Custer’s Callousness and Misdirection: Bears Belly

More days progressed, and Custer grew fond of the land and wrote reports to his superiors about the beauty that the land contained. "In no private or public park have I ever seen such a profuse display of flowers," Custer wrote, further describing how his men carried the most beautiful bouquets as they traversed the land on horseback, with some even wearing crowns of flowers on their heads, fashioned in the downtime of gentle horseback riding through the alluring land. The beauty and symbolism of the descriptions began to tell the story of a beautiful land unsurreptitiously given to the Indians. "I know of no portion of our country that where nature has done so much to prepare homes for husbandmen and left so little for the latter to do as here," Custer wrote.

For all of the beauty that the land contained, and despite how Custer spoke so wonderfully about the flowers and resources of the land, there was a horror that accompanied Custer and his men. When the party crossed into Black Butte, full of black cedar timber, they set up camp near a river where Custer and his party camped in the valley, and the Indian scouts were told to camp on the hills, so they had a viewpoint of any potential trouble coming their way. Bear's Belly and the other scouts did as they were told, unaware that the night’s trouble would come from inside Custer's camp. As the Indians were segregated from the rest of the group, a fight broke out between two of Custer's soldiers. One of them got the better of the other in the fight, and the victor asked Custer, who was standing aside observing the whole thing, for permission to finish the fight. With a lazy wisp of the hand, Custer responded, "I don't care." Bear's Belly and the rest of the scouts could hear a commotion in the valley below them, and someone yelled, "Hold on, hold on,” followed by two shots. The soldier who asked Custer if he could finish the fight had taken out his gun and shot the defeated soldier dead. One bullet entered the man's arm and the other his heart.

An interpreter relayed the story to the scouts that night. Even Custer came up to where the scouts were to explain the situation. Custer told the scouts through an interpreter that a doctor was planning on cutting up the dead man to "see why he was so quarrelsome." The soldier's body was placed in a wagon, and the scouts later witnessed the doctor do just that to the body: cut it up and put all of the parts back inside with some salt. A military funeral commenced, and soldiers fired off a salute over the grave. Why Custer mentioned the quarrelsome bit to the Indians may have been to warn them against going against his commands. The whole event was sure to conflict with the hearts of the Indian scouts, who operated with a different understanding of honor. The act was important enough for Bear's Belly and Two Strikes, another Arikara scout, to relay the story to others of their time with Custer and the Seventh Cavalry during this expedition of 1874.

The callousness of such an event spoke a specific power to the Arikara scouts, who saw and then told others this tale of monster-like behavior among the white soldiers. The Arikara Indians knew they didn’t have the power to defeat Custer or the Sioux, who constantly attacked and raided their villages. Through battle with the Sioux and disease coming from French traders from the Canadian wilderness, the Arikara went from a tribe of thousands to just 250 by the time Edward S. Curtis journeyed among them to take pictures and note their way of living in the late 1800s, well after the expedition among the Black Hills. Bear's Belly and the Arikara knew they were dealing with people who garnered respect and fear, people they could trust to a certain extent but no more.

The expedition then led Bear’s Belly and the other scouts upon a Dakota encampment and the party's only interaction with potentially hostile Lakota Sioux. The scouts saw signs of an old camp where it looked like the Sioux were trimming and preparing wooden posts for their tipis. They looked around and found evidence that the camp wasn't that old, and they told Custer and his crew that they might not be far from the Sioux who built this camp. A few scouts and a couple of white soldiers were chosen directly by Custer and sent ahead to try and find the camp. After a short ride, the scouts found five tipis just up a ravine from where Custer and his men waited. Just a handful of minutes after the scouts had left, the two white soldiers returned to Custer and reported their findings of the Sioux camp. While the Indian scouts waited watching the camp, they could hear gunfire below, scattered shots here and there. It was evident to Bear's Belly and the other scouts, like Strikes Two, that the Sioux were hunting and unaware that a party of 1200 lay just out of sight. This wasn't a big camp, and the numbers of the unaware Sioux had to be light due to the number of tipis in view. Custer and more men joined the others on the ravine and examined the Sioux campsite from afar.

Two stories of this event now diverge. Custer's story is more peaceful and leaves out some details of the initial engagement. Bear's Belly’s story involves more direct engagement and a fierce introduction to the Sioux. The former version of the story is that Custer then "dispatched the guard and interpreter with a flag of truce to acquaint the occupants of the camp that they were friendly and desired to communicate with them." Custer then entered the camp, warmly shook hands with the Indians, and promised the occupants some provisions such as flour, sugar, and coffee if they agreed to join Custer's party. The true extent of this merging isn't fully explained in this version of the story. There were 27 Dakota Indians in the camp, and they presumably knew they were outnumbered. Though the party was small, it contained a chief, One Stab, who negotiated that the party would gladly join with Custer but wanted to wait until the following day. Custer agreed to the terms and left the camp.

Later that afternoon, One Stab and three other Dakota visited Custer's camp and asked Custer for the rations he promised. They wanted the provisions for the evening before the Dakota camp was to join Custer's the next morning. Custer then ordered those provisions and some bacon to be given to the Dakota Indians as a peace offering for an easy day the following morning. In Custer's mind, doing this would ease any anxiety the Sioux camp may have had in dealing with Custer and prove that he was willing to work with them. As the provisions were given, Custer also ordered 15 men to accompany the Dakota Sioux back to their camp to "protect them.” However, two of the Dakota had left with the provisions before the soldiers were ready, and Custer became agitated. The remaining two Dakota then mounted their horses and took off toward their camp at a gallop, not waiting for the 15 soldiers to accompany them as protection. Custer sent his Indian scouts after them to "request them to return," but the Dakota did not. A second group of scouts was sent to do the same and directed to take hold of the Dakota horses’ bridles if they refused to return but to refrain from violence. As the second group of scouts approached the Dakota, one of Custer's scouts caught up to a Dakota Indian and wrestled on horseback with one another. The two struggled over a musket the Dakota Indian brought out and fought until the weapon discharged, injuring either the Dakota or his horse. Custer fretted in his report about whether or not that Indian was hurt and wished the best for him. One Stab was captured and brought back to Custer's camp. The rest of the scouts and soldiers continued to the Sioux camp. When they arrived at the location, they saw the camp was gone. They scouted the area and could not find where the Dakota Indians had gone. Presumably, the Dakota packed up camp immediately and later sent the four Dakota, One Stab included, to get the provisions and rejoin the camp later.

This article is part of a larger series on Bears Belly. Find the other entries here.