Valor in Attack

Indian leaders hoped soldiers would pursue a small decoy party of warriors led by Hump into an ambush, but the soldiers refused to follow, and the last pickets retreated safely into the corral after wounding the Ogalala warrior Paints Yellow. The side camp was taken and some soldiers were killed, but the only option for quick success was to launch massed attacks at the corral and try to overrun the soldiers’ improvised wagon box fortress. Mounted warriors circled the corral, using their horses as shields as they rode in close to fire arrows or guns and then zigzagged away from the soldiers’ rifles. During the first attack from the south, Hairy Hand, a Miniconjou, rode straight at the corral to count coup. Hit by a soldier’s bullet, he lay in the open until a young warrior named White Bull ran in and dragged him to safety. Struck in the leg, the Sans Arc warrior Crazy Horse fell from his horse and was carried off by his comrades. The mounted charge failed, and the war leaders Crazy Horse of the Ogalalas and Hump of the Miniconjous organized the warriors for an assault on foot. As the foot charge moved toward the corral, the Ogalala Only Man rushed ahead, almost reaching the wagon boxes before bullets killed him. The attack stalled, and some warriors concealed themselves in the brush and started firing into the corral with guns captured during the battle of One Hundred in the Hands. These snipers inflicted most of the casualties suffered by the soldiers. During a lull before the next attack, one of the bravest acts of the day took place. Jipala, a tall Miniconjou, walked toward the corral carrying a shield, lance, and bow. Singing his death song, he ran forward, jumping in the air and firing arrows at the corral. Finally, the soldiers’ bullets found him, and he lay dead before the corral. Both warriors and soldiers talked of his bravery for many years to come. Two more Miniconjous, Muskrat Stands on His Lodge and Packs His Leg, died in foot charges. During the final attack, the Lakota Young Duck was shot dead leading the assault, and three of his people were wounded trying to recover his body. Once more, the warriors attempted a mounted charge, but the soldiers’ guns kept up a fierce fire. The assault ended before reaching the corral, but not before Sun’s Road of the Cheyennes was killed. His death was the last of the day. The boom of Smith’s howitzer signaled the end of fighting. As the Lakota and Cheyennes left the battlefield, they paused near local springs to care for their wounded and dead before moving north to their camps.

Story, Wyoming · United States