He
was also known as Charging Bear. —
Grahame Wood
This
is information on Little Big Man from Mike Stevens' Oglala
genealogy website (Tiyospaya: An Oglala Genealogy Resource),
search on site under Family/Surnames/Yellow Thunder/First
Generation. I can't answer for its absolute veracity, but
there is a death date and place of burial to be followed
up:
1.
1 Yellow Thunder (#11466) birth date unknown.
He married Her Holy Breath. ( Her Holy Breath is #11467.)
She became the mother of Little Big Man. Little Big Man
was a shirt-wearer in Crazy Horses's band. Just like the
great leader Crazy Horse, Little Big Man was known for his
sense of drama. In September 1875, during negotiations at
Red Cloud Agency regarding the future ownership of the Black
Hills, he led a mock charge at the white commissioners by
a large group of warriors. Firing their guns and shouting
ritual war chants, they badly scared everyone but did no
physical damage.
She
became the mother of Hannah Mule Tocha Cesli in Dakota Territory,
1840.
He
became the father of Little Big Man. Little Big Man was
a shirt-wearer in Crazy Horses's band. Just like the great
leader Crazy Horse, Little Big Man was known for his sense
of drama. In September 1875, during negotiations at Red
Cloud Agency regarding the future ownership of the Black
Hills, he led a mock charge at the white commissioners by
a large group of warriors. Firing their guns and shouting
ritual war chants, they badly scared everyone but did no
physical damage.
He
became the father of Hannah Mule Tocha Cesli in Dakota Territory,
1840.
Yellow
Thunder and Her Holy Breath had the following children:
child
2 i. 2 Little Big Man (#11366). Little Big Man was a shirt-wearer
in Crazy Horses's band. Just like the great leader Crazy
Horse, Little Big Man was known for his sense of drama.
In September 1875, during negotiations at Red Cloud Agency
regarding the future ownership of the Black Hills, he led
a mock charge at the white commissioners by a large group
of warriors. Firing their guns and shouting ritual war chants,
they badly scared everyone but did no physical damage. He
died 1887. His body was interred 1887 in Pine Ridge, Shannon
Co., SD., Holy Cross Cemetery.
child
+ 3 ii. Hannah Mule Tocha Cesli was born 1840.
Send
email to preparer: chaske1@hotmail.com
— Kingsley Bray
I
also cannot verify the information on the website claiming
that Little Big Man was the son of Yellow Thunder and that
he died in 1887. I have looked but so far have found no
confirmation of this.
The only additional information I have is a mention by William
Jordan, son of Charles P. Jordan (clerk at the Red Cloud
Agency in 1876-77; later a trader on the Rosebud Reservation)
that Little Big Man was the brother of Sioux Jim, killed
at the Red Cloud Agency in the fall of 1876 by American
Horse (who consequently lost his status as a shirtwearer
on account of this). Also, General Mackenzie mentioned that
Little Big Man was half Oglala and half Cheyenne.
Yes, Little Big Man was present at the Little Bighorn battle.
There is a drawing of the battle by him in W. Fletcher Johnson,
The Red Record: Life of Sitting Bul and History of the Indian
War of 1890-91 p. 114. The location of the original however
is not known. Some other of Little Big Man's drawings have
survived but they are not related to the battle.
Nearly all of my references to Little Big Man from records
at Pine Ridge come from the period 1877 to 1881/82. I will
have to look closer, but I am not aware of anything after
that. He does not appear in the early Pine Ridge Agency
census records for 1886-88. There is a Cheyenne named Little
Big Man listed in the 1890 Census (born about 1850; wife
Apple, with 3 daughters and 2 sons) but I have not been
able to figure out where he came from or what happened to
this family in later census records. I have wondered if
he moved to another reservation.
Finally,
nearly all of the known photographs of Little Big Man are
from 1877: the one with the medal below is by D. S. Mitchell.
There is a second image of him outside his lodge near the
Red Cloud Agency. You have all see the delegation images
by Charles Bell [first photo above] and Matthew Brady as
well. I do not know who took the photograph of him bare
chested from the Denver Public Library but would love to
know.
Finally, I am not certain if we can describe him as a "shirt
wearer"; most descriptions seem to indicate that he
was a leader of a military society but not until 1878, after
the Oglala settled on Pine Ridge, does he appear to have
become a civil leader. —
Ephriam Dickson
—
Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
Little
Big Man received a medal for his role in the Crazy Horse
affair, something which was documented in an issue of Nebraska
History a few years back - I believe it's the one he wears
in the picture below:
—
Grahame Wood
He
also played a part in the Cheyenne outbreak in 1879, serving
as a military scout trying to catch Dull Knife´s and
Little Wolf´s people. (see Mari Sandoz and Ricker
interviews)
Some sources say that since Little Big Man (who was also
called Charging Bear) surrendered in 1877 he was always
trying to please the whites and was a treacherous character.
