aDDITIONAL SOURCES nOT YET INCORPORATED IN THE ARTICLE. _________________
"WHAT HALF YELLOW FACE KNOWS ABOUT THE PHIL KEARNEY MASSACRE" http://books.google.com/books?id=rSwXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA244&lpg=PA244&dq=%22James+Kipp%22+%22fort+piegan%22&source=bl&ots=4HEs-UrZeV&sig=dJOfcgN51zIOn3yD2AOScJYKE0A&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-r1AUovKOY_liwL57oCQDw&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22James%20Kipp%22%20%22fort%20piegan%22&f=false rETRIEVED 9.23.13
Purports to be a report by Half Yellow Face, telling about being invited to take part what developed as the Fetterman Massacre. This is from the text of a chapter of a book known as "Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana", and a chapter known as "Bradley Manuscript -- Book "F", subtitled "COPY OF A MANUSCRIPT PREPARED BY A.M.QUIVEY, DESIGNED TO BE PRESENTED TO THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE. oN QUICK REVIEW THIS APPEARS TO BE A COLLECTION OF RECOLLECTIONS OF VERBAL STORIES TOLD BY cROW iNCIANS.
Who is A.M. Quivey. A quick review indicates he was an interpreter for the Crows. A photo, entitled Crow-DElegation, connects him to the picture of Important crow peole with 3 white men. This photo has Medicine Crow 2nd from left, sitting. Who are the others in the photo. See below Who is A.M. Quivey. (he is listed as an interpreter, the one at left end, standing). This photo is not copyrighted. Who is the very powerful looking crow standing in the back row? (Two Belly, see below).
http://nativequotesandbrilliance.ning.com/profiles/blogs/crow-delegation-1880 9.23.13
Here is an summary of those in the photo.
Entitled: Crow - Delegation 1880.
To keep the names associated with the photograph: Studio portrait of Crow delegation. Front row, left to right: King Crow; Medicine Crow; Long Elk; Chief Yshidiapas or Aleck-Shea-Ahoos, called Plenty Coups (Many Valorous Achievements in Battle with the Coup Stick) ; Pretty Eagle. Back row, left to right: A. M. Quivey (interpreter); Two Belly; Augustus R. Keller (agent); Thomas Stewart (interpreter). 1880. Photograph is attributed to Charles Milton Bell, 1880.
http://www.zimbio.com/Quivey+Genealogy/articles/7/Addison+M+Quivey+1832+1895 (9.23.13).
Addison M. Quivey 1832-1895 A.M. Quivey, the old-time Indian scout who has held forth on the Crow reservation in recent years, died at the Boykin house Wednesday night after an illness of about two weeks. He was one of the ancient landmarks of eastern Montana, a sturdy pioneer who blazed the trails for the advance of civilization, and since the Indians have been peacable he has had a great influence with them and made his home in their midst. He was well taken care of duirng his illness by Messrs. Kreidler and Steele of the Crow agency, and his last days were made as free from suffering as possible. Deceased was a cousin of Nelson Story of Bozeman; and Walter Story is here to attend the funeral, which will be held this afternoon, Friday. THE BILLINGS GAZETTE (Billings, Montana), Saturday, 13 July 1895 Death of A.M. Quivey The Gentleman Dies at Billings after a Brief Illness Among the former Bozemanites whom we met at Billings at the time of the Press meeting was A.M. Quivey. The gentleman was apparently in good health and said he had gone back to his old trade of blacksmithing at the sub agency for the Crow Indians on Pryor Creek. He also showed us with much pride the document which made him a Crow Indian and said that under its provisions he had taken his allotment of 160 acres of land. Mr. Quivey was well known to all old timers here where he lived for several years following his trade. Prior to his abandoning civilized life he was always held in high esteem. He had his pecularities, among which was an absence of neatness, but he was a well educated, well read man, as many a contribution to the COURIER of years ago will testify. The Billings Times of Thursday has the following. "Last night at midnight Addison M. Quivey died at the Boykin house after an illness of about two weeks. He was kindly attended to the last by his fellow employees from the Crow reservation, Messrs. Kreidler and Steele. A letter from his aged mother who lives in Corvallis, Oregon, was received last night, but