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Half Yellow Face
Half Yellow Face (or Ischu Shi Dish in the Crow language) (1830? to 1879?) was the leader of the six Crow Scouts for George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. Half Yellow Face led the six Crow scouts as Custer advanced up the Rosebud valley and crossed the divide to the Little Bighorn valley, and then as Custer made the fateful decision to attack the large Sioux-Cheyenne camp which precipitated the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. At this time, the other Crow Scouts witnessed a conversation between Custer and Half Yellow Face. Half Yellow Face made a statement to Custer (speaking through the interpreter, Mitch Boyer) that was poetically prophetic, at least for Custer: "You and I are going home today by a road we do not know".
Half Yellow Face fought in the Battle of the Little Bighorn with Major Marcus Reno's troops and thus survived. During the battle he acted heroically to save his friend and fellow Crow Scout White Swan, who had been severely wounded. After the battle he devised a special travois to get White Swan to the steamer Far West so he could get medical care from the Army surgeon. He continued to scout for General John Gibbon after the battle. Tradition has it that he died about 1879 while pursuing Sioux who had stolen Crow horses. Because he died shortly after the battle, he is the least known of the six Crow scouts who went with Custer.
Half Yellow Face led a group of 11 Crow, including a young warrior called Two Leggins, on a horse stealing raid against the Shoshonis. They started on foot because they hoped to return with stolen horses. They started from the area of the Yellowstone Valley, and went down into the Bighorn Basin near present-day Cody, Wyoming and then went west into the mountains. At one point they found themselves on the shores of Lake Yellowstone, after which they turned back east to re-enter the Bighorn Basin. Game was sparse, and they had little to eat but they came to four enemy tipis. Because they were weak from hunger, they risked going among the enemy's horse herd in the daylight and stealthily cut out 24 horses, which they slowly led off a distance, and then rode home to their village on the Bighorn River.
As the 1876 campaign against the Sioux got underway General John Gibbon was ordered to march from Fort Ellis (near present-day Bozeman, Montana) and cross the Bozeman Pass and travel east down the Yellowstone River to about opposite the mouth of the Rosebud and Tongue Rivers. This was to prevent the Sioux, who were known to be on the south side of the river, from crossing to the north.
While en route down the Yellowstone River, Lieutenant Bradley, Gibbon's Chief of Scouts detoured up the Stillwater River to the site of the Crow Agency (near present-day Absarokee, Montana) and enlisted Crow scouts on April 10, 1876. The scouts enlisted for six months. One of these scouts was Half Yellow Face.
Half Yellow Face served as a scout with Gibbon's forces until June 21, 1876, at which time General Terry determined that Custer would take the 7th Cavalry and make a sortie from the Yellowstone River up Rosebud Creek with the goal of locating the Sioux/Cheyenne camp, then thought to be on upper Rosebud Creek, or in the Little Bighorn Valley. Six Crow scouts, including Half Yellow Face, were chosen to accompany Custer and the 7th Cavalry because they had hunted and traveled through this area, and were much more familiar with the country than the Arikara scouts whose home was on the Great Plains along the Missouri River, far to the east. On June 21 the scouts were detached from Gibbon's forces and reassigned to Custer and the 7th Cavalry.
Half Yellow Face was the "pipe carrier" or leader-chief of the six Crow Indian scouts who were assigned to General George Armstrong Custer in June, 1876. The other Crow scouts were White Swan, White Man Runs Him, Hairy Moccasin, Goes Ahead, and Curly. Half Yellow Face was the "pipe carrier" of the Crow scouts because he was older (about 40) and as a traditional Indian male, he had participated in and led more war parties in the past than the other five Crow scouts, all of whom were in their early 20s. The Army recognized Half Yellow Face's role of leader-chief of the Crow scouts by giving him the rank of corporal. He received a military coat with corporal chevrons which he wore during the remainder of his life.
In the days before the Battle of the Little Bighorn, as Custer advanced up the Rosebud River, Custer relied on Half Yellow Face and his other Crow Scouts because they knew the country through which he was passing. Half Yellow Face usually remained with Custer while the other Crow scouts ranged over the country in front of the advancing 7th cavalry.
