Little Wolf 1820?-1904
Little
Wolf was born in Montana in about 1820. A member of the Cheyenne tribe
he developed a reputation as a fearless war leader. It is believed he
took part in the Fetterman Massacre and the battle at Little Bighorn.
The U.S. army now responded by
increasing the number of the soldiers in the area. When soldiers commanded
by Ranad Mackenzie attacked Cheyenne villages, Little Wolf and Dull Knife
led a party of 300 on a 1,500 mile journey north to their old hunting
grounds.
Dull Knife surrendered at Fort
Robinson but Little Wolf went back to Montana. A long-term friend, First
Lieutenant William Clark, persuaded Little Wolf to surrender and for a
while served as a scout under General Nelson Miles.
Little Wolf was a respect and
great chief but in his older age he had big troubles with alcohol. That
drove him to even kill one man of his own tribe. This was eventually forgiven
to Little Wolf by his tribe because they said that "it was not Little
Wolf who killed the man, it was the whiteman's whiskey". But Little
Wolf never ceased to punish himself for the murder he had done and he
regretted that for the rest of his life.
Little Wolf died in 1904. |