They Scatter Their Own

By Larry Stafford

The book is about the relationship between the Lakota Sioux, the US Army, the US Government, and the slow and methodical destruction of the Lakota way of life.

The books start at the California Gold Rush and describe the first-person narrative of events such as the battle of Little Big Horn and Wounded Knee.

American Manifest Destiny was the guide that governed the policy and attitude toward the Lakota, which led to misunderstandings, mistrust, and war. The book exposes the reasons for the actions of the Lakota and the US Army. It exposes the human stories that shaped the era from 1849 to 1891.

It also exposes the stories within a story and some minor characters of history that were not headlined in history books. It is a concise account of forty-one years of turbulence on the American Plains that shaped American lives forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 11, 2019
• ISBN: 9781984576576

Larry Stafford

Larry Stafford wrote, the book, "In the Shadows". He had previously published articles in several magazines and newspapers, to include the Marine Corps Gazette. He was the first to write about the integration of women in the officer training program, at Quantico, Virginia. He also wrote about the Greensboro murder trial and aftermath in 1980-81. He is a graduate of Temple University and was an artillery officer in the US Marine Corps. He was a commodity, equity, and bond trader and wrote a series of articles for a National Bank on the fundamentals of the New York Stock Exchange. He was also an IRA specialist for a major bank, as well as serving Russian and Spanish speaking clients. He is currently a substitute teacher for elementary and high schools in Cecil County Maryland. He also coaches high School baseball at North East High, in Cecil County.

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Copyright © 2019 by Larry Stafford.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2019900328

ISBN:              Hardcover                   978-1-9845-7659-0

                        Softcover                    978-1-9845-7658-3

                        eBook                         978-1-9845-7657-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 01/10/2019

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CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1     American Manifest Destiny

Chapter 2     Fight for the Preservation of the Lakotas

Chapter 3     End in failure

Chapter 4     This Tale of a Cow

Chapter 5     And He Became Crazy Horse

Chapter 6     The Butcher

Chapter 7     Comply or Resist

Chapter 8     The Whites Will Get Him at Last

Chapter 9     Warfare on the Plains war had changed forever

Chapter 10   The curse for the Lakota

Chapter 11   A Battle Won Without a Shot

Chapter 12   Save the Black Hills

Chapter 13   Precursor to the climax of the Plains Indians fight

Chapter 14   He will Never Fight Again

Chapter 15   Not a Day’s Remission

Chapter 16   There Were no More Lakota to Fight

Chapter 17   Seventh Cavalry and the Lakota would write the Final Chapter

Chapter 18   Scatter their Own

Epilogue

Credits

This is dedicated to Maddy, in hope that her generation will learn and understand US History.

PROLOGUE

I had spent time in the midwest to visit the historic sites for this book. There were many reminders of the struggle between the settlers, immigrants, US soldiers, and the Lakota, Sioux. Markers of battles, some with monuments, such as the disaster at Little Big Horn. are permanent reminders of the events that shaped history. The highlights were the Little Big Horn battlefield and, so I thought, Wounded Knee.

I had thought that Wounded Knee would have the same stature as a popular destination, such as Little Big Horn. However, I was wrong. Welcome to South Dakota and Pine Ridge appeared next to each other. There were no directions of any kind to Wounded Knee. I had to ask for directions. I drove from a convenience store, on the South Datoka border, at Pine Ridge, about 5 to 10 minutes to an open field, with a big Red Sign that read, Wounded Knee

It was about 9 in the morning and I was the only one there. It seemed very surreal. I had visited other battlefields, but none were as desolate and quiet. A young man, in his mid-twenties the to early thirties, came (what seemed from nowhere) with a notebook and introduced himself to me. He was a direct descendant of survivors of Wounded Knee. I asked a lot of questions and he provided a lot of information, such as the grave of Lost Bird. I asked for his name but he refused to give his name to me. We walked across the road, up the hill to a fenced in rectangle of a cement walkway, with grass in the center. A small stone monument, on the side, served as a solemn tribute. It was the mass burial of 146 men, women and children of the 300 Lakota that were killed that morning, in 1890. The Lakota man was pleasant but bitter. Pine Ridge is one of poorest areas in the Country. Unemployment and alcoholism are the highest in the country. Every Lakota remembers the Wounded Knee massacre like it was yesterday. The relationship between Lakota and the White man revolves around the massacre.

