Lore
1
Medicine Rock originally stood near the mouth of the Little Cheyenne River, fifteen miles west, but because it was to be inundated by the Oahe Dam it was moved here. White men traveling up the Missouri saw this huge rock on a hillside and were told by Indians that it was a Sacred Rock because of its deeply incised footprints. In 1863, when Sully's Expedition against the hostile Sioux was nearby, Capt. John Fielner rode alone to see the rock, was ambushed by Indians, and was killed. On August 17, 1889, casts of these prints, believed by the Indians to have been made by the Great Spirit, were taken, and those casts are in concrete alongside the rock, illustrating the natural wear over sixty-five years.
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Gettysburg, South Dakota · United States