too late to be read to her son. The deceased was born in Ohio about 65 years ago and was a cousin of Nelson Story, the Bozeman capitalist, and a warm friendship existed between them. "Mr. Quivey came west at an early date and took part in much of the frontier fighting and was a favorite scout of General Miles. He was a man of much erudition and ability and had made a particular study of the ancient lore of the Indian tribes with whom he was associated, and contributed several articles on the ethnology to the Smithsonian Institute and the Royal Ethnological Society of London, which latter society complimented him by an honorary membership. He has for many years held the office of deputy United States marshal among the Crows, whose confidence he possessed to a large degree. Careless about money matters, he left no fortune, such as he might have accumulated had he seized the opportunities that presented themselves. Many an old timer will regret to hear of the death of A.M. Quivey." AVANT COURIER (Bozeman, Montana), Saturday, 13 July 1895, p.3
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Half Yellow Face (1850 (approx.) to 1904) or Ischu Shi Dish[2] in the Crow language, was the chief scout 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 "carried the pipe" (led) the Crow scouts, because he was older (about 40) and had more experience in war that the others. At the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Half Yellow Face and another Crow scout, White Swan, went with Major Reno's detachment and took a direct and active part in the combat at the south end of the village. When White Swan was wounded in action while fighting on the valley floor, Half Yellow Face took him to safety. and after the battle Half Yellow Face made a special travois and moved White Swan twelve miles down the valley to the "Far West" steamship so White Swan could get medical care, along with the wounded soldiers. On the early morning of 25 June, before the battle, the Crow scouts had seen the massive horse herds and the smoke from a village much larger than Custer had planned for. They warned Custer of the risk in attacking such a large encampment. Custer persisted in his plan of attack, concerned that if he did not attack, the village would scatter thus avoiding the military confrontation the army was seeking. Half Yellow Face then said to Custer, "You and I are both going home today by a road we do not know". Although acutely prophetic for Custer, these words probably had no effect on him. Although he survived the battle, census records indicate that Half Yellow Face had passed away by 1885, leaving his wife and 3 children.
Biography
editEarly life, Names
editHalf Yellow Face is thought by some sources to have been about 40 at the time of the Battle of the Little Big Horn with would mean he was born in approximately 1836.[3] He had been raised in the traditional manner of his tribe, and would have acquired warrior status in his early teens through deeds of bravery.
Half Yellow Face married Can't Get Up. He had three children. In the 1885 census only Half Yellow Face's wife is listed as head of the household, and as mother of children aged 16, 20 and 30.[3]
References indicate that Half Yellow Face was known to Arikara scouts as "Big Belly".[3]
Army Service as a Crow Scout in the Great Sioux War of 1876
editEnlistment with the 7th Infantry, Leader of the Crow Scouts
editHalf Yellow Face was enlisted on April 10, 1876 to serve as a Crow Scout for six months. The initial enlistment was in the 7th Infantry by Lt. James Bradley,[2]. Half Yellow Face was enlisted along with five other Crow Scouts[2][4]
Half Yellow Face was the leader of the Crow Scouts.[2] Half Yellow Face was older, probably around 40, and he had more experience in war than the other scouts.[3] The Crow Scouts went with units of the 7th Infantry, commanded by Col. John Gibbon who left Fort Ellis and marched down the Yellowstone. Gibbon took up a position on the north bank of the Yellowstone, near the mouth of Rosebud Creek. The Crow Scouts skirmished with Sioux scouts as the Sioux village passed from Tongue River to the Rosebud valley in May 1876.[5] Gibbon's column rendezvoused on June 21, 1876 with General Terry's column at the mouth of Rosebud Creek.