There were three women that walked around the area. They were Lakota but lived in Canada. At first, it did not register that there were descendants of the Sioux that had followed Sitting Bull to Canda but chose to stay rather than live at the Standing Rock agency in the 1880s. There was, of course, the connection with those in the cemetery and the mass grave that found the spiritual connection that morning.

Driving north, exiting Pine Ridge and heading towards the Black Hills, there was a simple sign that stood on the right side of the road, that marked the area (three miles due east) where Big Foot surrendered to the US Army. It was the pivotal event that led to the massacre at Wounded Massacre. The Black Hills is a short drive away. The most popular destination is Mount Rushmore. The magnificent sculpture of rock of four US Presidents is the biggest insult to the Lakota. The Black Hills were never sold to the US Government. There is a settlement available to the Sioux but the recognition that the Black Hills does not belong to the Lakota is required. The Lakota refuse to do so. It would acknowledge that the Lakota, Sioux no longer can claim the Black Hills

Not far from Mount Rushmore is the unfinished rock sculpture monument of Crazy Horse. It is a popular spot and most that visit Mount Rushmore also visit the Crazy Horse tribute. Native Americans host the site and answer questions from the public, some who are unaware of the significance of the Black Hills to the Sioux,

History is a chain of events that leads to another chain of events, within an entanglement of decisions and attitudes. Understanding the current relationship of the Native Americans to the rest of America today, an unbias assessment of attitudes from that period of history is essential. Manifest Destiny fueled the pride and determination of the American psyche during the mid-nineteenth century. The minority of Americans at that time would have joined the majority in the condemnation of the treatment of the Lakota today.

America has always corrected its ills.

CHAPTER 1

American Manifest Destiny

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Photo: Chimney Rock (taken myself)

Josiah Heacock was silently inquisitional. He was apprehensive and temperate with his first encounter with the Lakota Sioux. The impression, derived from the news reports and books, such as The Last Mohicans and the Tour of the Prairies had been modified. He could not speak with them directly and communicated with gestures. The only interpreter was a Lakota, who interpreted the gestures and what little knowledge of English he had with Chief Old Smoke. Old Smoke was an intimidating man of over six feet tall and weighed over 200 pounds, which was very unusual for any man of those times.

They passed around a peace pipe, made from a horn of an elk. The smoke purified the air and assured safe passage through the territory of Nebraska. Josiah was very content from the meal that the Lakota had provided of pemmican (dried meat, mixed with fat and marrow and chokecherry paste). In the distance, he observed tipis clustered together in small groups. Behind them, were strings of stretched hides, from buffalo and elk, drying in the hot June sun.

The horses of the Lakota were tied up with a rope made from the buffalo, watched by young Lakota, no older than 12 years. Josiah noticed that the rifles were set aside, yet close enough to equip them quickly from enemies He looked around and analyzed each of the Lakota that he saw, sometimes catching their eyes staring back, sizing him up. He was surprised by the dress of the hosts. The savage description by those of the newspapers, periodicals, and authors of James F Cooper and Washington Irving were shattered. Some wore the dress, typical to his impression, of skimpy stretched skin, which kept them comfortable in the early June warmth. Others wore trousers of cow or buckskin and colored cotton shirts He also saw a hat, made from wolf skin hanging on a branch, maybe from an early morning hunt of small game. He was more surprised when a guide told him that there were a few mixed breeds, as he called it. Some of the Lakota had intermarried with the emigrants. The Lakota that had married a white man was shunned by the Lakota community but their children were accepted by the same community.

