Identification of Yellow Nose's "Brave Man."

[joewiggs]

Yellow Nose gave an interesting account of his personal encounter with a soldier whom he described as "striking and gallant". Is it possible to identify this individual ? Is this account true or merely a miss-interpretation of Yellow's Nose's words. Worse still, is the conversation simply "speculation" and not worthy of discussion?

it is interesting to read the opinions of some posters (another forum)who claim that certain theories are no more than "speculation" and unworthy of discussion based upon a premise that a topic such as the one above can not be proved: one way or the other. Here's my take on speculation, other than the date and approximate time of the battle, every other component is "speculation!"

(To be Continued)

[joewiggs]

(Continued)

"By this late stage in the battle, Yellow Nose had lost his rifle. He was fighting with the old saber he'd been given by a Shoshone boy who, like him, had grown up a captive among the Cheyenne. One of the soldiers in the final group [Last Stand Hill] was "so striking and gallant" that yellow Nose decided that 'to kill him would be a feat of more than ordinary prowess.'

Already the soldier had fired at him at such a close range that Yellow Nose's face was scorched with black powder and his eyes were awash in blood.

Once again Yellow Nose charged, and this time, the soldier's revolver was out of bullets. the soldier was dressed in a buckskin jacket and had a red and yellow bandanna around his neck. There were tears in the soldier's eyes, Yellow Nose remembered, 'but no sign of fear.'

The Cheyenne walloped the soldier on the back of his head with the broad side of the sword's blade and he sank to the ground.'


Who was this unfortunate soldier?
The Last Stand, Nathaniel Phil brick, page 275-276.

[tbw]

Don't know for sure here. But.... from the description.... was it Custer's horse Dandy? ;D

What was I thinking? Of course not. There's only one man who had kept their jacket on that day and their wits about them.... Mitch Bouyer

[joewiggs]

That was a good one! ;D

Believe it or not but, it has been reported that Tom Custer was wearing his buck skin jacket on that day! In Hardorf's Indian Views (P103-105) he argues that yellow Nose's opponent was almost certainly not Custer but his brother Tom. George Grinnell comments in the same transcript (Cheyenne Memories) quotes that Tom's head was smashed to the thickness of a man's palm. White Bull stated that the Lakota sometimes mutilated the body of an enemy "because the man was brave." Tom was found not less than 15 feet away from his brother,

Tom may have shot his severally wounded brother in the head to prevent him from suffering the same mutilation that he himself received. If so, that would explain the tears in the eyes of a very brave man.

Who knows!