Posts Tagged ‘crzhrs’
LittleWolf and Dull Knife, 1873
Dull Knife (or Morning Star, as he was called by the Cheyennes) was not at the Little Bighorn. He was one of the few Northern Cheyenne Council Chiefs that had remained close to the White River Agency to show the whites that he wished to remain at peace. Other Chiefs who stayed at the agency were Turkey Leg, Standing Elk, Spotted Elk, Living Bear, and Black Bear.
The most important Cheyenne Chief Little Wolf only arrived shortly after the battle ended.
Most of the other 44 Council Chiefs of the Northern Cheyenne were at the Little Bighorn at the time of the battle. The two Old Man Chiefs Old Bear and Black Moccasin (a/k/a Limber Lance) were regarded as the principal Chiefs. (See Father Peter Powell: People of the Sacred Mountain.)
In some Indian accounts you can find the name Dull Knife. Often he is confused with Lame White Man. I guess the other reason is that Dull Knife’s son Bull Hump, often called Dull Knife himself, was in the battle.
— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
Apparently Dull Knife was either unlucky or did not have enough skill as a leader.
It was his village that was attacked in November 1876 by the military that broke the back of the Northern Cheyenne. This after several warriors insisted that the village stay put and celebrate all night over some minor victory over other Indians.
It was Dull Knife and Little Wolf that separated the band. Dull Knife’s people were eventually captured and sent to an army fort and imprisoned in barracks after they refused to go to another reservation. They broke out of barracks on a winter night after the military refused them food, water, and heat only to have most of them shot down. Little Wolf’s band hid out for the winter and eventually surrendered under better conditions.
— Crzhrs
Dull Knife was one of the most peace-loving chiefs of the Cheyenne. He was elected as a council chief in 1854 when he was some forty-six winters old. Although he was a brave warrior in his younger days, he by then already possessed the wisdom of years. He was a strong peace man, who believed that the Cheyenne and the Whites must get along together.
— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
I read in Joe Starita’s book about the Dull Knife family that Chief Dull Knife (or Morning Star by his Cheyenne name) had one son (Bull Hump, his eldest) and four daughters with Pawnee Woman, his first wife, who he had stolen once from the Pawnee.
He had a second wife named Short One (or Slow Woman) who bore him three sons and three daughters.
So altogether he had four sons and seven daughters, who were called the “Beautiful People” by the army troops.
His wife Short One, his son Little Hump, and two daughters were killed on the flight back north in 1879.
His youngest son was George Dull Knife, born in 1875. Because he was only about three years old in 1879 and too weak to travel the hard way, he was left behind at the Darlington agency in Oklahoma with some Cheyenne relatives. He came to Pine Ridge in 1883 with 300 other Cheyenne and settled down in Yellow Bear’s Oglala camp. Since then George Dull Knife and his family is rated as Lakota not Cheyenne.
— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
This is often said to be a photo of Dull Knife. Perhaps it’s Buffalo Hump, his son:
Dull Knife or perhaps his son Buffalo Hump
— Grahame Wood
There are several photos of Bloody Knife; this one from wyomingtrails.com I like the best:
Bloody Knife
http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/custer5.html.
— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
Bloody Knife was born in 1840 to an Hunkpapa Sioux father and a Ree mother. He spent his first 16 years with his father but was frequently taunted, beaten and abused for being a “half-breed.” At age 16, he left the Sioux camp with his mother but returned in 1860 to visit his father. Bloody Knife was still despised by the Sioux and was almost killed during his visit. Chief Gall, a leader of the Hunkpapa, killed Bloody Knife’s two brothers in 1862. Bloody Knife was married to She Owl in 1866.
In 1868, Bloody Knife enlisted as a scout in the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 7th Cavalry. He quickly became George Armstrong Custer’s favorite scout. He was insolent toward whites and ridiculed them. He often amused Custer by ridiculing his marksmanship. Custer never got angry and often gave gifts to Bloody Knife.
In 1874, Bloody Knife guided the Seventh Cavalry through the Black Hills. He was with Custer in the Little Bighorn campaign and told Custer there were too many Indians to fight, a warning Custer ignored. Bloody Knife, in turn, ignored Custer’s plea for him to stay out of the battle. Bloody Knife was assigned to Major Marcus Reno during the Battle of the Little Bighorn and was killed by a shot to the head as he was standing beside Reno in the battle. Reno was attempting to ask him what the Indians were doing when he was shot and his blood splattered Reno’s face. Reno then lost all inhibition and barked out orders that did not make sense before fleeing. It has been speculated that Bloody Knife’s blood splattering put Major Reno in a state of shock.
Bloody Knife was beheaded by the Sioux, who took the head to their camp. From one of Libbie Custer’s books:
Bloody Knife was naturally mournful; his face still looked sad when he put on the presents given him. He was a perfect child about gifts, and the general studied to bring him something from the East that no other Indian had.
He had proved himself such an invaluable scout to the general that they often had long interviews. Seated on the grass, the dogs lying about them, they talked over portions of the country that the general had never seen, the scout drawing excellent maps in the sand with a pointed stick. He was sometimes petulant, often moody, and it required the utmost patience on my husband’s part to submit to his humors; but his fidelity and cleverness made it worthwhile to yield to his tempers.
— Crzhrs
Bloody Knife was not “assigned to the 7th Cavalry” in 1868. His first enlistment as a scout was at Ft. Stevenson, Dakota. The Seventh Cavalry was in Kansas then. Bloody Knife’s first scouting duties were likely with one of the infantry regiments, such as the 22nd. He worked as a mail runner prior to this; carrying the mail between the Missouri River posts. Bloody Knife didn’t hook up with Custer until Ft. Lincoln was built in 1872.