Josiah had been on the Oregon Trail since April. He left Dubuque, Iowa, with everything that was left of what he owned, including mining equipment, that he wanted to use to mine the California gold. It had been barely a year since gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill. He was one of the 55 thousand that traveled across the Oregon Trail, leaving a mark on the landscape and making it more difficult for horses and buffalo to graze. Also, a year ago marked the negotiated. the official end to the war with Mexico, which included a paid settlement to Mexico of nearly 20 million dollars to gain the new territory of California and several future states in the southwest. Word of the discovery of gold was announced on August 19, 1848. By the end of the year, President Polk confirmed all the rumors in a published report.

Josiah’s wagon party brought with them burlap bags of coffee, sugar, tea, rice, and tobacco. The Lakota chief inspected the goods and accepted the gifts to assure safe passage as far as Fort Laramie, Wyoming. After that, the immigrant party would have to deal with the Cheyenne and Crow Tribes. The Lakota had been dealing with the white man for more than two hundred years. The French trappers were the first to have contact with the Plains tribes. The Sioux got their name from the English. Derived from the French name of Ojibwe (little snakes). In the early 1800s, the French introduced the Sioux to horses, rifles, and alcohol.

Horses transformed the mobility of the Sioux to hunt buffalo and move the village with each season. The rifle made the hunt much more efficient. No longer did they have to funnel the buffalo herd directly over a steep cliff, after which they clubbed the buffalo to death. The plains still used the bow and arrow, but, as Josiah noticed, riffles were close to the side of the warriors.

Later that day, just before dusk, Josiah and the rest of the party jocundly returned to their camp. They felt reassured that all was safe for the next couple days. The wagon train had no horses that the Lakota could bargain for or steal. The Lakota were known as crafty horse stealers. There were only the local predators around that could snatch weak and tired oxen. The stars seemed much more abundant and brighter near the Platte River, in western Nebraska. The wolves howl and the crickets were the only entertainment for the sleepless.

A few days later, the refreshed emigrants and oxen, continued the journey. They followed the Platte River, which was always kept in eyesight. The path was already worn down. The hilly grass and rocky road became littered with remnants of past journeys. Discarded cooking equipment, skeletons of small game, broken down wagons, and graves of the ones that perished were visible. The timer was mostly on both of the Platte River. Towns and forts were rare.

European Diseases sometimes followed the emigrants and devasted the Sioux villages. In 1849, cholera made its way west, delivered by the wagon trains. During the same time that Josiah headed west, President Polk, who had been out of office for a couple of months, became a victim of the disease. Rumor had it that it started on a steamboat which had a load of blankets, containing cholera sparked the rapid advance of cholera, in St. Louis. That spring, over 4500 deaths in St. Louis was attributed to cholera. There 12,000 deaths along the Oregon Trail that year, which became one of the reasons some Lakotas began to resent the sight of the white emigrants. The other reason was the depleting number of buffalo. The buffalo was the main source of survival for the Lakotas and the competition for their meat with the whites and rival tribes caused underground rumblings of hostility towards the emigrants. In 1849, nearly 85 thousand buffalo robes were sent to St. Louis

The Sioux were a help to the emigrants, during peacetime. The shared their knowledge of the wildlife. They warned them of the dangers of predator sightings or attacks. Weak or sick Oxen were sometimes preyed upon by wolfs or cougars. Josiah was told by a guide, who has been on several wagon trains to California, that Sioux would sometimes deliver fresh water, firewood, and even fish. Of course, payment via bartering was expected, especially when they would send mail back to St. Louis. The guide warned that hostile Plains tribes have been known to kidnap Oxen or stray families, catching up to the wagon train and hold them for ransom. Each family was negotiated separately.

A few days later, Josiah recorded in his diary of the landmark of Chimney Rock. It stands majestically among two dwarfed hill. Josiah wrote in his diary that he could recognize Chimney Rock 20 miles away. The area that surrounds Chimney Rock is barren and basically flat, with spots of grass. The Platte River, abundantly lined with trees that flows to the east is a few miles away. The landmark is a day away from Scottsboro and another day to Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Lakota country ended shortly after Fort Laramie.

