American Horse/Iron Plume/Slim Buttes

[brock]

CLW,

Yes, that's a good analogy. They took me to the top of Rabbit Butte, some of the buttes at

Slim Buttes and you can literally see for miles on a clear day. From Rabbit Buttle you can see

Slim Buttes, Thunder Butte and Bear Butte for instance...and clearly, so anyone approaching

like a cavalry troope can be easily seen miles away.

Floyd, Doug, and Don still have to get into how Mills got the drop on them that day. I haven't

really gotten into a heavy discussion on Slim Buttes yet as we are finishing up on 'Part Three:

The Battle of the Little Bighorn'. Slim Buttes will be in Part Four. On the Part Three DVD, my

sound man who does the sweetening and sound design is working it into his tight schedule.

Fortunately he's very good, unfortunately more than just myself know that. That's why the

release date of new one on the Battle has been so elusive. I'll let you know as we get over

the sound hump.

[crawdaddo]

Hey brock, you did'nt happen to take any photos while you were on top of rabbit butte ? If you did, would it be possible to put a couple on this site ? I'm sure I'm not the only one that would appreciate that. yours craw

[charlie]

At regard AMERICAN HORSE (Northern Cheyenne) that fight at LBH (in valley and Medicine Tail)
i have found this image: (i send it to Diane for the post...)





[Sorry to take so long! -- Diane]

[brock]

crawdaddo,
All my images are on video. Being a 7 pound camera, carrying a still camera in addition never appealed to me. I can pull a frame but the dpi will only be 72 (that's what standard video is). Looks good on the tube...but as a still picture it's wanting. I do know these images in their entirety were in the doc "Journey of the Heart" ...the very first and technically most primitive of my works but I do believe story-wise it's still pretty solid. I will see what I can do. I have about 130 hours of video pertaining to the Lakota and their domain, so be patient. (Cataloguing individual shots was never one of my strengths...to catalogue that much material would leave me no time for life itself. ;-) )
Update: I was able to pull some video frames off my hard drives of what was once a Lakota winter campsite as located by the Clown family about one mile south of where most pundits say the battle happened. As far as Rabbit Butte...that's not currently in any of my drives. When the opportunity arises I'll load it and find some clean video stills. Rabbit Butte is located on the Besler Ranch.

[crawdaddo]

Thanks brock I understand your situation and I admire your devotion and passion for the cause... I wish you luck with your projects...craw

[Diane Merkel]

Brock asked me to post the following:

This was one of the winter camps at Slim Buttes. It also may have been occupied during the Battle of Slim Buttes. It is located about one mile south of where the battle was supposed to have taken place. Please excuse the low resolution as it is pulled from video.

This first picture of the campsite from the lookout station we did all the picture taking from. The site is protected by a horseshoe type perimeter of buttes that actually goes deep into the buttes. It kept the camp from all but the east winds.



This second picture is of the lookout location from the south. If one travels into the Slim Buttes area one won't even know the camp is there until you get up to the lookout location.



The third shot is from the same lookout location looking east. Although the resolution is low due to be pulled from video, one can see for miles. So any dust clouds coming on the horizon should alert the scout at the location.

[brock]

Actually the above picture two in the sequence is looking at the location from the north not the south. Apologies.

[ignimbrite]

Thanks for the pictures. It always helps me when trying to understand the terrain. It does look like a perfect spot for a winter camp, sheltered from the winds, but open enough that the snow won't pile up. I wonder how often the wind blows from the east.

Ruth

[brock]

Crawdaddo,

Okay, I found the tape of Rabbit Butte. It was rather a gloomy day so the lighting isn't as bright...but this will give you an idea.

The first picture is from the top of Rabbit Butte looking southwesterly. I included this one to give you an idea as to how this looked with men included to help gain perspective. The men are Floyd Clown on the left and Doug War Eagle on the right.




The second picture is looking west from the top of Rabbit Butte. I was taking a panoramic view so there is slight movement that cause the picture to not be as clear...apologies...but I didn't know I'd be pulling stills off the shot. Way off in the distance you can kind of see the outline of the Slim Buttes area.



The third picture is just Rabbit Butte itself. There are tipi rings near the base...but only like for a dozen tipis. The Clown family says it was a scouting camp. It is a full days ride to Slim Buttes and a full days ride to Thunder Butte. It is also a full days ride + to Bear Butte. It was kind of in the center of all that traffic.



When these locations were manned it made it very tough for the army to find the Lakota...because the Lakota almost always saw them first.

Hope that helps.

[crawdaddo]

Thankyou Diane and thankyou brock.I appreciate the effort ....you read about these kind of places for years and then this puts you right in the picture so to speak.....thanks again

[jinlian]

Hi Charlie, that's indeed American Horse the Cheyenne who, if I'm not mistaken, lived to be a very old man. Here's another picture taken at Washington by C. Bell in 1880.

Two Moons is the second man from left and American Horse is the third from left

[clw]

When you walk the land with the people, you learn the history the land can tell. Thanks for those pictures Brock. Gotta climb one of those buttes this summer!

Here's a few more..........

Behind the tree line (Cherry Creek) in that little hollow is one of the favorite campsites of Hump's band.


This is the area by the Cheyenne River that Big Foot's band was camped in before they left out Pine Ridge and died at Wounded Knee.


And of course, Bear Butte.

By the way, Slim Buttes although not actually in the Black Hills was called Paha Zizpela (fine, thin hills) and was one the sacred places on the Lakota star map of the Black Hills. Each piece of sacred land on the star map had it's own constellation. They moved their camps as the contellations moved through the sky.

[charlie]

Jinlian: i prefer the Indian's Chiefs with the traditional dress.....Regarding AH (Northern Cheyenne) have you some infos? I think he was an important chief, but there are rare
news about him. However, he fought at LBH, and also only for this motive he is very nice to me....

[jinlian]

Hi Charlie: I agree about American Indians looking better in native dresses...I posted the picture just because I think it was taken on the same occasion, i.e. the visit of a Cheyenne delegation to Washington in 1888.
About the Cheyenne American Horse: I don't have much info as my interest is centered on the other AH, the "Smart Man of the Oglalas". Here's what' s reported on Cheyenne Memories of the Custer Fight by R. Hardoff:

Born in 1847, American Horse was a respected individual among the Northern Cheyennes. His leadership abilities resulted in his selection to the Cheyenne Chief Council, and he was later given the honor to place the stakes which mark the boundary lines of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. He had one brother and and two sons whose history went unrecorded. American Horse lived between Lame Deer and Birney, Montana, where a basin in the hills was named after him.

I think American Horse was a witness in the accident involving 2 Cheyennes in 1890 who killed a white man after a quarrel on a shot cow and therefore were killed in a fight with the agency police, but don't remember much about it now.

[wolfgang]

Hi Charlie, here are two more photos of the Cheyenne chief American Horse, taken by Julia E.Tuell. About American Horse here´s what´s in the book "Women and Warriors of the Plains" by Dan Aadland: " Chief American Horse was chief of the Sotaaeoo band of the Northern Cheyenne, was involved in both battle of the Rosebud and the battle of the Little Big Horn and steadily gained influence as a spokeman for his tribe during early reservation years. He cared for tribal funds and puts his mark on legal correspondence with Washington.
American Horse became a good friend of the Tuells during their years at Lame Deer, Mt, on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. He came to their log cabin frequently for coffee and taught Julia the Cheyenne language. American Horse died in July 1911 at age 83."