Dakota Scouts with Custer

[clw]

There were four Dakota scouts with Custer in 1876, according to army records. At least the army refers to them as Dakota. I think, to the Army in 1876, all Sioux were Dakota. They were:

Bear Waiting/Spotted Horn Cloud
age 50, 10th enlistment, 2/3/76

Caroo/Bear in Timber/Karu
age 41, 2nd enlistment, 5/11/76

White Cloud
age 21, 3rd enlistment, 5/14/76

Buffalo Ancestor/The Whole Buffalo/Round Wooden Cloud
age 32, 2nd enlistment, 3/31/76

There is evidence that they all crossed the LBH and fought in connection with driving off the Lakota pony herds.

I'd like to learn more about them. Can anyone contribute?

[Dietmar]

Hi clw,

good question, though a tough one. There is little written in any books about the LBH battle regarding those Dakota scouts. Their actions in the fight are mentioned in "Arikara Narratives", which you probably have read.
I think to remember that they all were intermarried with the Arikara tribe.
I´ll try to find out more about it.

Best wishes

Dietmar

[clw]

Nov 7, 2008 14:37:07 GMT -5 Dietmar said:

Their actions in the fight are mentioned in "Arikara Narratives", which you probably have read.

No, I haven't read it -- just the excerpts in The Custer Myth. Which is ridiculous, all things considered. But you know how it goes with reading lists.

I think to remember that they all were intermarried with the Arikara tribe.

Aha! That would answer one of my major questions. Thanks Dietmar.... interested in anything you find.

[Dietmar]

Here is a little more on the Sioux scouts:

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

[Dietmar]

I checked for a source and found it in Herman J. Viola´s "Little Bighorn Remembered". There is a list of the Arikara scouts of Fort Berthold Reservation compiled by Rhoda M. Star, herself a Sanish. She indeed stated that these four Sioux were all married to Arikara women.
The age of the scouts is different from the listing above:

Bear-Running-In-The-Timber, 40
Bear Waiting, 32
Buffalo Ancestor
WhiteCloud, 21

[laughingwaters]

According to "Camp on Custer, Walter Camp's Notes on the Custer Fight," William Cross is a half-breed Miniconjiou and William Jackson is a half-breed Dakota of what tribe I am not sure of at this time but I think Yankton. Suggested reading by the editors of Camp's notes: A book written by Joseph H. Taylor titled "Frontier and Indian Life and Kaleidosopic Lives" printed in 1902 (it might be digitalized on google). They go on to say, "It is interesting to compare this list of scouts to the in Hammer, "Biographies," pp. 27-41. Not only are the scouts names listed but also a good concise biography of each."

[Dietmar]

Welcome laughingwaters,

the Taylor text is here:

www.archive.org/stream/kaleidoscopicliv00tayl/kaleidoscopicliv00tayl_djvu.txt

[Jimmy]

About 30 or so Santee scouts served with Custer in 1873 and 1874. Does anybody have a list of their names?

[Diane Merkel]

Paul Horsted, author of Exploring with Custer: The 1874 Black Hills Expedition, will have a new book out this November called Crossing the Plains with Custer. Paul told me last month that the new book will contain the roster of 1,000 men who were on the 1874 Expedition. I wrote to him yesterday to ask if he had a list of the Scouts.

The text below, including the opening comments, is taken from the Ewert Diary by John Carroll and Larry Frost, and Paul has permission to publish it in his new book. Unfortunately, the roster is once again missing from the National Archives. The Scouts are not identified by tribe, but I hope you may be able to identify the Santee by their names. "LBH" behind a name means he later was at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. In the case of Bloody Knife, "LBH/K" means, of course, that he was killed during the battle.

Thanks to Paul Horsted!!!

From the Ewert Diary:

Just prior to this book being sent to the printer for publication [1976], the National Archives called and advised that they had found the roster of Indian Scouts on the 1874 Expedition to the Black Hills; it had been lost since 1968. Fortunately this information arrived in time to have it included in the text.

The names appear exactly as they were shown on the roster supplied by photostat from the National Archives. It is obvious the Indian names were phonetically spelled. Those with Christian names were probably part-bloods indicating non-Indian fathers.

