HERO OR GOAT?

The press declared curly a hero until gall called him out at the battle of little bighorn's 10th reunion

- C. LEE NOYES

THE 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn has played a major role in the legends that have shaped our nation’s history. That controversial clash of cultures includes the stories of those present on that bloody Sunday in Montana Territory, first and foremost among them Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer. This, however, is a tale about a less-known participant—and what he did or did not witness at Custer’s Last Stand.

Six Crow Indian scouts and the guide/interpreter “Mitch” Boyer were assigned to Custer and the 7th U.S. Cavalry because they knew the country well. They also had a stake in defeating their tribal enemies, the Lakota Sioux. On the morning of June 25, 1876, Boyer and the scouts spotted their target in the Little Bighorn Valley, as evidenced by the smoke of the Lakota campfires and evidence of an enormous horse herd. After Custer ordered Maj. Marcus A. Reno’s battalion forward when the Indian encampment along the Little Bighorn appeared to be in flight, Boyer and four of the Crow scouts (Curly, Goes Ahead, Hairy Moccasin and White Man Runs Him) rode with the five cavalry companies under the colonel’s immediate command toward what became known as Custer’s battlefield. Boyer would die with Custer. The four scouts would survive the battle. [See “Custer, Crows and Curtis,” True West, July 2019.]

“I did nothing wonderful. I was not in it.”