Hardorff states that he had a son named Bad Whirlwind. —
Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
He
wanted to go and bring Big Road back when he left for Canada
after Crazy Horse's murder, but as far as I can ascertain,
the military wouldn't allow him, fearful that he, too, would
join Sitting Bull. I believe he served with the Agency police
from 1879. —
Grahame Wood
There
is a record in the WPA Graves Registration Project (South
Dakota Historical Society) for a man named Little Big Man
who died in 1887 being buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery
in Pine Ridge. I have a copy of the first parish book for
Holy Cross, but that only goes up to 1881. I will endeavor
to track down volume 2 to see if there is anything more
about this Little Big Man. —
Ephriam Dickson
Here's
a photo of Little Big Man´s war-shirt on display at
the NMAI:
Here's
one of Little Big Man's drawings in the SIRIS collection
that shows him wearing a similar shirt:
—
Grahame Wood
Godkin
photo of Little Big Man´s wife
One
late appearance was at a Pine Ridge sundance in June 1881
– Little Big Man “while owning a scant five feet in height,
had the breadth and depth of chest, and length and power
of arms of a giant… some one had presented him, or perhaps,
indeed, he had won in the Custer fight, a captain’s blouse,
in very good condition, and just as we entered the lodge,
Little Big Man proudly wearing this uniform coat, fell in
behind us… Little Big Man squatted upon the ground beside
them [Mrs. McGillycuddy and Mrs. Blanchard, the trader’s
wife], evidently bent upon winning their admiration. Presently…
he rose, unbuttoned and removed his blouse, and so stood
beside them, completely naked to the waist, his broad breast
and great, sinewy arms showing a dozen or more scars of
deadly tussles… each scar emphasized by a dab of red paint
streaming like blood beneath it… And then a funny thing
happened. Scarely was he seated, when a tall, handsome young
squaw stepped in front of him, bent quickly, and scooped
up a double handful of sand and threw it in his face. Instantly
he pulled a six-shooter and fired to kill her, but, blinded
by the sand and his arm knocked up by another Indian, the
ball flew high above the heads of all – and then for five
minutes the lodge rang with such peals of derisive laughter
that Little Big Man slunk away…” Louis Shangreau explained
that her motive was “Little Big Man’s evil tongue;” he had
“besmirched this young woman’s character…” [Edgar Beecher
Bronson, Reminiscences of a Ranchman, 239]
For
context: “Wi mana sai ch tepe. They have a large meeting
and dig a hole about 18 inches deep and beside it place
a knife and an arrow. Then the young women who have never
had sexual intercourse with a man reach in the hole and
then bite the knife. Then any young man who has never had
sexual intercourse with a woman or has never touched the
girl thingy of a woman (a custom among young men) goes up
and reached in the hole and bites the arrow. If a young
woman has had sexual intercourse and yet pretends that she
has not, any man who knows that she is lying will go up
and throw a hand full of dirt in her face or throw her dish
away saying this is a feast for virgins and you are a woman,
or perhaps he will drag her forcibly from the place. There
is always a large crowd looking on.” [Richard Nines, Notes
on the Dakota Indians; Pine Ridge, SD; American Museum of
Natural History.]
Black Horse, age 25 in 1876, identified himself as a nephew
of Little Big Man. He enlisted for three months as a scout
24 October 1876 at Camp Robinson, by Lt. Howe; then enlisted
again 11 December 1876 at Camp Robinson, by Lt. Yeatman.
Born c. 1857, son of Sioux Jim killed by American Horse,
nephew of Little Big Man, replaced his father as a scout,
says he was present when Crazy Horse was killed. Sioux Jim
had enlisted as a scout in 1866. Black Horse's “Scout name
Buffalo Chips.” [Undated news clip and handwritten letter,
26 June 1935, both mistakenly placed in pension file of
Navajo Black Horse, National Archives, C. 2307680.]
“My father’s name is Poor Bear. He worked for the government
and our tribe of siouxs killed my father at Fort Robinson
and when my father worked for the government they told him
they would pay him good for helping the whites. And then
after he was killed I took his place and was a scout then…
When I was a scout my name was Buffalo Chips.” [Black Horse
handwritten letter to General Hugh Scott, 24 February 1919,
Scott papers, Library of Congress.] —
Tom Powers
