A firsthand account from a scout known as Young Hawk, a member of the Arikara tribe who rode with George Armstrong Custer’s Seventh Cavalry, offers a rare Native American perspective on the Battle of the Little Bighorn—the conflict often remembered as Custer’s Last Stand. Young Hawk’s narrative describes the tense moments before the battle, as Custer’s scouts gathered on a low rise and speculated about his reaction to learning that the Lakota and Cheyenne had detected the army’s approach. Scouts returning from the hilltop had reported the locations of six Lakota and Cheyenne encampments. According to Young Hawk’s account, Custer addressed his scouts through interpreter Fred Gerard, ordering them to capture horses from the Sioux camp.
An Arikara elder named Stabbed urged the younger warriors to follow Custer’s commands and seize as many horses as possible. Custer told the men that the day would be difficult but that they would gain critical experience. The scouts advanced, and a bugle call signaled the raising of the flag. Young Hawk described the rush of preparation as riders tightened saddles and shed excess gear.
Gerard relayed Custer’s order to charge, and Strike Two responded with a war cry, reaching a lone tepee first and striking it with his whip. Young Hawk followed, dismounting and slicing the tepee open with a knife. Inside, he saw a scaffold holding a deceased body wrapped in a buffalo hide. The scouts rode on, veering into a dry ravine and overtaking the white soldiers, riding together in a chaotic mass.
As the battle ignited, skirmishes erupted ahead. Soldiers and scouts dismounted, holding horses behind the line. Young Hawk described the order of the scouts as they positioned themselves near the ridge, with Bobtail Bull standing farthest left and closest to the ridge. Lakota and Cheyenne skirmishers rode back and forth before the line.
Young Hawk stood between Goose and Big Belly. Behind him, Bloody Knife approached, wearing a black handkerchief with blue stars that Custer had given him, along with a bear’s claw and clamshell. Bloody Knife told Young Hawk that Custer’s orders to seize the Sioux horses were underway. He then moved behind the line to stand beside Little Brave.
The battle intensified, and the scouts’ line curved back toward the river. Many soldiers fell, and the scouts began retreating. A Lakota warrior charged boldly near the soldiers but was struck down by a bullet about sixteen feet from the scouts’ line. As the warrior fell, his horse continued toward them, and Young Hawk claimed it.
Young Hawk offered the horse to Red Bear, who did not approach. Instead, Big Belly—a Crow Indian also known as Half Yellow Face and a friend of Young Hawk—asked for the horse. He took the Lakota horse and released his own lesser mount, riding the new one. Meanwhile, a large group of Lakota and Cheyenne surged over the ridge and charged Bobtail Bull in a unified force.
A white soldier nearby shouted to Young Hawk, “John, go! ” The assault pushed the scouts’ line toward the soldiers, forcing a retreat across the river about two miles downstream. The group crossed the flat and climbed a bluff diagonally in an exhausting ascent. The soldiers led, followed by the scouts.
At the timber, Forked Horn shouted for the men to dismount and hold their position because Bobtail Bull was being pursued closely by the Lakota and Cheyenne near the soldiers’ ford. Young Hawk took this as a signal, leapt off his horse, and with Goose fired at the Lakota and Cheyenne, who turned back. Bobtail Bull crossed the river at the ford. Young Hawk prepared to fire again but dropped a shell while loading his carbine.
Four scouts—Half Yellow Face, Strike’s Enemy, Red Foolish Bear, and Forked Horn—rode into the brush and crossed the river downstream less than an eighth of a mile away. Goose and Young Hawk followed, navigating dense brush and deep water as their horses struggled to reach the opposite bank. They took refuge in a thick grove, finding the other four scouts. Unbeknownst to them, the Lakota and Cheyenne surrounded them and fired through the trees as the scouts crouched on horseback.
Goose faced Young Hawk and groaned, saying he had been hit. Young Hawk steeled himself for a fight to the death. Goose showed his wounded right hand, and Young Hawk took his cartridge belt and put the wounded man’s horse under his control. He helped Goose dismount, and soon Goose’s horse was shot down.
Furious, Young Hawk shed his coat and army blouse, ready to fight. He propped Goose against a tree and told him to hold the horse. Then he saw Half Yellow Face, who shouted that Strike’s Enemy—also known as White Swan, a Crow scout—was dying at the thicket’s edge. Young Hawk crawled to Strike’s Enemy, who lay on his back with his arms raised.
