The clash at Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876, remains one of the most studied moments in American military history. While no white combatant survived the engagement with Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer’s Seventh Cavalry, a young Lakota warrior named Black Elk witnessed the battle firsthand. He was only 13 years old at the time.
Black Elk, also known as Haka Sappa, was the second cousin of Crazy Horse, the famed Oglala leader. His position within the camp and his family connections gave him a rare vantage point. He watched as Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors overwhelmed Custer’s regiment in a fight that ended quickly in daylight.
The events leading to the battle were marked by months of tension. Earlier that year, Crazy Horse had repelled cavalry who attacked their Powder River village on a bitterly cold March morning during the moon of the snow blind. He then moved west to Rosebud, where he again drove back attacking soldiers. Days before the Little Bighorn fight, Crazy Horse had already bested General Crook’s troops at Rosebud Creek.
From Rosebud, Crazy Horse and his people moved to the Valley of the Greasy Grass, the ancestral land where they wished only for peace. Two days before the battle, the Sioux established their camp along the southern edge of the valley before midday. The village was immense, its tepees too many to count.
The camp was organized by band. To the south and upstream were the Hunkpapas, followed by the Oglalas, Miniconjous, San Arcs, Blackfeet, and Cheyennes. The Santees and Yanktons were positioned furthest north. On the east, the Greasy Grass flowed, swollen by melted snow from the Big Horn Mountains, with trees lining its banks.
The day before the battle, Black Elk was called to the tepee of Rattling Hawk, a warrior wounded in the hip at Rosebud. A medicine man named Hairy Chin was performing a healing ritual. Hairy Chin’s power stemmed from a bear dream, and he asked Black Elk and five other boys to become bears for the ceremony.
Hairy Chin painted Black Elk’s body and face yellow, added black stripes beside his nose, tied his hair like bear ears, and placed eagle feathers on his head. During the ritual, Black Elk remembered his vision and felt as if he was lifted from the earth. A sense of dread settled over him. He became convinced that misfortune was drawing near.
The other boys were painted completely red, each adorned with real bear ears on their heads. Hairy Chin, wearing an authentic bear pelt, began to sing. Two women entered the lodge, positioning themselves on either side of the wounded Rattling Hawk. One carried a vessel of water, the other held a bundle of herbs.
After the herbs and water were offered, Rattling Hawk was handed a red cane. He stood up immediately and followed the two women out of the lodge. The boys, disguised as little bears, danced around him, growling as part of the ritual. Rattling Hawk’s limp lessened, and though he was not able to fight the next day, he soon regained his strength.
That evening, the villagers danced and shared stories of bravery from the recent battle at Rosebud. As dusk approached, Black Elk and the other boys were given the task of bringing the horses closer to camp. By the time they finished, night had fallen, and the celebrations continued around the fires.
At sunrise, Black Elk’s father woke him and told him to help graze their horses. He instructed the boy to tie a long rope to one of the horses so it would be easier to catch and secure the rest. He stressed the need for alertness, warning him to keep watch over the camp and return the horses quickly in case trouble arose.
Several boys tended their horses together until midday, when the heat became unbearable. They decided to cool off in the river. As Black Elk rubbed grease on his skin, a strange sense of unease came over him, as though disaster was about to strike. Despite this, he joined the others at the water’s edge.
All at once, the voice of a crier echoed through the nearby Hunkpapa camp. “The soldiers are coming. They are charging. The soldiers are coming.” The alarm swept from camp to camp, reaching even the Santees and Yanktons. Everyone rushed to secure their horses.
Black Elk’s elder brother, astride a sorrel horse, galloped toward the Hunkpapas. Black Elk was mounted on a buckskin. His father hurried over, instructing him to retrieve his brother’s pistol and bring it back at once. Black Elk took the firearms, mounted his pony, and chased after his brother.
Just past the Hunkpapa camp, a thick cloud of dust billowed up as the Hunkpapas, many still wet from the river, rushed about in alarm. Through the haze, the soldiers appeared on their powerful horses, looking tall and formidable as they fired their guns. His brother, revolver in hand, shouted for him to turn back.
There was a patch of dense timber just beyond the Hunkpapa camp where some warriors were gathering. Black Elk’s brother headed that way, and Black Elk followed. Women and children were already fleeing downstream in large numbers. When they reached the timber, many Hunkpapas had already gathered there, and the soldiers were shooting above them.
In the woods, the warriors shouted, “Be brave. Don’t act like a woman.” Black Elk stayed in the woods for a while, reflecting on his vision. It filled him with a deeper sense of destiny and made him feel that the army would be defeated and that his people were beings of thunder.
Suddenly, a loud shout rose above the dust. “Crazy Horse is coming.” The arrival of Crazy Horse was announced by the sound of eagle bone whistles and the wild cries of Hokahi. The valley darkened with dust and smoke, filled with shadows, shouts, pounding hooves, and gunfire.
