Great Woman: Buffalo Calf Road Woman of the Cheyenne, c 1850-1879
Sometimes the ironies of history are poetic, like the idea that Custer may have met his match, not courtesy of Crazy Horse's bullet, but at the hands of a woman. The woman in question, Buffalo Calf Road Woman, c 1850-1879, had already distinguished herself at the Battle of the Rosebud on June 17, 1876, but if she helped finish off Custer on June 26, 1876, she had a personal best by anyone's standards.
Buffalo Calf Road Woman was the sister of Cheyenne Chief Comes in Sight. Her husband was another distinguished Cheyenne warrior, Black Coyote. She and Black Coyote had two children. How or why Buffalo Calf Road Woman chose a warrior's path is not known, but on June 17, 1876, her courage turned the battle for the Native side. As the combined Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho advance stalled before George Crook's troops, her brother, Comes in Sight, was gravely wounded and left on the battlefield. Buffalo Calf Road Woman road into the middle of the fight and pulled her brother onto her horse. Plains women were used to demanding physical labor, hauling buffalo hides with ease. Adrenaline would've given Buffalo Calf Road Woman the extra strength needed to get her brother to safety, and she did. Cheyenne people knew the Battle of the Rosebud as the Fight Where the Girl Saved her Brother.
Comes in Sight was too wounded to join the battle at Little Bighorn/Greasy Grass, but Buffalo Calf Road Woman road into battle with her husband, Black Coyote. At some point during the battle, she came face to face to with George Armstrong Custer. Any Native on the field would've had it out personally for Custer, known for his massacre of Native women, children and non-combatants, such as Black Kettle's band on the Washita River. Whether he was already wounded when Buffalo Calf Road Woman caught up with him, whether he was surprised by her onslaught or she was just that mad enough, she was able to knock him from his horse so that other warriors could finish him off. Then, her story went untold for several years.
Though the Natives won Little Bighorn, they realized that more soldiers would come into the area. It would only be a matter of time. In time, Buffalo Calf Road Woman and Black Coyote surrendered with other members of their band to the Army and were placed on the Southern Cheyenne Reservation. The hardships of reservation life took their toll and, in 1878, several Cheyenne families broke out of the reservation in what became known as the Northern Cheyenne Exodus. During the confusion that followed, Black Coyote shot and killed a Cheyenne leader named Black Crane. He, his wife, their children and some others were banished from their band and forced to go it alone. Later, along Mizpah Creek in Montana, Black Coyote and two other men shot two soldiers from Fort Keogh.
The Army sent a posse and tracked down the renegade Cheyenne. Black Coyote and the other men were arrested and taken to Miles City, Montana, tried and sentenced to death. As they awaited their fate, which had to be approved by chain of command, Buffalo Calf Road Woman caught diphtheria and died. Hearing that his wife had died drove Black Coyote to even more desperate measures. He hanged himself in his prison cell. Nearly 100 years later, Cheyenne storytellers finally came forward with their stories of Buffalo Calf Road Woman's actions at Rosebud and Little Bighorn. Her bravery, once only known among her people, was now a matter of record.
Buffalo Calf Road Woman was the sister of Cheyenne Chief Comes in Sight. Her husband was another distinguished Cheyenne warrior, Black Coyote. She and Black Coyote had two children. How or why Buffalo Calf Road Woman chose a warrior's path is not known, but on June 17, 1876, her courage turned the battle for the Native side. As the combined Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho advance stalled before George Crook's troops, her brother, Comes in Sight, was gravely wounded and left on the battlefield. Buffalo Calf Road Woman road into the middle of the fight and pulled her brother onto her horse. Plains women were used to demanding physical labor, hauling buffalo hides with ease. Adrenaline would've given Buffalo Calf Road Woman the extra strength needed to get her brother to safety, and she did. Cheyenne people knew the Battle of the Rosebud as the Fight Where the Girl Saved her Brother.
Comes in Sight was too wounded to join the battle at Little Bighorn/Greasy Grass, but Buffalo Calf Road Woman road into battle with her husband, Black Coyote. At some point during the battle, she came face to face to with George Armstrong Custer. Any Native on the field would've had it out personally for Custer, known for his massacre of Native women, children and non-combatants, such as Black Kettle's band on the Washita River. Whether he was already wounded when Buffalo Calf Road Woman caught up with him, whether he was surprised by her onslaught or she was just that mad enough, she was able to knock him from his horse so that other warriors could finish him off. Then, her story went untold for several years.
Though the Natives won Little Bighorn, they realized that more soldiers would come into the area. It would only be a matter of time. In time, Buffalo Calf Road Woman and Black Coyote surrendered with other members of their band to the Army and were placed on the Southern Cheyenne Reservation. The hardships of reservation life took their toll and, in 1878, several Cheyenne families broke out of the reservation in what became known as the Northern Cheyenne Exodus. During the confusion that followed, Black Coyote shot and killed a Cheyenne leader named Black Crane. He, his wife, their children and some others were banished from their band and forced to go it alone. Later, along Mizpah Creek in Montana, Black Coyote and two other men shot two soldiers from Fort Keogh.
The Army sent a posse and tracked down the renegade Cheyenne. Black Coyote and the other men were arrested and taken to Miles City, Montana, tried and sentenced to death. As they awaited their fate, which had to be approved by chain of command, Buffalo Calf Road Woman caught diphtheria and died. Hearing that his wife had died drove Black Coyote to even more desperate measures. He hanged himself in his prison cell. Nearly 100 years later, Cheyenne storytellers finally came forward with their stories of Buffalo Calf Road Woman's actions at Rosebud and Little Bighorn. Her bravery, once only known among her people, was now a matter of record.
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