Scouting activities with Custer's 7th Cavalry leading up to the Battle of the Little Big Horn
editOn June 21, Half Yellow Face and the other Crow scouts was detached from the 7th Infantry to go with the 7th Cavalry,[2] The five other Crow Scouts were White Swan, White Man Runs Him, Goes Ahead, Hairy Moccasin, and Curley. The 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, were ordered by General Terry to follow the trail of a large encampment of "non-reservation" Sioux who lived nomadic lives off the reservation. This group was making an annual westward spring migration from their camp on the Powder River valley to the Tongue and then to the Rosebud Valley, and on to the Little Big Horn.[5] Custer was ordered to locate the encampment of these "non reservation" Sioux on the Rosebud Creek, or in the adjacent Little Big Horn Valley.
The six Crow Scouts shared duties with 26 Arikara (Ree) Scouts, under a Chief of Scouts Lt Charles Varnum,.[6] The scouts played a role in Custer's activities leading up to the Battle of the Little Big Horn. When Custer struck the trail of the "non reservation" Sioux the scouts' count of 400 lodges in the encampment[5] confirmed army sources indicting an "off reservation" nomadic group of about 800 warriors. This compared favorably to Custer's force of about 700 troopers.
However this initial assessment of the size of the village on June 21 was made on encampments dating back to May 21, when the Sioux/Cheyenne entered the Rosebud Valley.[5] As the scouts followed this trail up the Rosebud and then to the divide with the Little Horn Valley, they found the older trail increasingly joined and overlaid by many newer trails. These newer trails were left by many other bands of Sioux/Cheyenne coming from the reservations to join the original "non-reservation" Sioux for their yearly summer gathering.[5] Although not appreciated at the time, these late arriving bands of Sioux/Cheyenne swelled the encampment from 400 to about 960 lodges, able to field close to 2000 warriors.[5]
On the early morning of June 25, 1876, Half Yellow Face accompanied Lt. Charles Varnum to a high point on the divide between the Little Big Horn River and Rosebud Creek.[7] From this lookout point (which later became known as the "Crow's Nest") the scouts saw very large horse herds on the western margins of the Little Big Horn Valley, some 15 air miles away. These large horse herds indicated an unexpectedly large Sioux/Cheyenne encampment. The encampment itself was out of site on the valley floor.
The Crow scouts questioned the wisdom of attacking such a large encampment. However, Custer was concerned that his force had been detected that morning by Sioux scouts, and he feared that if he did not attack at once, the large encampment would break up into many smaller bands which would scatter in all directions, thus escaping and avoiding the decisive engagement the army hoped for. Custer therefore made plans for an immediate attack, and as he proceeded down Reno Creek toward the Little Big Horn Valley, he created four separate detachments, intended to prevent the encampment from scattering, and to strike the village from different directions. Reno with three troops would attack the south end of the village. Custer with five troops would attack the north end of the village, and Benteen with 3 troops would scout briefly to the south, and then join the battle to assist the other detachments; Lt. McDougall's remaining troop would act as rear guard protecting the pack train.
Half Yellow Face Warns Custer of "The Road We Do Not Know"
editAlthough the village was hidden from site in the valley of the LIttle Big Horn, the Crow scouts had seen the vast horse herds, as well as the smoke rising from the morning fires of hundreds if not a thousand lodges.[8] After Custer determined to attack the village, not only the Crow scouts, but the Arikara scouts felt they would die that day.[8]
As the troops rode down Reno Creek to the Little Bighorn Valley Half Yellow Face said to Custer, "You and I are both going home today by a road we do not know."[8] Though this was prophetic, at least as it applied to Custer, it is doubtful if this statement had any impact on Custer since Half Yellow Face probably addressed Custer in Crow, and Custer may not have bothered to have a translation made.
In action at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Rescuing White Swan
editAs the Battle of the Little Big Horn got underway, Half Yellow Face accompanied the detachment under Major Reno.[2], along with another Crow scout, White Swan, and 8 other Arikaree scouts.[2] Reno's detachment charged the south end of the village as ordered, but as warriors poured out to defend the village Reno ordered the troops to dismount and form a skirmish line. As more warriors gathered, Reno's detachment made a retreat into a patch of nearby timber along the river. After taking more losses in the timber, Reno ordered a retreat out of the timber, and across the river and up onto the bluffs on the east side of the valley.