The first 41 scouts enlisted at Fort Abraham Lincoln anywhere from 1 April to 30 May 1874. The balance enlisted on 24 June 1874. All were discharged on 31 August 1874 with some re-enlisting the next day. All were enlisted as Privates.

Bear (Coon-ough)
Bear’s Arm (Coon-ough-wee-na)
Bear Bull (Coon-ough-ho-cus)
Bear’s Eyes (Coon-ough-chee-ree)
Bear’s Ears (Coon-ough-et-ca-to-wa)
Bear’s Robe (Coon-ough-sa-hosche)
Big Bear (Coon-ough-coo-soo)
Black Medicine (Wau-we-ca-coct)
Bloody Hand (Ish-ki-e-pat-too)
Bloody Knife (Ne-se-ree-pat) LBH/K
Broad Footed Beaver (Ach-ca-toe)
Bull Neck (Ho-cus-na-teew)
Carries The Moccasins (Hu-naw-ne-ca)
Crow Bear (Ca-ku-coon-ough)
Eagle (Pe-aih)
Elk’s Face (Way-scow)
Foolish Bear (Coon-ough-agh-wah) LBH
Forked Horn (Arree-chitt) LBH
Goose (Co-es) LBH
Horn In Front (Arriu-quis-co)
Lean Bear (Coon-ough-ta-hish)
Left Hand (Quigrhi)
Little Brave (Ne-ho-cus-chee-ree-postah)
Lover (Fa-wa-too)
Mad Bull (Ho-cus-wa-ra-hau)
Medicine Wolf (Schi-ri-wa-rouch-ta)
Pretty Wolf (Schi-ri-noo-na-rah)
Rough Horn (Arriu-sa-wough)
Sioux (Leu-neu-net)
Sioux Stand (Fat-hugh-na-ra)
Strikes Two (Fi-ta-ra-wi-chi) LBH
The Bush (Na-pa-raw-rough) LBH
Vermilion (Pa-haw-too)
Whistling Bear (Coon-ough-ta-wa-na)
White Breasted Rat (Cau-sa-ca)
White War Eagle (Nay-to-cus-to-ca)
Young Bear (Coon-ough-humm-ni)
Young Elk (Wah-humm-ni)
Young Hawk (Ach-sa-wee-coo-soo-humm-ni) LBH
Young War Eagle (Nay-to-cus-humm-ni)
Skunk’s Head (Ne-wit-pa-haw)
Jackson Robert
John Bill
Red Bird
David Blackfire
Edward Bluecrow
Autwaut Brulier
John Brulier
John B. Chapman
Smoking Cloud
Saul Demons
Alfred Goodthunder
Charles Henry
Joseph Hepan
Reuben P. Hillers
Daniel Hoffman
Hostile
Moses Hunter
Joseph Lawrence
John Philbricks
Simon Stone
Napoleon Wabashaw
Philip Webster
Benjamin Westerman
John Wheeler
Benjamin Whipple
Alexandre White
James Williams
Thomas Williams
Charles Zimmerman

[Jimmy]

Thanks!

[Sara James Childers]

The Ewert Diary is incorrect in saying that the Christian names are for those Natives with white fathers. These are in large part the Scouts from the Santee Agency and they took English names by the early 1870's. Many of them being full bloods.
They each will have a pension file at NARA.
I ordered a pension file for a Santee scout from the 1873 Expedition and it was 103 pages.
The Smithsonian has a photo identified as Santee Scouts but they do not look like the men from the Santee Agency and they are holding long rifles. The Scouts in 1873 where issude Colt Revolvers.

[rodthomas]

The 2016 edition of Greasy Grass - The Journal of the Custer Battlefield Historical & Museum Association, presents an article by Dr. Lilah Pengra on Cards...the "fourth" Dakota scout in the 1876 battle on the Little Big Horn. Lilah uncovered this information while researching for her forthcoming biography of Isaiah Dorman to be published this spring.

Regards, Rod...

Attachments:

Cards The Fourth Dakota Scout updated edit2.pdf (493.78 KB)