The Fight Where the Girl Saved Her Brother, part 2

General Crook would lead one contingency of the prong. These ‘hostiles’ that were mainly under the leadership of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, were thought to be in the general area of the Yellowstone, and Little Bighorn Rivers, as well as Rosebud Creek.

Rosebud Creek was General Crook’s general area of assignment as the prongs converged to trap the hostiles between them. However, Crook ran into a little trouble on the Rosebud. The trouble’s name was Crazy Horse.

Crazy Horse and his several hundred warriors attack Crook’s column, leaving the General too many wounded to continue on with his portion of the three-pronged campaign. For the whites, this battle came to be known as the Battle of the Rosebud. The Sioux and Cheyenne had a different name for it: The Fight Where the Girl Saved Her Brother.

In the battles to settle the west major contenders, white and Indian, were men. But they were not the only ones who showed extreme bravery. On many occasions women fought beside the men, stoutly brandishing rifle, bow, or knife. Sometimes, even, it was a woman who did the rescuing of her male counterpart. This was the case during the Battle of the Rosebud that the Indians know as The Fight Where the Girl Saved Her Brother.

During this battle many coups were made by Crazy Horse’s Sioux and Cheyenne warriors, and many brave deeds were performed. Among the Cheyenne was Black Coyote whose wife rode beside him. Her name was Buffalo-Calf-Road-Woman. Her brother was also in this great fight. He was called Chief Comes-in-Sight.

As Buffalo-Calf-Road-Woman fought beside her husband she looked everywhere for her brother. When she did spy him he was surrounded by the white enemy and his horse had been killed from under him. Chief Comes-in-Sight was in a desperate situation as soldiers aimed their rifles at him. At the same time, Crow scouts that were helping the white soldiers were circling around him, waiting for a chance to count coup on him. But Chief Comes-in-Sight was very brave and fought back fiercely and with skill and courage.

When Buffalo-Calf-Road-Woman realized that this was her beloved brother who was facing great danger she sang out a shrill, high-pitched war cry. She then raced her pony right into the middle of this battle her brother was involved in while she made the “spine-chilling, trilling, trembling sound of the Indian woman encouraging her man during a fight.”

Chief Comes-in-Sight looked up and saw his sister, for how could he miss such a sight as she made. He jumped up on Buffalo-Calf-Road-Woman’s horse, right behind her. When he did this Buffalo-Calf-Road-Woman laughed with joy. Her merriment was also for the sheer excitement and joy of doing battle.

The white soldiers began firing at her while the Crow scouts aimed their arrows towards her horse. But no one could hit her, her brother, or her horse. The horse moved to swiftly for that. Buffalo-Calf-Road-Woman then turned her horse and rushed up the hill from where all the old chiefs and medicine men had been watching her brave deed.

At first, only the Sioux and Cheyenne saw what Buffalo-Calf-Road-Woman was doing. Then the soldiers noticed, also. All these brave fighting men, white and Indian, suddenly stopped fighting for a time. They just stood and watched this wonderful girl who had saved her brother’s life. The Indians raised their arms and gave a great shout. Then even some of the whites threw their hats in the air and sang her praises.

“Many who saw what she had done thought that she had counted the biggest coup of all—not taking life, but giving it.” And that is the reason the Indians call the Battle of the Rosebud The Fight Where the Girl Saved Her Brother.

Further study of the Black Hills gold rush may be explored, on the Internet at:

Black Hills Gold Discovery http://www.historytelevision.ca/chiefs/h...

To further explore this subject as well as Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn and the events that led up to it, coming soon to Suite 101 University will be THE LITTLE BIGHORN: 1872-1876. Check here often for the link to this exciting course.

The sources for this article are:

Ambrose, Stephen E. Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors. Random House, Inc. New York, 1996.

Battle, Kemp. Hearts of Fire: Great Women of American Lore and Legend. Three Rivers Press, New York, 1997.

Bourke, John G. On the Border with Crook. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1891.

Connell, Evan S. Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn. North Point Press, San Francisco, 1984.

Crook, George. Martin F. Schmitt, Editor. General George Crook: His Autobiography. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1986.

Custer, George Armstrong. My Life on the Plains Leisure Books, New York.

Lazarus, Edward. Black Hills White Justice: The Sioux Nation Versus the United States, 1775 to the Present. Harper Collins Publishers, 1991.

Stratton, Joanna L. Pioneer Women: Voices From the Kansas Frontier. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1981.

Kion,Mary Trotter. THE LITTLE BIGHORN: 1872-1876 Suite 101 University, 2003.

Additional sources for this article on the Internet are: Fort Laramie Treaty, 1868 http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resource...