Bloody Knife

[maaloxmya19]

I read the Ben Innis book "Bloody Knife" , but does anyone have any more?

Whittaker has him warning Custer about Sitting Bull & generally influencing things. Connel (i think) related a Frechman's diary
entry about pulling him OFF Sitting Bull.

I have put up replies suggesting HE is the Primary Mover, not Custer -- let alone Reno who clearly was doing Nothing without asking BK first, in the Valley.

In other words BK is the REAL second in Command.
(Any competant C.O. would have done something about Reno's weakness in Front-Line skills: that was it).

There are disputes about his relation to Sitting Bull (ie: elder Brother?).

In Custer family photos he is on the TOP STEP -- to me, showing Custer took that Blood Brother stuff Very seriously.

[Diane Merkel]

If the following photo is one that you are referring to, the tall Indian on the top step has been misidentified for years as Bloody Knife.



LBHA members Charles Markantes and Cesare Marino (who is with the Smithsonian) have identified the tall Indian as Long Soldier. Charles was the first (I am aware of) who questioned the identification of Bloody Knife and discovered that it was more likely Long Soldier (see LBHA Newsletter, March 2005). Cesare took Charles' research a bit further and found that there were two Indians named Long Soldier (perhaps father and son) with the one on the right below being the most likely to have been in the Fort Lincoln photo (see LBHA Newsletter, April 2005):


Bloody Knife, close-up of Fort Lincoln photo, Long Soldier

As Cesare pointed out, more research needs to be done because the relationship between the two Long Soldiers (if any) is unknown and their tribal affiliations have been listed in the literature as Minneconjou, Hunkpapa, Two Kettle, Oglala, and Gros Ventre.

[crzhrs]

BK was of mixed blood, Ree & Sioux. He was raised with the Sioux but was tormented by them because of his Ree blood.

Once his body was discovered by the Sioux at the LBH it was said his head was cut off and two Lakota women carried it around by the braids!

Other than BK's enjoyment of alcohol and standing up to Custer, that's all I got.

[crzhrs]

A little more on BK:

Bloody Knife was born in 1840 to an Hunkpapa Sioux father and a Ree mother. He spent his first 16 years with his father but was frequently taunted, beaten and abused for being a "half-breed". At age 16, he left the Sioux camp with his mother but returned in 1860 to visit his father. Bloody Knife was still despised by the Sioux, and was almost killed during his visit. Chief Gall, a leader of the Hunkpapa, killed Bloody Knife's two brothers in 1862. Bloody Knife was married to She Owl in 1866.
In 1868, Bloody Knife enlisted as a scout in the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 7th Cavalry. He quickly became George Armstrong Custer's favorite scout. He was insolent toward whites and ridiculed them. He often amused Custer by ridiculing his marksmanship. Custer never got angry and often gave gifts to Bloody Knife.
In 1874, Bloody Knife guided the 7th through the Black Hills. He was with Custer in the Little Bighorn campaign and told Custer there were too many Indians to fight, a warning Custer ignored. Bloody Knife, in turn, ignored Custer's plea for him to stay out of the battle. Bloody Knife was assigned to Major Marcus Reno during the Battle of the Little Bighorn and was killed by a shot to the head as he was standing beside Reno in the battle. Reno was attempting to ask him what the Indians were doing when he was shot and his blood splattered Reno's face. Reno then lost all inhibition and barked out orders that did not make sense before fleeing. It has been speculated that Bloody Knife's blood splattering put Major Reno in a state of shock.
Bloody Knife was beheaded by the Sioux, who took the head to their camp.

From one of Libbie Custer’s
Bloody Knife was naturally mournful; his face still looked sad when he put on the presents given him. He was a perfect child about gifts, and the general studied to bring him something from the East that no other Indian had.
He had proved himself such an invaluable scout to the general that they often had long interviews. Seated on the grass, the dogs lying about them, they talked over portions of the country that the general had never seen, the scout drawing excellent maps in the sand with a pointed stick. He was sometimes petulant, often moody, and it required the utmost patience on my husband’s part to submit to his humors; but his fidelity and clerverness (sic) made it worthwhile to yield to his tempers."

[Treasuredude]

Cesare Marino?

Didn't he play the Joker on the Batman TV series? Oh wait, that was Cesar Romero.

[Diane Merkel]

;D ;D ;D

[stevewilk]

Bloody Knife was not "assigned to the 7th Cavalry" in 1868. His first enlistment as a scout was at Ft. Stevenson, Dakota. The Seventh Cavalry was in Kansas then. BK's first scouting duties were likely with one of the infantry regiments, such as the 22nd. He worked as a mail runner prior to this; carrying the mail between the Missouri River posts. BK didn't hook up with Custer until Ft. Lincoln was built in 1872.

[Dietmar]

There are several photos of Bloody Knife, this one from wyomingtrails.com I like the best:



www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/custer5.html

Dietmar

[chas]

Can't take credit for the Bloody Knife / Long Soldier conjecture. The Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation, Mandan, ND, published an item by Dakota Wind Good House, in the 2004 spring issue of Past Times, speculating Bloody Knife was misidentified in the photograph and it could have been someone else. Dakota Good House, the former Director of Native American Interpretation at the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation, now instructor at United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck is familiar with the people from Standing Rock. He states that in May of 1875, after the signing of the Treaty of Fort Abraham Lincoln, 400 Lakota/Dakota and 300 Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara feasted and sang together at Fort Lincoln. Good House believes 19 Lakota/Dakota scouts signed on and served at Fort Lincoln after the treaty signing -- one of which was Long Soldier, (A-ki-ci-ta-han-ska) a Minniconjou Lakota from the Standing Rock Indian Agency. His height said to have been about 7 feet.