Posts Tagged ‘American Horse’

I looked through the pages of “People of the Sacred Mountain” by Father Peter Powell. He listed the Northern Cheyenne Chiefs in 1876 and who of them was at the Little Bighorn in detail.

The traditional 44 Cheyenne Chiefs were chosen in a ceremony after a Sun Dance in 1874. This “Renewing of the Chiefs” took place normally every ten years. For the first time the Northern Cheyenne elected their own Council of Chiefs independent of the Southern branch of the tribe. The following Cheyennes were chosen in 1874:

Old Man Chiefs:
Little Wolf, Northern Suhtai and Sweet Medicine Chief
Morning Star (a/k/a Dull Knife), Head Chief of the Omisis
Old Bear, Omisis
Black Moccasin (a/k/a Limber Lance)

Council of the Forty-Four:
Box Elder, Head Chief of Northern Suhtai
American Horse, Northern Suhtai
Black Wolf, Northern Suhtai
Black Eagle, Head Chief of Northern Scabby
Little Chief, Little Chief’s band of Lakota/Cheyenne
&
Turkey Leg, (Young) Spotted Wolf, Old Wolf, Black Moccasin (a/k/a Iron), Bald Bear, White Dirt (a/k/a Powder), White Head (a/k/a Gray Head), Old Crow, Strong Wolf (a/k/a Big Wolf), Plum Man, Magpie Eagle, Crazy Head, Black Crane, Medicine Bear, Medicine Wolf, Twin, Standing Elk, Spotted Elk, Living Bear, Black Bear, Cut Foot, Broken Dish (a/k/a Calfskin Shirt) and some others.

The great majority of these Chiefs were at the Little Bighorn in 1876.

Only Morning Star/Dull Knife, Turkey Leg, Spotted Elk, Standing Elk, Living Bear, and Black Bear remained at the agency that year. Little Wolf arrived shortly after the battle and was harangued badly by the Lakotas.

In addition to the Chiefs all of the thirty headmen of the Northern Cheyenne warrior societies were probably present at the Little Bighorn, with the exception of Little Wolf, head chief of the Elkhorn Scrapers.

Elkhorn Scraper:
Lame White Man
Wild Hog
Broken Jaw
Crow-Split-Nose
Tall White Man
White Hawk
Left-Handed-Shooter
Goes-After-Other-Buffalo
Plenty Bears
Wolf Medicine

Kit Foxes:
Last Bull
Two Moon
Bear-Who-Walks-On-A-Ridge
Wrapped Hair
Plenty-of-Buffalo-Bull-Meat
Little Horse
Sits-Beside-His-Medicine
Mosquito
Rattlesnake Nose
Weasel Bear

Crazy Dogs:
Old Man Coyote
Strong Left Hand
Little Creek
Snow Bird (a/k/a White Bird)
Crazy Mule
Iron Shirt
Black Knife
Beaver Claws
Red Owl
Crow Necklace

The most important holy men in the Little Bighorn village were Coal Bear (Keeper of the Sacred Hat), Box Elder, and White Bull (Ice).

— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring

Two Moons

By De Lancy Gill, 1913

Two Moons

Charles Milton Bell

Two Moons and American Horse

By Charles Milton Bell (Two Moons, second from left, American Horse, third from left)

Two Moons

By Richard Trossel, 1907

By Richard Trossel, 1907

Two Moons

Two Moons addressing council, by Joseph K. Dixon

— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring

Two Moons

Two Moons

Early L.A. Huffman Photo

Two Moons

Young Two Moons, his nephew

Two Moons

Two Moons by Burbank, 1896

— Grahame Wood

Red Cherries, Brave Wolf, Two Moons, American Horse, Buffalo Hump, Spotted Wolf, and Old Wolf

Shown here are some of the Cheyenne chiefs present at the Little Bighorn battle, from left to right:

Sits in the Night; Red Cherries; Brave Wolf; Two Moons; American Horse; Buffalo Hump; Spotted Wolf; Old Wolf.

According to Frink/Barthelmess in “Photographer on an Army Mule” the photo was made at a council with General Nelson A. Miles at Lame Deer in 1889.

Two Moons was the spokesman of the Cheyenne at this council. I guess that Buffalo Hump is Bull Hump, son of Dull Knife. Spotted Wolf (or Young Spotted Wolf) and Old Wolf were both members of the 1873 delegation to Washington.

— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring

Two Moons

This was taken at Little Bighorn in 1909.

— Grahame Wood

Two Moons’ grave in Busby, Montana:

Two Moons Monument, Busby, Montana

Plaque on Two Moons' monument in Busby, Montana

— Diane Merkel

Two Moons

The Indian holding the star-spangled banner on the right of Two Moons (on his left) looks like Laban Little Wolf.

— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring

Two Moons

Two Moons at Little Bighorn

A different view of the 1909 shot:

Two Moons

Taken by Joseph Kossuth Dixon, 1909

— Grahame Wood

Wanamaker photo:

Two Moons

Two Moons and Major McLaughlin dated circa 1900:

Two Moons and Major McLaughlin, 1900

— Henri/”apsalooka”

Two Moons

By Dixon

This photo is also in Powell’s “People of the Sacred Mountain”. It was made in 1908 at a great gathering in the valley of the Little Bighorn. Two Moons and other Cheyennes along with representatives of other tribes assembled some thirty years after the battle. Wooden Leg also described the gathering in Marquis’ book about him.

— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring

Two Moons

— Henri/”apsalooka”

Two Moons

By Edgar S. Paxson from 1902


— Agnes

Two Moons

Two Moons (left, facing the camera) and other Cheyennes at the Little Bighorn monument.

Two Moons

Two Moons by Joseph Henry Sharp. Painted at Lame Deer, Montana

— Grahame Wood