Black Elk found himself in the midst of chaos as men and horses moved in and out, heading upstream. He witnessed a Lakota warrior charging a soldier who stood his ground and fought bravely. The Lakota seized the soldier’s horse by the bridle, but the soldier shot him with a revolver.
Being small, Black Elk could not push through to where the soldiers were. Everything was dark and confusing. Soon the soldiers and many Lakotas were crowded into the river, and Black Elk found himself in the water for a while. Men and horses were tangled together, fighting in the river.
After they came out of the water, people began stripping the dead soldiers of their clothing. One soldier on the ground was still moving. A Lakota rode up and said to Black Elk, “Boy, get down and scalp him.” Black Elk got off his horse and started to scalp him. His hair was short and his knife was blunt. He was grinding his teeth, so Black Elk shot him in the forehead and then took his scalp.
Black Elk decided to show his mother the scalp he had taken. He rode toward a hill where a group of women and children had gathered. On his way, he spotted a striking young woman among a group of warriors heading into the fray. She sang out, “Brothers, now your friends have come. Be brave. Be brave. Do you wish to see me taken captive?”
When he reached the women on the hill, they were all singing and making tremolo calls to encourage the warriors fighting across the river. His mother gave a special tremolo just for him when she saw the scalp he brought her. Black Elk stayed there for a while, watching the dust swirl on the hill across the river.
Many boys his age and younger were there with their mothers and sisters, and they asked him to join them at the fight. They mounted their ponies and set off. When they reached the mouth of a ravine that led up into the bluffs, they crossed the Greasy Grass. By the time they arrived, most of the soldiers had fallen.
Black Elk found one soldier writhing with arrows in him and tried to take his coat, but a man pushed him aside and claimed it for himself. Then he noticed something shiny hanging from the soldier’s belt. He pulled it free, a round, bright yellow object that was very beautiful. He put it on as a necklace. At first, it ticked, but then it stopped.
After that, the women gathered together, and they climbed to the top of the hill. There, gray horses lay dead, some stacked on top of soldiers and soldiers on top of horses. The thick dust from the fighting made it hard to see clearly. No one seemed to know which soldier was Pinhanska, and Black Elk did not see him.
Black Elk saw one soldier raising his arms and groaning, so he shot an arrow into his forehead. He also noticed some Lakotas trying to help another Lakota. It was Black Wasicu, the brother of Chase in the Morning. He had been shot through the right shoulder, and the bullet was lodged in his left hip.
There was a young boy, even younger than Black Elk, who asked him to scalp a soldier for him. Black Elk did, and the boy ran off to show the scalp to his mother. Most of the warriors forced the remaining soldiers back to the hill where their pack mules were.
After a while, Black Elk grew tired of searching the area. The stench of blood was overpowering, and he lost interest. He returned home with a few others. He felt no remorse. He was satisfied. The soldiers had come to harm them and their families, and this was their land.
That night, everyone in the village stayed awake. The following morning, another group of warriors returned to the hill where the soldiers were positioned. Black Elk and his mother went along. She rode a mare with a small colt trotting alongside.
At the bottom of the hill, on the western side of the Greasy Grass, there were some bulberry bushes. A larger boy named Round Fool was circling the bushes. When they asked what he was doing, he replied, “There’s a white man in that bush.” The man had hidden there when the other soldiers retreated to the hilltop and had remained there all night.
They began shooting arrows at him. He moved from one side of the bush to the other while they ran around, firing their bows. At one point, he cried out, “Ow!” Eventually, they set the grass around the bushes on fire, and he emerged running. Some of the warriors killed him.
When they went back down and crossed the river again, some soldiers shot at them, hitting the water. It was nearly evening when Black Elk and his mother returned to camp at a gallop. By then, their scouts had reported that more soldiers were approaching upstream, so they decided to break camp.
Before nightfall, they were packed and began moving up the Greasy Grass toward Wood Louse Creek in the Big Horn Mountains. Black Elk’s mother placed some puppies into the pony drag that he and his two younger brothers rode in. The puppies kept trying to escape, so Black Elk spent much time putting them back in the drag.
By dawn, they reached a small, dry creek, made camp, and ate heartily. By noon, they departed again and arrived at Wood Louse Creek at the mountain’s base, where they established their camp. There, a man with serious injuries began to convulse and repeatedly said, “Janini, Janini.” He eventually died, and they named that place the camp where Janini died.
That evening, everyone became alarmed and began shouting, “The soldiers are coming.” Black Elk looked over and saw what looked like troops heading their way, but it was just some of their own men dressed in soldiers’ uniforms. They were only having fun.
The scouts reported that the soldiers had not pursued them and that they were safe now. Throughout the camp, large fires burned and victory dances continued all night. Black Elk’s firsthand recollection offers a unique window into this decisive episode in American history.