Why custer was killed

He hit me with his fists on the jaw and shoulders, then grabbed my long braids with both hands, pulled my face close and tried to bite my nose off. These friends tried to hit the soldier. But we were whirling around, back and forth, so that most of their blows hit me.

They knocked me dizzy. I yelled as loud as I could to scare my enemy, but he would not let go. Finally I broke free. I wrenched it out of his hand and struck him with it three or four times on the head, knocked him over, shot him in the head, and fired at his heart. I took his pistol and cartridge belt. Hawk-Stays-Up struck second on his body. That was a fight, a hard fight. But it was a glorious battle, I enjoyed it. I was picking up head-feathers right and left that day.

I started up the hill. Suddenly I stumbled and fell. My leg was numb, I saw that my ankle was swollen. The skin was not broken, only bruised. I must have been hit by a spent bullet. I crawled into a ditch and lay there till all the soldiers were killed. At the time I stopped fighting, only ten soldiers were on their feet. They were the last ones alive. White Bull scoffed at the yarns about the soldiers committing mass suicide.

There were few cartridges left in the belts I took off the soldiers. He put me on his horse and led it back across the river. The people were some distance west on the flat; they had not had time to move their tepees. After resting, eating, and having the wound dressed, White Bull mounted his horse and forded the river to get his leggings and saddle.

He then rode over the battleground to see the dead. Most of the bodies were naked. He did not see anyone mutilating the dead.

Now he lies there. Of course, Bad Soup was not the only Indian who had seen Custer, and others may have recognized his body. At any rate, I have never met an old-time Sioux who took part in that fight who had any doubt that White Bull killed Custer.

I do not think my cousin, Bad Soup, would have lied to me. By the time he rode out to inspect the battlefield other Indians had carried them off. According to the authority General Edward S. Some, fearing reprisals, refused to go. Hundreds of mounted Indians in full war dress, preceded by eighty Sioux and Cheyenne survivors of the fight, followed Chief White Bull to meet the troops.

They met near the monument. White Bull raised his palm, the sign for peace, and the General sheathed his sword. They shook hands, and the Chief gave the General a fine blanket; Godfrey gave the Chief a large American flag.

After the ceremony, the Indians and soldiers paired off and rode back to camp. Nobody who knows Plains Indians can doubt that the man who killed Custer, if living, would be named to lead that Indian column. Major Alson B. Ostrander, formerly of the 18th Infantry, had heard how Bad Soup had pointed out the body of Custer to Chief White Bull on the day of the battle. The Major asked White Bull to point out the spot where he saw Custer lying naked on his back that day.

White Bull immediately complied. He asked me about this. Naturally enough, Chief White Bull was curious about Custer and why the troops came to attack the Sioux in violation of the existing treaty. The thought that he had killed Custer had warmed his heart for years. But now to think that the man he killed might have been President was a greater glory than any Sioux had ever dreamed of. Seeing him gloat, I had no doubt that he knew well enough who had killed Custer.

The Cheyenne also say that White Bull killed Long Hair, though some of them confuse the Sioux chief with a leader of their own with the same name. He then obtained a ledger and in it recorded his military history, illustrating it with pictures in the old Indian style, like those originally painted on hides.

At my request, he drew a set of these on separate sheets for me, signing them with his name in Sioux and English, describing the exploit briefly in Sioux, adding his age at the time of the exploit, and the date on which the picture was made. This coup, of course, was only one incident in their struggle, but to the Indian it was the stroke of honor. This picture is typical of the Sioux manner of recording such an exploit.

It is not intended as an accurate representation of a given moment in the fight. Thus the soldier here is shown holding a rifle, with a pistol in his cartridge belt, though at the time Chief White Bull struck him with the quirt, he had thrown his rifle away. He is represented with both weapons because he was so armed when their fight began, and because to attack a man so armed was brave.

Here, as always in such drawings, the Sioux faces our left, and the enemy faces our right. The figures are outlined in black, then filled in with color. As usual, the warrior is shown bigger than his defeated enemy.

There is no attempt at portraiture in these drawings. For example, White Bull is here shown wearing his leggings, though he had stripped these off before he entered the fight. All of the troops are represented in uniform and cap exactly alike, though Custer is known to have worn a broad-brimmed, low-crowned, gray campaign hat and buckskins that day.

The short straight lines behind each of the two men in the drawing represent the tracks—and so the persons—of their comrades, and indicate that the fighting was then on foot. Had the soldiers and Indians been then on horseback, the tracks would have been horseshoe-shape, as in some of the other drawings made by White Bull of this same battle.

Special to The Forum. Before White Bull could join the fight, a detachment of soldiers Custer had dispatched when dividing his force was already in retreat. Warriors charged after them, swinging war clubs and shooting arrows. As the battle progressed, resistance became heavy as surrounded soldiers fought for their lives. After a series of fights, as the warriors closed in on the dwindling number of surviving soldiers, White Bull charged into the fray.

The soldier missed as White Bull rushed, then threw his rifle at the warrior, again missing. The two then were locked in hand-to-hand combat. As the two adversaries whirled around, White Bull called for two fellow warriors, but in the confusion most of their blows landed on White Bull. The soldier drew his pistol, which White Bull grabbed and used to pummel the soldier on the head, knocking him down. White Bull then fired the revolver, shooting him in the head and chest. After the battle was over and White Bull was surveying the carnage, he met a relative named Bad Soup on a hilltop.

The tall soldier was lying on his back, naked. Years later, at the year anniversary celebration in , after White Bull pointed out where Custer had fallen, a major asked White Bull if he had killed him, according to Vestal. Did not see him. Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill Cody. Special to The forum. The section of Vestal's interview notes, in which Bad Soup identified the body, indicated that White Bull had said, "This man had no mustache" and make no mention of White Bull identifying the body as the soldier he had killed, DeMallie wrote.

Fortunately, DeMallie wrote, neither the reputation of White Bull nor Vestal rests on that retelling. Guitar legend Jimi Hendrix is born in Seattle. Hendrix grew up playing guitar, imitating blues greats like Muddy Waters as well as early rockers.

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Featuring hurricane strength winds, the storm killed somewhere between 10, and 30, people. Hundreds of Royal Navy ships were lost to the Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox.