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JUNE 2019 WILD WESTwomen and children were safe, they fell back....
We drove the first attacking party [Reno] back,
and that party retreated to a high hill. Then I told
my people not to venture too far in pursuit, for
fear of falling into an ambush. By this time all
the warriors in our camp were mounted and ready
for fight, and then we were attacked on the other
side by another party [Custer].
They came at us like a thunderbolt. I never before
nor since saw men so brave and fearless as those
white warriors. We retreated until our men got all
together, and then we charged upon them. I called
to my men, “This is a good die to die—follow me!”
We massed our men, and that no man should fall
back, every man whipped another man’s horse, and
we rushed right upon them. As we rushed upon
them, the white warriors dismounted to fire, but
they did very poor shooting. They held their horses’
reins on one arm while they were shooting, but their
horses were so frightened that they pulled the men
all around, and a great many of their shots went up
in the air and did us no harm. The white warriors
stood their ground bravely, and none of them made
any attempt to get away. After all but two of them
were killed, I captured two of their horses. Then the
wise men and chiefs of our nation gave out to our
people not to mutilate the dead white chief, for he
was a brave warrior and died a brave man, and his
remains should be respected....
I did not see General Custer. I do not know who
killed him. We did not know till the fight was over
that he was the white chief....I do not say that Reno
was a coward. He fought well, but our men were
fighting for their women and children....The next
day we fought Reno and his forces again and killed
many of them....Then we heard that another force
[Brig. Gen. Alfred Terry] was coming up the river
to fight us....But the chiefs and wise men counseled
that we had fought enough, and we should not fight
unless attacked, and we went back and took our
women and children and went away....
At last I saw that if I wished to do good to my
nation, I would have to do it by wise thinking and
not so much fighting. Now I want to learn the white
man’s ways, for I see that he is stronger than we are,
and that his government is better than ours.Low Dog’s heroic account certainly differs from
a macabre interview given to W. Kent Thomas at
Coney Island, N.Y., in 1894 by Hunkpapa war chief
Rain-in-the-Face, who had been in attendance at
Fort Yates in 1881 when his Oglala counterpart had
related his version of events. Circumstances cer-
tainly account for some of the discrepancies. Low
Dog, with a wife and two children, hoped to adapt
and survive and on arrival at Fort Yates had happilyaccepted a suit of clothes, including a flannel shirt
emblazoned with a flaming red shield. A dozen
years his senior, Rain was crippled and childless
at the time of his interview. After knocking back the
contents of Thomas’ hip flask, he gloated over kill-
ing troopers who begged for their lives and claimed
most of the soldiers had fought poorly. Custer sub-
ordinate Captain Frederick Benteen had looked
over the battlefield two days after the carnage and
said essentially the same thing. But Benteen was
beset with whispered and published charges he and
Reno could have rescued Custer had they fought
better or responded faster—or at all, for that matter.
Rain’s 1894 version at least lifted some of the bur-
den, suggesting that had Custer pitted more troop-
ers against the overwhelming Indian numbers and
firepower in 1876, he simply would have died along-
side more of his men. Rain and Low Dog concurred
the Indians had suffered some 30 to 40 dead, in-
cluding women and children, to 210 men killed with
Custer and another 58 with Reno and Benteen. Rain
also had no idea who killed Custer. “No one knows,”
he told Thomas. “It was like running in the dark.”
Low Dog died at Standing Rock in 1894. Rain,
who by then had adopted white man’s clothes and
found religion, lingered on, dying in 1905.Top: Low Dog (at center)
poses with fellow Lakota
veterans (from left) Gall,
Crawler, Antelope Run-
ning and Rain-in-the-
Face. Above: Low Dog
said he wanted to learn
the ways of the white
man, “for I see that he
is stronger than we are.”I did
not see
General
Custer.
I do not
know
who
killed
him. We
did not
know till
the fight
was over
that he
was the
white
chief