Wild West – June 2019

6 2 WILD WEST JUNE 2019

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Sight, was thrown when a bullet shattered his horse’s hind leg,
sending it into a somersault. Chief Comes in Sight landed on
his feet and started to run, zigzagging to avoid incoming rounds.
Soldiers went after him. Another mounted Cheyenne, White Elk,
was preparing to draw the soldier fire and help his friend escape
when he spotted a slender figure on horseback, racing down
from the Indian lines straight for the dismounted warrior. When
the female rider reached the man afoot, she wheeled her horse
about, he jumped on behind her, and the two galloped off.
Only then did White Elk recognize Buffalo Calf Road Woman,
the Cheyenne wife of warrior Black Coyote and sister of Chief
Comes in Sight. Amid a rain of bullets sister and brother escaped
unharmed. But for his sister’s dauntless courage, Chief Comes
in Sight surely would have been killed.
Chief Comes in Sight’s rescue was as honorific as it was
startling. Buffalo Calf Road Woman was the only woman who
rode from the Indian village that morning to confront Crook.
The 26-year-old mother of two was a superb horsewoman and
fearless warrior. By virtue of their very presence in Old
Bear’s village on the Powder River that March,
she, husband Black Coyote and brother Chief
Comes in Sight had been drawn into the
Great Sioux War. Buffalo Calf Road Wom-
an fought again, on the Little Bighorn,
but the Rosebud was her signature
moment. For generations since her
heroics have inspired Indian artists to
render the scene, from period ledger
art to modern fine art. While Crook
claimed victory on the Rosebud be-
cause his troops occupied the battle-
field at the end of the day, Northern
Cheyennes recall it as Indian victory,
namely as the “Battle Where the Girl
Saved Her Brother.”
Another episode in the Gap, while
far less valorous, was telling in another
regard. Jack Red Cloud, the 18-year-old son
of Oglala Chief Red Cloud, had joined Sitting
Bull’s confederation that May, just before the
Sun Dance. Early in the Rosebud fight Crow scouts
shot Jack Red Cloud’s horse from beneath him.
(The young man was conspicuously, if foolishly,
wearing his father’s eagle feather warbonnet and
carrying an ornately engraved Winchester rifle
that had been presented to his father at the White House a year
earlier.) Thrown to the ground, Jack did not pause to remove
the bridle from his dead pony—an act of righteousness expected
of warriors, even in the face of deadly enemy fire. Instead, the
frightened young man immediately took off running, his flowing
warbonnet drawing inordinate attention.
Alerted by the flurry of feathers, several Crow scouts spotted
Jack. One of them, Bull Doesn’t Fall Down, singled out the fleeing
youngster as particularly worthy of a coup. Running him down

on horseback, Bull Doesn’t Fall Down

flogged Jack severely with his quirt,

berating him as a coward for both

failing to remove his bridle and bolt-

ing in panic, then further admonishing the teen for wearing the

feathers of a true warrior. Young Red Cloud wept and begged

for mercy. Bull Doesn’t Fall Down and fellow warrior Along the

Hills confiscated the young Oglala’s warbonnet and rifle,

then, in an eloquent expression of contempt, let

him go. It was a humiliation worse than death.

At that point Crazy Horse and two others

charged in to pick up young Red Cloud.

Jack and his father were members of the

influential Bad Face band of Oglalas,

people deeply committed to preserv-

ing the old ways. Crazy Horse’s friend

and fellow warrior He Dog was also

a member of the band, and looking

out for one another, even in such a

humbling circumstance, was a criti-

cal virtue. Still, none of Jack’s saviors

would look at him afterward, shaming

him for having dissolved in tears be-

fore his enemies.

Jack Red Cloud’s humiliation on the

Rosebud had an epilogue. In 1926, amid

events marking the 50th anniversary of the

Little Bighorn fight, aged Indian veterans held

their own gathering at the Crow Agency. Present

among the Sioux contingent from Pine Ridge was

68-year-old Jack Red Cloud, who by then was an

Oglala chief. Also in attendance was Crook scout

Bull Doesn’t Fall Down, the contemptuous Crow

who had counted coup on Jack and openly berated

him for his feckless behavior in 1876. Noticing Jack across the

broad camp circle, Bull Doesn’t Fall Down walked briskly up to

him, pulled out a quirt and in plain sight of all playfully flogged

the dignified and thoroughly startled old Sioux chief. Jack sat

still and proud, enduring the jest with no outward signs of

humiliation or anger. Onlookers were puzzled until Bull Doesn’t

Fall Down explained their encounter 50 years earlier on the

Rosebud. The Crow then graciously summoned forth a buggy

full of gifts and presented them to Jack. The two shook hands,

Fearless Fighter

Despite a bum leg, Cheyenne

warrior Limpy (right) proved

his mettle on the Rosebud.

Former Enemies

Cheyenne Two Moon (left)

and Crow Bull Doesn’t Fall

Down held no grudges.