They dragged him to Goose’s position, where he sat against a tree. Strike’s Enemy said he was not afraid and was glad to be wounded. Young Hawk later admitted that seeing his wounded comrades troubled him, and he feared they would be tortured. He resolved to die at the timber’s edge.
Before leaving, he hugged his horse’s neck and whispered that he loved it. He crawled out, stood, and fired at approaching Lakota warriors, receiving a volley but remaining unharmed. He crawled to a new spot, fired again, and dodged another volley. Finding a tree with driftwood cover, he saw Forked Horn lying face down to avoid enemy fire.
When Forked Horn realized Young Hawk had drawn fire twice, he warned him not to do it again, saying it was reckless to make himself a target. The Lakota and Cheyenne tried to burn the scouts out, but the green grass would not ignite. Young Hawk paused, then fired at a Lakota on a gray horse, missing. He stood and shot again, killing the warrior.
The horse, outfitted with a fine bridle and ornate trim, circled left while lightly tethered. Young Hawk fired twice, killing the horse, and gave the Arikara a yell—a signal that the enemy had been defeated. Goose, seeing this, asked Young Hawk to retrieve the bridle later. As the Lakota neared again, Young Hawk shot another warrior and called out the death signal after.
Lakota women rode up, urging their warriors to kill the Arikara with their yells. Their cries echoed, but they soon left as the attack subsided. Young Hawk saw the Lakota and Cheyenne riding downstream, indicating that Custer was attacking at the lower ford. Many crossed the river and headed north past them.
When the gunfire ceased, Young Hawk stood and saw a U. S. flag on the ridge marking the pack train. Forked Horn praised him, saying he had shown great courage, and told him they must reach the pack train as Custer had ordered to avoid being mistaken for Lakota.
Young Hawk made a flag by tying his white handkerchief to a stick. The group mounted Strike’s Enemy on his horse despite his wounds, while Goose rode Red Foolish Bear’s horse, and Red Foolish Bear walked. Young Hawk rode ahead, waving the flag. As they descended the stream and climbed the slope, they saw the Lakota and Cheyenne returning, swarming the white camp.
Custer’s battle had ended, and the Lakota and Cheyenne had overrun the hill where the soldiers made their last stand. The group turned back, but Young Hawk stood firm, waving the flag. Soldiers fired over him at the enemy, while the Lakota and Cheyenne shot at him near the camp. His horse was killed, but he leapt up still holding the flag and ran to the camp.
There he met Peak Face Varnum, his scout chief, and survivors from the troops commanded by Reno and Benteen. The officer in charge, relieved, signaled that Bobtail Bull had fallen and that his horse was in camp. Young Hawk saw Little Brave’s spotted horse, caught it, and claimed it, assuming Little Brave was dead. As the Lakota and Cheyenne closed in, the other scouts rejoined the group, and they retreated to a ravine.
The Lakota and Cheyenne attacked fiercely, with deafening gunfire. They flanked the scouts on the right, firing into the ravine. The soldiers built breastworks from cracker boxes and bacon bags. Young Hawk used a cracker box as a shield while lying on the ground.
The Lakota and Cheyenne surrounded the survivors, advancing in a crouched position while their gunfire drowned out all other sound. The wounded were dragged to the breastworks, the safest spot. Fighting continued until dark. At night, the wounded were tended and the dead set aside.
The troops stayed alert, expecting an attack. At dawn, sporadic shots led to fierce fighting that lasted until late afternoon. The scouts regrouped near the Lakota and Cheyenne lines. An officer brought a message to be delivered after dark.
Forked Horn agreed to carry it. The officer said that Goose, being wounded, could not go, and that each scout would carry the same message. Later, with a sergeant to accompany them, the officer explained that the message was for the president, reporting the events that had occurred. They were allowed to use faster government horses and to ride hard, leaving any fallen scout’s message on the ground.
Forked Horn requested that the horses’ shoes be removed for speed. Two Crow scouts stayed behind—one wounded, one caring for him. The messengers—Goose, Forked Horn, Red Foolish Bear, and Young Hawk—prepared with the sergeant.
At night, they followed the ravine but were ambushed by the Lakota and Cheyenne, forcing them to retreat.