The Plains Wars 1757–1900

This extract taken from ‘Portrait of a soldier - Survivors.’

Wooden Leg began relating his story to Dr. Thomas Marquis, former physician to the Northern Cheyenne Agency in Montana, in the 1920s. Although Marquis did not speak Cheyenne, he was reasonably fluent in Plains sign. This was the primary means of communication, although Wooden Leg sometimes would emphasize a point with words from his limited English vocabulary, and augment his gestures with pencil sketches. Other Cheyennes who were either present at the fight, or among the bands hostile to the government in 1876, often participated in the discussions, corroborated Wooden Leg’s experiences, and offered their own views on the subject (Marquis, n.d., vii–ix).Wooden Leg was born on the Cheyenne river in the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1858. His name referred to physical stamina – the ability to walk long distances without tiring as though his legs were made of wood. He earned it when he and some companions lost their mounts to Crow horse thieves. On foot, they overtook two of the Crows, rushed and killed them, and recovered their horses (Marquis, n.d., 1–5).Growing up, Wooden Leg was typical of a Cheyenne boy training to be a warrior and provider. He learned to ride and hunt, and through painful experience of snowblindness and frostbite, how to handle himself outdoors. The only hostile encounter with whites came when he was about seven or eight years old, when members of his band fought soldiers – probably Connor’s – on Lodgepole Creek near its confluence with the North Platte. His own first combat experiences were against Crows and Shoshones, the traditional enemies of the Cheyennes. When Wooden Leg was about eight, his older brother, Strong Wind Blowing, and another Cheyenne were killed in the Fetterman massacre.“There was rejoicing in our camp on account of the victory,” he said, “But our family and all relatives of the two dead Cheyennes were in mourning. We wept and prayed for the spirits of our lost ones” (Marquis, n.d., 14–15).