Fort Laramie was founded as Fort William. in the early 1830s. It is located between the Laramie and North Platte rivers and had been a must stop for the emigrants, heading west. The Laramie River was more like a stream which bordered the fort on the east side. The Platte River, much bigger and stronger currents were less than a mile. The fort was surrounded by a six to eight high wooden fence. The corners had observation rooms and a large tower, near the middle, which gave it a medieval castle similarity. In June 1849, the American Fur Company sold the fort to the United States Government. Before the end of June, three companies of Cavalry arrived, which began the volatile relationship between the Sioux and the United States Government Since the beginning, the fort had become the center of commerce for the Sioux and American traders. Later, it would become the center of negotiations and tragedies of trying to enforce the treaties.

In 1850, California became the 31st state of the Union. The admission of California, as art of the United States expansion from the Mexico, began the inescapable march towards the American Civil War. When California was a territory, slaves could escape and make their way to California. Californians were sympathetic towards the end of slavery and didn›t (for the most part) indict slaves for removal. The Constitutional Convention, in 1849, the delegate’s unanimously outlawed slavery. This action was a direct contradiction of the Missouri Compromise, twenty years earlier, when the law satisfied the pro and anti-slavery factions, during the first expansion after the Louisiana Purchase. The line drawn, separating slave or Free states, nearly, cut California in half. Tensions ran high on both sides and southern succession was discussed among the most passionate in the South. Congress came up with the Compromise of 1850, which allowed California to enter as a free state, but a fugitive slave law was passed to pacify the south and delay the civil war by eleven years.

American expansion forced the relationship between the United States and the Sioux nation. The development of the railroad to connect east and west coasts, accompanied by a search for new resources, such as gold and the endless stream of emigrants ran into a collision course with the Plains Indians and the land in which they lived. When the Mexican and Civil wars ended, a new crop of legends were created on both sides.

Americans felt emboldened that expansion was in their destiny and that belief was embedded in Washington and the military leaders that faced off with the Plains Indians. In 1845, President James Polk announced to Congress that the Monroe Doctrine would be enforced, which encouraged expansion west. Six years earlier, journalist John O’Sullivan, with the New York Morning News, wrote a piece that used the phrase of divine destiny. The United States, he wrote, should acquire Texas and the western United States from Mexico. Later, that year, it became Manifest Destiny as part of the Jacksonian Democratic policy for Americans to settle west of the Mississippi. That eventually lead to a call for protection against the savages, as described by journalists and military leaders who would wage a campaign against the Native Americans who stood in the way of the Manifest Destiny of the United States.

CHAPTER 2

Fight for the Preservation of the Lakotas

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George Custer sat on the roof, as he often did to get his thoughts together, and quickly debated his options. He received the large off-white envelope, stamped the Department of War. George opened the envelope and began to read the leader and instantly got the news that he wanted. Congratulations, you have accepted to the incoming class of 1857 to the United States Military Academy, at West Point. At the bottom of the letter was the signature of the Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis. George did not debate his options very long but wanted to consult but also wanted her veneration to spread among the neighborhood, in Monroe, Michigan. It had been a long and uphill battle to obtain his goal.

A few months earlier, in February, George received a letter from Ohio Congressman Bingham, to prepare for an interview and exams for the entrance procedure to West Point. Custer did something that he was not accustomed to, which was to study to compete for a spot in the next class. His half-sister, Lydia encouraged and supported his determination to enter West Point. Lydia was much older than George. She married in 1845 when George was only six years old. Their father, Emmanuel Custer was a blacksmith in New Rumley, Ohio. Emmanuel married in 1828, the year Andrew Jackson was elected President. Emmanuel considered himself a Jacksonian Democrat. Emmanuel and his wife had two daughters and a son before his wife died, in 1835. A year later, he married again. The couple had two sons over the next couple of years, but they did not survive. On December 5, 1839, George Armstrong Custer was born. George developed a spunkiness and a dominant personality. His parents’ nicknamed him Autie, because of his personality and that he was strong enough to survive. Two more sons were added to the family after Autie. Tom and Boston Custer came a few years later and followed their older brother in his endeavors and commands.

