White Man Runs Him
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White Man Runs Him | |
---|---|
Mahr-Itah-Thee-Dah-Ka-Roosh | |
Crow leader | |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 1858 Scout for George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn |
Nickname | White Buffalo That Turns Around |
White Man Runs Him (Mahr-Itah-Thee-Dah-Ka-Roosh; c. 1858 – June 2, 1929) was a
Early life
Also known as White Buffalo That Turns Around, he was born into the Big Lodge Clan of the Crow Nation, the son of Bull Chief and Offers Her Red Cloth. At the age of about 18, he volunteered to serve as a scout with the United States Army on April 10, 1876, in its campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne, traditional enemies of the Crow.
Service as a scout
White Man Runs Him enlisted on April 10, 1876 at the
According to White Man Runs Him's own accounts, after sending Major Marcus Reno's column to attack the settlement first, Custer headed down Medicine Trail Creek to engage the Sioux and Cheyenne. White Man Runs Him recounts that he and the other Crow scouts intended to follow Custer down into battle, but that their chief scout, Mitch Boyer, ordered them to rejoin the pack train instead.[2]
Another, more colorful version of the story relates that the Crow scouts were convinced they were about to die in battle against such a large force of Sioux, so they took off their uniforms and donned Crow war clothing. When Custer demanded to know why, they responded that they wished to die as warriors rather than soldiers. Custer was angered by what he perceived as fatalism and relieved them from further service about an hour before engaging in the final battle.[citation needed]
White Man Runs Him retired to a ridge along with Goes Ahead, Hairy Moccasin, and Strikes That Bear (an Arikara scout) to join Major Reno. They were engaged briefly in battle, but survived the engagement. He then joined Colonel John Gibbon's column.
Later life
After the battle, he lived on the Crow reservation near
White Man Runs Him lived the remainder of his life on the
Legacy
White Man Runs Him was buried in the cemetery at the Little Big Horn Battlefield. His account of the battle is told in the work "The Custer Myth" by C. Graham, on pages 20 to 24,"[1] and also in It Is a Good Day to Die: Indian Eyewitnesses Tell the Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn.[3]
A slough near Lodge Grass, Montana, is known as Baaishtashíilinkuluush Alaaxúa ("Where Whiteman Runs Him Hid"). A coulee, Baaishtashíilinkuluush Isalasáh te, which is named after him, is also known as "Whiteman's Creek".[4]
References
- ^ a b "White Man Runs Him (1858 - 1929)". Find A Grave Memorial. Retrieved 2013-04-28.
- ^ "White Man Runs Him's Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn".
- ISBN 9780803296268.
- ^ "Apsáalooke Place Names Database". Library @ Little Big Horn College. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
- Harcey, Dennis; Croone, Brian R. White-Man-Runs-Him. Evanston Pub., Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A., 1995. (ISBN 1-879260-16-6)
External links
- Photo of White Man Runs Him, The West, PBS
- Photo of White Man Runs Him, from Custer's Last Fight: Remembered by Participants at the Tenth Anniversary June 25, 1886 and the Fiftieth Anniversary June 25, 1926, by Richard Upton