Little Bear

[charlie]

Born in 1842 in Hevhaitanio (Hair Rope Men) band of Southern Cheyenne.
Indian's name: NAHKOHESO
In 1864 he was present and survived at Sand Creek.
His story of the battle is a unique firsthand account of the massacre
and penned in 1906 by George Bent.
"...when i got to the bank of the creek I seen Big Head, Crow Neck, Cut Lip Bear
and Smoker standing behind the bank so I joined them...We were west end of the
village...Big head and his party ran west. I turned and went north as I seen big
crowd (of Cheyenne) going that way. About 20 soldiers followed me.
Big Head and his party were all killed over the hill..."
He was member of a delegation in 1875 at the Annual Gran Council at Okmulgee
(Oklahoma). He also went with a delegation at Washington in 1891.
He had several wives. He died in 20 January 1917.
There are many photos of him. I hope that Dietmar will post them!

[charlie]

Another extract from his tale:"...I found my war bonnet, shield and my quiver full of arrows. While I was putting on my war bonnet and shield, bullets were hitting all around me and bullets were hitting the lodges like hard storm.
On way up (Sand Creek) the feathers of my war bonnet were shot away and my shield was shot several times, but I did not get hit".
Indeed, he was very lucky to survive to the massacre.
Any info about the chief BIG HEAD killed at Sand Creek?

[shatonska]

Mar 11, 2015 11:41:56 GMT -5 charlie said:

Another extract from his tale:"...I found my war bonnet, shield and my quiver full of arrows. While I was putting on my war bonnet and shield, bullets were hitting all around me and bullets were hitting the lodges like hard storm.
On way up (Sand Creek) the feathers of my war bonnet were shot away and my shield was shot several times, but I did not get hit".
Indeed, he was very lucky to survive to the massacre.
Any info about the chief BIG HEAD killed at Sand Creek?

i don't think this BIG HEAD was one of the various chiefs of that name , i think he and the ones he named were all young warriors (if i remember well george bent words)

chief BIG HEAD was alive in 1866 , together with Medicine Arrows and some dog soldiera agreed to the fort Wise treaty

another BIG HEAD (the one wounded at ft Kearny) was made chief of the poor people clan in 1856 and died in 1857 (according to Grinnell)


a curiosity , according to George Bent one of the 3 Custer's prisoners in 1869 was Little Bear also named BIG HEAD , he died in the Sappa Creek massacre in 1875

[Dietmar]

Charlie, there are plenty of portraits of Little Bear, please give me some time to post them...

[Dietmar]

Okay, let´s start with two links worth looking:


This is a PDF file from the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, five photos of Little Bear included:

www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/upload/littlebearpanel.pdf


...and from the same site a short biography of Little Bear:

www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/little-bear-biography.htm