George Custer’s ancestors, Paulus, and Gertrude Kuster immigrated to North America at the close of the 1600s. They made the trip from the Rhineland of Germany and believed to be part of the Palatine refugees under the direction and blessing of the British. The Kuster family were among the first to settle in New Rumley, Ohio, about 80 miles west of Pittsburg.

During the gold rush of 1849, Autie Custer was already talking politics with confidence, unlike a boy of his age. Emmanuel was an evangelical and boisterous Jacksonian Democrat. The doctrine was individualism and equality, with a heavy dose of odium towards monopolies and the aristocracy. George’s mother had plans and hope that would go into the clergy. Emmanuel was part of the local militia and often took Autie to military drills, which he loved to do.

In the year 1849, nine-year-old Autie went to live with his half-sister, Lydia, in Monroe Michigan. By that time, Autie had a skinny frame and bright blue eyes, with a mischievous and stubborn streak. Nonetheless, his past reputation for not applying himself and not doing well in school began to make a turnaround. The schools were considered to be much better. Autie still, however, did not lose his spunkiness and still maintained his reputation as a prankster.

Monroe, Michigan is along the Lake Erie, northwest of New Rumley and close to Detroit. Detroit, at that time, was the renaissance city of the region. Most residents were more educated and had an aristocracy class of military elite. Autie got his first taste of snobbery. The rule was that he did not associate with them unless he was one of them. Autie’s drive to climb into the next social standing didn’t make him stop his prankster reputation. Autie did the chores around the house, helping his sister’s husband, David Reed, who had his business of moving supplies to different farms and trade shops in the area. Autie was also able to work odd jobs in Monroe. One of the men he worked for was Judge Daniel Bacon. The Judge was one of the most influential and respected of the elite in the Monroe. His daughter, Elizabeth Bacon noticed and became an admirer of Autie. The two would meet again during the Civil War under different social conditions.

Autie graduated from high school but realized that he still needed more skills to teach. The schools available in the area was a start for Autie. His desire was to attend the more reputable eastern schools, but for now, McNeely school, located in New Hope, Ohio seemed to be a good start. Autie picked up odd jobs while he was at McNeely, improving his math skills. The move was proven to be successful. Soon after he completed his studies at McNeely, he found a teaching assignment at Cadiz, Ohio. He was only 10 miles from his birth town of New Rumley. He was able to see his parents more than the time he spent in Monroe, Michigan. His father was only able to make a few visits to Monroe. There was a brief period when Autie returned to New Rumley and helped his father with chores while continuing to prosecute his education.

Nearly immediately, Autie began to plan his next move. Congressman John Bingham was also in Cadiz, Ohio. Bingham was part of the Opposition Party which was a branch of the rapidly dissolving Whig Party. Bingham was into his second term when he received a letter from Autie, making his argument for consideration to be appointed in the upcoming class at West Point. Bingham was impressed with the poignant candor, though boyish in nature,

One of the requirements for admission to West Point was to write an essay. Autie was one of the memorized by the romantic stories of the Indian fighters. His father spoke of Andrew Jackson. Jackson led the U.S. forces in the first Seminole War, which caused the annexation of Florida from Spain. He was, of course, the hero of the Battle of New Orleans, during the war of 1812, with Britain.

There was General and future President William Harrison. He gained national fame for leading U.S. forces against Native Americans at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, where the nickname, Old Tippecanoe was prominent during his Presidential campaign. Harrison became more popular after the Major General served in the Battle of Thames, in 1812. The famed Chief Tecumseh was killed by his force. The death of the Shawnee Chief, Tecumseh, resulted in the dissolution of the coalition which he had built around the area of Detroit, Michigan. Custer was also a fan of James Finamore Cooper and wrote his based on the ideals of the American Manifest Destiny. Custer, like his father, was a Democrat and agreed with the Hawkish approach to the relations with the Indians. Bingham was an abolitionist Whig, who was aligning himself with the newly formed Republican Party.

