you that the photo below is not him. That photo is of an unidentified Buffalo Solider. As far as I know Dorman was never a Buffalo Soldier, only a scout for the U.S. Army.
This is in reference to that lovely b&w photo I posted above.
FYI anyone interested, I've asked FindAGrave to remove the buffalo soldier photo from the Isaiah Dorman listing, which they have done. Who knows when it will reappear!?
Diane: Stealing this, er, I mean borrowing. So well said:
"Black history, American history -- aren’t they the same thing? Somewhere along the way, the notion that we have different values and different cultures has been fostered and believed. But in spite of the ugliness and distance that we maintain to this day, our histories have always been intertwined...I hope we can become one community of non-hyphenated Americans, solving all the problems that we all share."
And based on all I've read here's my portrait of Isaiah Dorman.