‘Where the Girl Saved her Brother’ Celebration

June 16 is a tribal Holiday at Northern Cheyenne commemorating the start of the Battle of the Rosebud, 1876 which the Northern Cheyenne call “Where the Girl Saved her Brother.” The “girl,” one of the fiercest of the handful of Cheyenne warrior women, was Buffalo Calf Road Woman.

During the summer of 1876, Buffalo Calf Road Woman, her husband Black Coyote, their daughter and her brother, Comes in Sight camped on the Powder River and Little Big Horn valleys along with other Cheyenne and Lakota. It was the road to the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

As part of a strategy developed by Lt. Phillip Sheridan, Crook was to move his army from the North into southeastern MT, while other troops led by other generals would enter from the Dakotas and western MT to catch the Indians in the middle of their net.

Crook advanced on May 29, 1876 with 1,000 men. Finally, on June 16, Crook was camped on the south fork of the Rosebud Creek. He camped on Rosebud Creek. His Crow and Shoshone scouts warned him about camping so close to the Sioux and but were ignored. On June 17, the Cheyenne and Lakota surrounded the group and attacked. Tribal accounts of the Battle relate that attack was defensive to keep the soldiers from advancing.

The Cheyenne Comes in Sight fought actively that day, repeatedly drawing the Soldiers’ fire to him. At one point, as he rode back and forth before the firing soldiers, they wounded his horse, causing the horse to somersault and drop Comes in Sight on the ground. Soldiers were still firing.

As the Cheyenne warrior Little Hawk recounted, “He was walking away and all the soldiers were shooting at him hard as they could. His sister Buffalo Calf Road Woman was with the war party ring a gray horse. She looked down and saw her brother there. In a storm of bullets, she road down to him and helped her brother cling to her horse, carrying him to safety. Neither were hit.”

Those warriors observing the scene were greatly impressed, since they themselves had hesitated, thinking the situation too impossible to save Comes in Sight. Victorious, her people named the battle for her, The Battle Where the Girl Saved Her Brother, and called her Brave Woman.

A week later, General George Armstrong Custer led his troops against the encampment of Cheyenne, Lakota and other tribes camped along the Little Bighorn River. Buffalo Calf Road again joined the warriors and fought bravely for her people, the only woman to do so. During the battle, she rescued another young warrior who lost his horse.

History also holds that Buffalo Calf Robe Woman was the one to knock Custer from his horse at Charging Horse Hill. Shortly thereafter he was killed.

The best stories of war are not always told, but this one will always be remembered by the Northern Cheyenne.

Other festivities will occur during the weekend, organized and hosted by the White River Cheyenne, Busby. They are called the White River group because historically they liked to camp with their Sioux relatives near the White River.

The activities will include a full day of racing, both Indian Relay and others such as the “Powder Puff” and Warrior races. Then there will be a powwow, community feast. For perfect reasons, a walk and run are also planned. The Northern Cheyenne gained fame as great walkers during their trek back from Oklahoma.

(Contact Clara Caufield at @ acheyennereview@gmail.com)

The post ‘Where the Girl Saved her Brother’ Celebration first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

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