It all came together in the spring of 1857, with the letter of acceptance from Jefferson Davis. George Armstrong Custer, Autie, was to prepare to leave his world in Ohio and travel east and a region that he has only visualized from the verbal and written stories. Shortly, Autie would gain another nickname before exiting West Point.

A thousand miles away:

Crazy Horse and Rattling blanket woman were anticipating a new arrival for the family. It was the Canape Hinhpayapi (when the leaves fall) in the Black Hills of 1840. The Black Hills was the perfect place to bring a Lakota into the world. It is a sacred place to the Sioux. It lays in the southwestern part of South Dakota. The Black Hills is a mountain region, consisting of, steep, heavily wooded hills very close together. When the sun shines, it cast a shadow on the other side. Standing on one mountain top and looking into the sun, the landscape is black. Sioux believes that the man and animals descended out of the caves to populate the area and the Great Spirit still remains in the hills.

Crazy Horse and Rattling Blanket Woman were from different tribes within the Lakotas. Crazy Horse was Oglala, a region that hugs the Platte River, in Nebraska, and extends to the Fort Laramie area, in Wyoming. His wife was Miniconjou. Her family was originally from Minnesota but had to keep moving west due to the settlement of the Minnesota territory and fertile hunting grounds. In 1840, the hunting grounds were in the shadows of the Black Hills.

Their son was named Curly. He had, like nearly all Lakota children, long black shiny hair. However, for Curly, his hair became lighter, which prompted a new name (which was not uncommon) of light hair and Curly Light Hair. In the early years, the upbringing and care came from the mother. The father’s job of educating the boy in reality of hunting and combat with the whites and other tribes came later. When that time came, the cuddling and serenades were replaced with skill building of hunting small game and buffalo. The boys practiced as they played. One child would take the part of the buffalo to overcome his hunter with sticks and robes. Other games were shooting an arrow into a moving target, set on a pole and ran around by one of the boys.

When the boys grew older, the skill with the bow and arrow became more intense. However, practicing on fixed structures became boring. A new challenge emerged by shooting at Grasshoppers. The challenge was very difficult at first and success at shooting a much smaller and moving target sharpened their hunting skills. Light hair became very good at the exercise but soon realized, from his mentor that there is much more to the skill of hunting. His sister, who was a little older, played with meat drying racks before the hunt. She was taught how to prepare hides, which included the scraping and watering and stretching. All of the Lakota children were taught chores at an early age. Curly was not very tall, skinny, with long shiny black hair. The village had nearly 100 hundred families, all of them with traditional Lakota jobs and traditions.

In the month of late May and early June was a traditional big hunting season. It was also a religious and traditional ceremony that marked the blessing of the hunt and spring harvest, called the Sun Dance

Crazy Horse and Rattling Blanket

One day, his mentor taught him about the character of the animals to always obtain the advantage and bring meat and skins back to the village. While Light Hair and his mentor were stalking a deer, the mentor noticed a wolfs’ paw-a very large wolfs’ paw, which was a big as a hand. It was a very warm night, probably in the Wicokannanji Wi (Sun stands in the middle) or the month of July. They camped on a high slope and hid in the brush. Sometimes, in the still of the night, a young wolf approached the pair. Stare at him whispered the mentor. Stare in his eyes. The light did as he was told. The wolf returned the stare. The wolf was frozen for a few seconds, then scurried off into the dark of night. The mentor was pleased. He told that the skill will be essential when hunting in the Yellow River valley and Big Horn area, occupied by the Crow tribe.

