Wooden Leg: A Warrior Who Fought Custer is a 1931 book by Thomas Bailey Marquis about the life of a Northern Cheyenne Indian, Wooden Leg, who fought in several historic battles between United States forces and the Plains Indians, including the Battle of the Little Bighorn, where he faced the troops of George Armstrong Custer. The book is of great value to historians, not only for its eyewitness accounts of battles, but also for its detailed description of the way of life of 19th-century Plains Indians.
The book was dictated to Marquis by Wooden Leg in Plains Indian Sign Language, their only common language. Marquis gathered the stories for the book from Wooden Leg and others while he was a physician at the agency in Montana from 1922. They were reluctant to open up to him at first, but eventually Marquis gained their trust.
Wooden Leg lived through some of the most turbulent times in Cheyenne history, but the book begins with his childhood and descriptions of Cheyenne customs. These include tribal organisation, the warrior societies, sport, religion and mythology, their friendship and cooperation with the Sioux, arrow recognition, warbonnet entitlement, and much more. Wooden Leg was introduced to warfare at a very young age via conflict with the Crow and joined the Elk warrior society at age 14.
The book describes Wooden Leg's participation in the important battles of the war of 1876–1877, when the Cheyenne, Sioux, and other plains tribes fought the United States. These included not only the Little Big Horn, but the preceding Battle of the Rosebud and the succeeding Dull Knife Fight. Following the Cheyenne surrender, the tribe was deported to Oklahoma, but eventually Wooden Leg was allowed to return. At Fort Keogh he worked as a scout for the army and was later appointed a judge at the Tongue River Indian Reservation. Wooden Leg describes in detail how he befriended the old chief Little Wolf towards the end of the latter's life. Little Wolf had been a great war leader but was now ostracised for having killed another Cheyenne while drunk.
Wooden Leg's description of the Battle of the Little Bighorn caused controversy when the book was first published, particularly his claim that many of the US soldiers committed suicide. This claim is still discussed by scholars and has been investigated by archeologists, but no firm conclusions have been reached.
Publishing history
First published in 1931 under the title A Warrior Who Fought Custer, the book was later reprinted under its current title by the University of Nebraska Press.Robinson, p.91. The book was written in the first person in the style of an autobiography by Thomas Bailey Marquis, who translated and edited Wooden Leg's stories, placing them in chronological order. The 2003 edition bills Marquis as interpreter; however, he describes himself as author in the book's original preface. Marquis went on to write several other books on the participants and events of the era.Marquis, q.v., p.xi.
Research
Marquis wrote the book in 1930 at the age of 61, but had begun researching it in 1922. In this year Marquis, a doctor, came into contact with the Northern Cheyenne when appointed agency physician on their reservation in Montana. His initial aim was to collect first-hand accounts of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Since there had been no white survivors, obtaining the Indian accounts was all the more important for obtaining a complete historical record. However, it took him many years to fully gain the trust of the Indians and he did not complete the task until 1930. In the meantime the project grew as Marquis added details of Wooden Leg's life before and after the events at the Little Bighorn. It eventually metamorphosed from a historical account of the battle into a biography of Wooden Leg, Marquis' principal informant.Marquis, q.v., pp.xi-xiii.
The issue of trust was difficult to overcome. Wooden Leg himself relates the attitudes of the Cheyenne at a peace feast organised to commemorate the 30th anniversary (1906) of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. In the presence of many United States soldiers, the Cheyenne were questioned about the battle.Wooden Leg, q.v., pp.348–355. They answered with extreme caution; many facts, particularly regarding the deaths of US soldiers, were avoided. Despite the long passage of time since the battle, they feared that they were being trapped into incriminating admissions. They also chose not to reveal that they believed that many soldiers had died through suicide or at the hands of their comrades, as they knew this issue had made soldiers angry in the past. They left most of the talking to one boastful Indian, Two Moons, who gave a colourful—but entirely inaccurate—account. The others elected not to contradict him since this allowed them to remain silent. Marquis slowly broke down the barriers and eventually persuaded all the Cheyenne survivors he was in contact with, not just Wooden Leg, to open up to him.
Some sixteen hundred Northern Cheyenne were at the battle of the Little Big Horn. For all of the intervening period of more than fifty years between the battle and Marquis' interviews, the Cheyenne had lived in Montana at sites overlooking the battlegrounds. In Marquis' view, this made them the most reliable of witnesses because their continual retelling of the stories was always anchored in the visible reality of the locations before them.
Wooden Leg spoke little English and Marquis spoke no Cheyenne. They communicated mainly through Plains Indian Sign Language and only occasionally used an interpreter. Wooden Leg provided maps and sketches as well as narrative. The book is an amalgam of material from Wooden Leg along with support and corroboration from many contributors, including most of the seventeen Northern Cheyenne participants of the Battle of the Little Big Horn still alive at the time of the interviews. From these, Marquis gives specific credits to Limpy, Pine, Bobtail Horse, Sun Bear, Black Horse, Two Feathers, Wolf Chief, Little Sun, Blackbird, Big Beaver, White Moon, White Wolf, Big Crow, Medicine Bull, and the younger Little Wolf. The last is a different person from the more well known Chief Little Wolf who led the Northern Cheyenne Exodus from Oklahoma in 1877–79.