By the time Reno had ordered the retreat across the river Half Yellow Face became aware White Swan had suffered severe bullet wounds.[9] The soldier's retreat from the timber disintegrated into a rout, and the Sioux closed in on the disorganized mass of retreating troopers intent on killing the stragglers and the wounded. Though wounded White Swan wanted to stand and fight the Sioux, but Half Yellow Face prevailed on him to get on a horse which Half Yellow Face then led across the river and up the bluffs to the location where the Reno detachment was digging in,[2] and where they were later reinforced by the other detachments under Captain Benteen and Lieutenant McDougall. Half Yellow Face then returned and got his horse.[2] This action by Half Yellow Face probably saved White Swan's life.
After Reno's men fled across the river the now thoroughly aroused and mobilized Sioux/Cheyenne forces drew back and concentrated to launch a fresh attack on Custer's separate detachment of five companies (about 210 men) who were now firing into north end of the village. At this point the Sioux outnumbered Custer's men by about 8 to 1. Custer's detachment was first driven back to a low ridge east of the valley, and then overwhelmed and wiped out to the last man. This intense engagement lasted about an hour during the afternoon of June 25, 1876, after which the warriors returned to press the attack on Reno's entrenched position. The next day, June 26, Sioux scouts reported the approach from the north of the large army column under Generals Terry and Gibbon.[5] The Sioux and Cheyenne ended their siege of Reno and Benteen and hastily broke camp and withdrew south, up the Little Big Horn Valley.[5]
Later Life, Death and Burial
editAfter the battle it is likely that Half Yellow Face returned to his wife and three children on the Crow reservation. At that time the Crow Agency was on the Stillwater River, to the west of the present reservation. Half Yellow Faces' date of death is not known but he may have passed away only two or three years after the battle.
Sharon Small, curator at the Little Bighorn Battlefield Museum, has provided her opinion that he was killed two years after the Little Bighorn battle.[1] Other unconfirmed sources indicate he died at Fort Custer in 1879, but this is not confirmed and some dispute this date.[3] By the 1885 census, nine years after the Battle of the Little Big Horn, his wife, Cant Get Up is listed as the head of the household raising 3 children aged 16, 20 and 30, but Half Yellow Face is not listed.[3] From this, source conclude that Half Yellow Face had passed away before 1885 time.[3]
His place of burial is not known, but is is probable that he was placed on a scaffold in a private place chosen by his family on the Crow reservation, in the traditional Crow custom. Up the Rosebud (talk) 20:36, 18 July 2015 (UTC)
References
edit- ^ a b "Half Yellow Face". Billings Gazette. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Half Yellow Face, Crow". American-Tribes.com. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Half Yellow Face/Big Belly". American-Tribes.com. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
- ^ "White Swan -- Crow". American-Tribes.com. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Grey, John S. (1988). Centennial Campaign, the Sioux War of 1876. Oklahoma Press. pp. 320–340. ISBN ISBN 9780806121529.
{{cite book}}
: Check|isbn=
value: invalid character (help) - ^ "The Little Big Horn, Custer's Scouts and non-military personnel". Summary of Custer's Last Campaign, Mitch Boyer and the Little Bighorn Reconstructed by John S. Gray.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Tomahawk
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c Welch,, James (1994). Killing Custer: The Battle of the Little Bighorn and the Fate of the Plains Indians. 500 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10110: W. W. Norton & Company. p. Page 152. ISBN 978-0-393-32939-1.
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: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ "Half Yellow Face, Crow". American-Tribes.com. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
External links
edit- Description of White Swan's Tomahawk, containing facts about White Swan. Collection of the National Museum of the American Indian
- Crow Scouts at the Little Big Horn
- White Swan -- Crow Has photos of White Swan in 1899, and also paintings of White Swan by Joseph Henry Sharp, and Elbridge Ayer Burbank.
Category:1904 deaths
Category:Crow tribe
Category:People of the Great Sioux War of 1876
Category:Native American United States military personnel
Category:United States Army Indian Scouts
Category:19th-century births