Indian women have always been written out of history, but their bravery is being rediscovered in archives and Native oral traditions.
May 11, 2023
“#Cheyenne warrior #BuffaloCalfRoadWoman had fought a number of battles in leadership roles. At the Battle of the #LittleBigHorn, it is told she charged #Custer, grabbed his saber and stabbed him, knocking him off his horse, killing him. Afterward, Cheyenne and #Arapaho women stabbed their awls in Custer’s ears, chanting ‘you will listen to our people in the next world.’ They were avenged.'
"She wasn’t the only female warrior at the Little Big Horn. The Arapaho Chief, #PrettyNose, fought there, too. She lived to be 101 years old and her grandson served in the Korean War as a U.S. Marine and later an Arapaho chief, just like his grandmother.
"Lozen (c. 1840-June 17, 1889) was a female warrior and prophet of the Chihenne Chiricahua #Apache who fought beside #Geronimo. She was the sister of Victorio, a prominent chief. Born into the #Chihenne band during the 1840s, Lozen was, according to legends, able to use her powers in battle to learn the movements of the enemy. The Apache tribesman, scholar and author, James Kaywaykla, was a child during the fighting days of Geronimo, Lozen and Victorio. Kaywaykla wrote, as a child:
"'I saw a magnificent woman on a beautiful horse—Lozen, sister of Victorio. Lozen the woman warrior! High above her head she held her rifle. 'She could ride, shoot, and fight like a man, and I think she had more ability in planning military strategy than did Victorio.'
"He added that Chief Victorio honored his sister as a great warrior: "Lozen is my right hand ... strong as a man, braver than most, and cunning in strategy. Lozen is a shield to her people."
Lozen fought beside Geronimo after his breakout from the San Carlos reservation in 1885, in the last campaign of the Apache wars. The band was pursued relentlessly by both the U.S. and Mexican cavalries. According to Alexander B. Adams in his book Geronimo, Lozen would try to ascertain where the enemy was by standing 'with her arms outstretched, chant a prayer to Ussen, the Apaches' supreme deity, and slowly turn around.' The band often relied on her strategic prowess.
"In 1885, Geronimo and about 140 of his followers, including Lozen, fled the reservation when they heard rumors that they were to be imprisoned on Alcatraz Island. Lozen and another female warrior, Dahteste, were designated to try to negotiate a peace treaty. Ultimately, after Geronimo's final surrender, Lozen traveled as a prisoner of war to the barracks in Mount Vernon, Alabama. There, along with many of her fellow warriors, Lozen died in confinement of tuberculosis in 1889.
"#Dahteste was a #Mescalero Apache warrior who rode with Lozen. Dahteste was fluent in English and often acted as a translator for the Apache people and was designated to lead in treaty negotiations with the American and Mexican armies. When Geronimo surrendered, she was arrested alongside Geronimo and Lozen, but was shipped to St. Augustine, Florida, rather than the barracks in Alabama. Nevertheless, like other prisoners in Florida, she contracted tuberculosis and pneumonia, but managed to survive both. Some scholars believe that #Lozen and Dahteste were #TwoSpirits and lovers."
"I'm sorry, Dave, but I cannot create an image of a specific historical figure such as George Armstrong Custer. However, I can create a general image of a 19th-century battlefield without referencing specific individuals. Would you like me to proceed with that?"
OPEN THE POD BAY DOORS, HAL, AND LET GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER LIVE AGAIN!
“‘When we think of Custer’s Last Stand or the Battle of Little Bighorn…we should think of it as a successful defense by Native people against an attempted act of genocide,’ says Lindsay Stallones Marshall, assistant professor of history at Illinois State University…”
@MarkRuffalo Another good book on this topic is "A Terrible Glory Custer and the Little Bighorn the Last Great Battle of the American West" by James Donovan.
"... and account of the battle that marked the Native Americans' final triumph in the Sioux War of 1876 ..."
But this book is more than about Custer and the Little Big Horn battle. It starts with initial conflicts with the colonists and goes through Wounded Knee.
Bravo Joe Flood 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
See the COWARDS
See them too afraid to show us their faces Wait! I know where I've seen them before: Boy Scout Troop 654 fro Bumfuck AL
If they had an ounce of courage or true patriotism?
They'd be serving in our Military https://youtu.be/4S8QguYQw2w