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 ...