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Half Yellow Face
Half Yellow Face (or Ischu Shi Dish in the Crow language) (1830? to 1879?) was the leader of the six Crow Scouts for George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. Half Yellow Face led the six Crow scouts as Custer advanced up the Rosebud valley and crossed the divide to the Little Bighorn valley, and then as Custer made the fateful decision to attack the large Sioux-Cheyenne camp which precipitated the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. At this time, the other Crow Scouts witnessed a conversation between Custer and Half Yellow Face. Half Yellow Face made a statement to Custer (speaking through the interpreter, Mitch Boyer) that was poetically prophetic, at least for Custer: "You and I are going home today by a road we do not know".
Half Yellow Face fought in the Battle of the Little Bighorn with Major Marcus Reno's troops and thus survived. During the battle he acted heroically to save his friend and fellow Crow Scout White Swan, who had been severely wounded. After the battle he devised a special travois to get White Swan to the steamer Far West so he could get medical care from the Army surgeon. He continued to scout for General John Gibbon after the battle. Tradition has it that he died about 1879 while pursuing Sioux who had stolen Crow horses. Because he died shortly after the battle, he is the least known of the six Crow scouts who went with Custer.
Half Yellow Face led a group of 11 Crow, including a young warrior called Two Leggins, on a horse stealing raid against the Shoshonis. They started on foot because they hoped to return with stolen horses. They started from the area of the Yellowstone Valley, and went down into the Bighorn Basin near present-day Cody, Wyoming and then went west into the mountains. At one point they found themselves on the shores of Lake Yellowstone, after which they turned back east to re-enter the Bighorn Basin. Game was sparse, and they had little to eat but they came to four enemy tipis. Because they were weak from hunger, they risked going among the enemy's horse herd in the daylight and stealthily cut out 24 horses, which they slowly led off a distance, and then rode home to their village on the Bighorn River.
As the 1876 campaign against the Sioux got underway General John Gibbon was ordered to march from Fort Ellis (near present-day Bozeman, Montana) and cross the Bozeman Pass and travel east down the Yellowstone River to about opposite the mouth of the Rosebud and Tongue Rivers. This was to prevent the Sioux, who were known to be on the south side of the river, from crossing to the north.
While en route down the Yellowstone River, Lieutenant Bradley, Gibbon's Chief of Scouts detoured up the Stillwater River to the site of the Crow Agency (near present-day Absarokee, Montana) and enlisted Crow scouts on April 10, 1876. The scouts enlisted for six months. One of these scouts was Half Yellow Face.
Half Yellow Face served as a scout with Gibbon's forces until June 21, 1876, at which time General Terry determined that Custer would take the 7th Cavalry and make a sortie from the Yellowstone River up Rosebud Creek with the goal of locating the Sioux/Cheyenne camp, then thought to be on upper Rosebud Creek, or in the Little Bighorn Valley. Six Crow scouts, including Half Yellow Face, were chosen to accompany Custer and the 7th Cavalry because they had hunted and traveled through this area, and were much more familiar with the country than the Arikara scouts whose home was on the Great Plains along the Missouri River, far to the east. On June 21 the scouts were detached from Gibbon's forces and reassigned to Custer and the 7th Cavalry.
Half Yellow Face was the "pipe carrier" or leader-chief of the six Crow Indian scouts who were assigned to General George Armstrong Custer in June, 1876. The other Crow scouts were White Swan, White Man Runs Him, Hairy Moccasin, Goes Ahead, and Curly. Half Yellow Face was the "pipe carrier" of the Crow scouts because he was older (about 40) and as a traditional Indian male, he had participated in and led more war parties in the past than the other five Crow scouts, all of whom were in their early 20s. The Army recognized Half Yellow Face's role of leader-chief of the Crow scouts by giving him the rank of corporal. He received a military coat with corporal chevrons which he wore during the remainder of his life.
In the days before the Battle of the Little Bighorn, as Custer advanced up the Rosebud River, Custer relied on Half Yellow Face and his other Crow Scouts because they knew the country through which he was passing. Half Yellow Face usually remained with Custer while the other Crow scouts ranged over the country in front of the advancing 7th cavalry.