Light Hair frequently watched warriors ride into camp with a fresh supply of prey, hanging on pack horses and dragged behind horses with poles. He realized that hunting was very important. One time, he was so excited that a good catch of meat and fur by his family hunters, he invited all of his friends to share the wealth, only to find out that there was little left for himself. He learned that lesson and also realized that a well-fed family was a result of a good hunter. He learned patience and physical endurance was essential. One day he and his mentor saw a hare underneath some bushes. His mentor told him to run a catch the hare with his hands. He was exhausted in a failed attempt to catch the hare. He capitulated but did not complain, to his mentor that it was a fruitless task. Light Hair received the reply that everyone has a weakness. Sometimes the hunted will win.

Light Hair learns of Life’s Tragedies

Light Hair was only five years old, when his mother, Rattling Blanket Woman, wanted out of the marriage to Crazy Horse. Sometime before the move to more fertile hunting grounds, Rattling Blanket Woman hanged herself. Light Hair was too young to understand what had happened. He was told that she went back to the Miniconjou village, in the shadow of the Black Hills. Crazy Horse did not wait very long to fill the void, although Light Hair never really got over the loss.

Spotted Tail, who had become chief of the Brule Teton tribe of the Oglala Sioux, gave his blessing to his sisters to marry Crazy Horse. It was not uncommon in the world of the Sioux to have more than one wife. Light Hairs’ brother, Little Hawk was born shortly after his father remarried.

One time, after a successful hunt of buffalo, the warriors brought back the carcasses to the village, Light Hair stayed behind and waited for the young buffalo to return and search for their mother. They were too young to hunt or any other use to the Lakota. One time, under the dares of the older Lakota boys, Light Hair rode on the larger young buffalo. The buffalo ran around the fields in an attempt to buck Light Hair off, but with no success. Light Hair dismounted when the buffalo gave up, with the acceptance of the older Lakota boys

During the entire time that the settlers poured through the Oregon and Bozeman Trails, the inter-tribe fighting, or Counting Coups, were just as much as a danger to each tribe and the emigrants as the famous fighting between the tribes and the US Cavalry. No doubt that Light Hair saw and noticed the loss of warriors due to horse raids and territorial domination, centered around hunting grounds. Raids against rival tribes, such as the Pawnees and the Crow were endless and deadly. It was very common for Lakota tribes to send out revenge war parties, to even the score. Sometimes, the warriors left in a hurry for the fight. Sometimes, if it was bigger than just a raiding or revenge party, the tradition became more elaborate. The Braves were dressed colorfully, accentuated with eagle feathers and shields. They rode around the village three times while exhaling war chants. Successful campaigns was another traditional ceremony.

Scalps were brought into the village on long poles. Often, the scalps were later decorated. Lakota young men (like Curly and He Dog) stood in the background, watching and scrutinizing the exuberant dance. The choreography and order of the dance were altered throughout each tribe and, sometimes, each band Medicine men sang and beat drums while women danced in concentric circles around the scalps, replicating the kill and scalping of the fallen enemy. At the end of the exhausting dance, sometimes lasting hours, the widows of the warriors eulogized them. It resembled that of a modern-day funeral.

In 1849, diseases of different types spread throughout the plains. Cholera, measles, and smallpox spread through the Cheyenne Nation. Cheyenne fled the diseases by fleeing north or due south The Brules and Oglalas headed north to the old stomping grounds along the White River, just east of Pine Ridge. The Oglalas remembered the fertile grazing grounds and good timber along the shallow and calm river. However, when the Oglalas reached the camp, they found that everyone in the village had perished due to one of the diseases. Light Hair, who had probably been also known as Curly, may have helped to construct burial racks, lifting the bodies in the air, towards the Great Spirit.

The medicine man, Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa band of the Lakota urged the Lakota to leave the area and head north, where there were no white men and endless wagon trains that destroyed the grazing grounds and timber they needed to survive. At that time, however, Sitting Bull did not have the influence that came later

Despite the hardships of disease, Curly spent much of early years close to the Platte River For decades, Fort Laramie had been the center of trade between the various tribes. Oglala Sioux generally stayed in the area and