Synopsis
Early years
Wooden Leg was born in 1858 in the Black Hills. His father was previously known as Many Bullet Wounds. Wooden Leg took his own name from an admired uncle of the same name who was a tireless walker, an ability which Wooden Leg shared. The meaning is that his legs must be made of wood since they feel no pain no matter what the exertion. Warfare was common, and the narrative is soon describing a conflict with the Crow.Wooden Leg, q.v., chapt.1.
Wooden Leg took part in fighting from a very young age. The Cheyenne were involved in many conflicts with other Indian tribes, especially the neighbouring Crows, but also the Shoshone. They also fought US soldiers; his elder brother was killed in the fight at Fort Phil Kearny during Red Cloud's attempt to clear the Bozeman Trail of US forts.Wooden Leg, q.v., chapt.1,2.
The hardships of hunting in the snow with minimal clothing as a boy are described, as are the unique Indian methods of transport during camp moves. In his early life Wooden Leg travelled all around the Black Hills region and along the Tongue and Powder Rivers.
Cheyenne ways of life
According to Wooden Leg, at the top of the tribal organisation were four "old men" tribal chiefs, and under these were forty "big chiefs". The Northern Cheyenne, along with other Plains Indian tribes, had a number of warrior societies; each of these was led by a warrior chief helped by nine little warrior chiefs. In Wooden Leg's time, there were three Northern Cheyenne warrior societies: the Elk, the Crazy Dog and the Fox. The tribal chiefs delegated executive authority to one or the other of the warrior societies. These would put into action the requirements for war, hunting expeditions, and camp moves as decided by the tribal chiefs. The currently designated warrior society also acted as police.Wooden Leg, q.v., chapt.3.
At age 14 Wooden Leg joined the Elk society, a big event in the young boy's life. By the rules of Cheyenne society, the currently "on duty" warrior society had sole prerogative in the task at hand. Members of other societies were not allowed to get in front of their scouts in a camp move, nor to approach the buffalo in a hunt. Of course, teenage boys are wont to push the boundaries and Wooden Leg was no exception. Several episodes are related where he and his friends are reprimanded and narrowly avoid serious punishment.
Sport events and betting were usual between the warrior societies, and a great many contests of all kinds took place. If the Cheyenne happened to be travelling with the Sioux, their warrior societies also took part. Chief Little Wolf, who had been a great distance runner in his youth, was once jokingly challenged by an Ogallala Sioux when he was in his fifties. Little Wolf accepted this challenge and won, despite being behind for most of the race, by intelligently pacing himself.Wooden Leg, q.v., chapt.2.
Many mythological or magical stories are found in the book. One tale recounts a Cheyenne version of the story of the great bear which is supposed to have put its claw marks on the side of Devils Tower, a feature later seen in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Much else of Cheyenne life is documented, as the book includes a guide to arrow recognition and information on marriage customs and the entitlement to wear warbonnets, amongst many other subjects. As Wooden Leg puts all this in perspective by comparison with other Plains tribes, the reader also learns much about other tribes, especially the Sioux.
The Cheyenne deity is called by Wooden Leg the Great Medicine. A sacred tepee in the camp holds the tribal medicine object, which in the case of the Northern Cheyenne is a Buffalo Head. Because of this, buffalo heads often appear in Cheyenne myths and ceremonies. Wooden Leg first "made medicine", an important event for him, at age 17 under the supervision of an experienced old medicine man.Wooden Leg, q.v., chapt.4. Making medicine is a form of contemplative worship that involves fasting, prayer, and sometimes the infliction of pain (as in the Sun Dance). Making medicine takes place in a specially constructed medicine lodge.Grinnell (1923), pp. 208–223.
War of 1876–1877 After the Indians were driven out of the Black Hills,They were driven out by the influx of illegal prospectors during the Black Hills Gold Rush. Wooden Leg's family chose not to live on the reservation, but instead took advantage of a provision in the Fort Laramie treaty for Indian hunting grounds between the Black Hills and the Bighorn River. They decided to live permanently in the hunting grounds, staying out of contact with the white man as far as possible. Other Cheyenne and Sioux also chose to do this, but most spent at least the winter on their reservations. When reservation Indians arrived in camp with rare goods such as tobacco and sugar, it was a cause for celebration.Wooden Leg, q.v., chapt.5.
In February 1876 they received news that the US intended to make war on all Indians who did not return to their reservations. The report was initially not believed; they were not fighting the white man and were acting within the provisions of the treaty. However, after similar information was brought by respected chiefs, the Cheyenne started posting good lookouts. Soon Wooden Leg and his friends were in a skirmish with a party of soldiers. In the subsequent ongoing fighting of the Great Sioux War of 1876–77, Wooden Leg took part in nearly every major engagement.