Memory and the Rosebud

On June 17, 1876, at the Battle of Rosebud, named by Native Americans as the Battle Where Girl Saved Her Brother, Buffalo Calf Road Woman saved her brother Chief Comes in Sight. An excerpt from the article:

"Among other heroic episodes occurring during the Rosebud battle, none is as dramatic as the moment a sister saved her brother. Early in the fighting in the Gap three warriors—two Cheyennes and a Sioux—were riding through the draw, perhaps as a test of courage or just as likely seeking to capture cavalry horses secured behind imposing rocks. The three faced harsh enemy fire, and as they turned back, one of them, a Cheyenne named Chief Comes in Sight, was thrown when a bullet shattered his horse’s hind leg, sending it into a somersault. Chief Comes in Sight landed on his feet and started to run, zigzagging to avoid incoming rounds. Soldiers went after him. Another mounted Cheyenne, White Elk, was preparing to draw the soldier fire and help his friend escape when he spotted a slender figure on horseback, racing down from the Indian lines straight for the dismounted warrior. When the female rider reached the man afoot, she wheeled her horse about, he jumped on behind her, and the two galloped off. Only then did White Elk recognize Buffalo Calf Road Woman, the Cheyenne wife of warrior Black Coyote and sister of Chief Comes in Sight. Amid a rain of bullets sister and brother escaped unharmed. But for his sister’s dauntless courage, Chief Comes in Sight surely would have been killed.

Chief Comes in Sight’s rescue was as honorific as it was startling. Buffalo Calf Road Woman was the only woman who rode from the Indian village that morning to confront Crook. The 26-year-old mother of two was a superb horsewoman and fearless warrior. By virtue of their very presence in Old Bear’s village on the Powder River that March, she, husband Black Coyote and brother Chief Comes in Sight had been drawn into the Great Sioux War. Buffalo Calf Road Woman fought again, on the Little Bighorn, but the Rosebud was her signature moment. For generations since her heroics have inspired Indian artists to render the scene, from period ledger art to modern fine art. While Crook claimed victory on the Rosebud because his troops occupied the battlefield at the end of the day, Northern Cheyennes recall it as Indian victory, namely as the 'Battle Where the Girl Saved Her Brother.'”