Women Warriors at the Battle of the Little Big Horn- Chief Pretty Nose and Moving Robe Woman
Too often the only pictures we are given of Native American women is as ‘squaws’ or Indian Princesses. These images are not only demeaning but they are sexist. It is time to leave behind foolish and irresponsible imagery and see how incredible, complex, and amazing the real indigenous women are.
For the past few weeks, we have been looking at the stories of some courageous indigenous women. Like most women of their era, Native American women cooked, tended to their homes and their children, and cared for the sick, among other domestic chores. Like other women they bore babies but many incredible female warriors also bore arms and battle scars. When war was declared, many native women prepared for battle alongside their husbands. They did everything from leading horses to fighting fiercely; they were equal to their male counterparts, and sometimes even had an advantage.
Pretty Nose (Arapaho, c. 1851 – after 1952)
Native American women, especially women leaders, are conspicuous by their absence in the history books. Thankfully with the resurgence of interest in Indigenous history, we are finding out about more tribal women. We don’t have as much information as we would like about Pretty Nose’s life, but what we learn of her courage leading her people deserves an acclamation.
There were a number of female warriors at the battle of Little Bighorn. One was Chief Pretty Nose.[1] She has been called Arapaho or Cheyenne. The Arapaho and the Cheyenne were allies at Little Big Horn. The markings on her sleeves identify her as Arapaho.
Pretty Nose survived the battle and then went on to live to be around 101 years old! Her grandson served in the Korean War as a marine. He followed in his grandmother’s footsteps to become an Arapaho Chief.
I was disappointed to not find more about Pretty Nose online, but I came across a YouTube video put out by a group who has hundreds of stories of North, South & Central American Tribes & First Nations, and much more. There is a lot of good information on this website in pictures, quotes, illustrations and maps. In the background there is Native American singing. I did not see who the artists were in the credits, but the music added to the educational experience.
https://youtu.be/CqvJbG-860c?si=p30HZMIAOoquL8Dp
The story on the YouTube video is from a Native American perspective, and so it reveals how often the government encroached on tribal lands in order to gain the resources, in this case the gold that was discovered in the Black Hills. Later, indigenous title holders, including Pretty Nose’s grandson Mark Soldier Wolf, would lose 200 acres of land to a white corporation who wanted the minerals beneath the soil. It is tragic how the government treated the tribal peoples. Thankfully today some reparations are being made.
There are many photos in the video including a photograph taken of Pretty Nose with her little sister dating to 1878. Her sister, Spotted Fawn was 13 in 1878 and so she was 14 years younger than Pretty Nose.
Among other photos is a picture of a woman who looks like Pretty Nose in chief dress. Another photo shows a female chief in full leadership regalia. Helpful maps are included showing the extent of the tribal territories. I enjoyed this video and look forward to watching others on this website. Check it out.
Chief Pretty Nose died on the Wind River Reservation in 1952 at age 101.
Moving Robe Woman (c. 1854- 1935, Hunkpapa Sioux)
Her Sioux name was Tȟašína Máni. Tashenamani is remembered as Moving Robe Woman, Walks With Her Robe, She Walks With Her Shawl, and Her Eagle Robe. We remember Moving Robe Woman as a Hunkpapa Sioux who fought against General Geroge Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn in order to avenge her brother, One Hawk.
Moving Robe Woman was born near what is now Grand River, South Dakota. Her father was the Hunkpapa chief. His other name was Crawler and so Moving Robe Woman is also known as Mary Crawler. Her mother was Sunflower Face. When she was just 17, Moving Robe Woman traveled to Montana with a war party that fought with the Crows. Even at an early age it was already seen that she was very brave and determined to be of help to her people.
Her family later moved to Peji Sla Wakapa, known in English as the Little Big Horn. Government troops began harassing the Sioux. Pehin Hanska (the Lakota name for Custer) and his soldiers were charging into villages and firing their guns. The Sioux tried to fight back. The conflicts eventually led to the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
In July 1876, Moving Robe Woman was digging turnips when a warrior rode by telling the women and children to get to the safety of the hills. General Custer was on his way. Moving Robe Woman went to her lodge where she learned that her brother, One Hawk, had been killed by Custer’s soldiers.
In deep mourning, but also seeking revenge, Moving Robe braided her hair, painted her face red, took her brother’s war staff and mounted her horse and galloped into battle. Already known as a brave woman, the men followed her into battle. The Battle of the Little Big Horn would be a great victory for the Sioux. At least one man in Custer’s cavalry, of the 268 men including himself, was killed at her hands. She got her vengeance but it was sorrowful. She later said, “[No one] staged a victory dance that night. They were mourning their own dead.”
Frank B. Zahn (Sioux, writer, born 1891) interviewed Moving Robe Woman at Fort Yates, North Dakota. He recorded her emotions after she heard about her brother’s death, “My Heart was bad. Revenge! Revenge! For my brother’s death. I thought of the death of my young brother, One Hawk. I ran to a nearby thicket and got my black horse. I painted my face with crimson and braided my black hair. I was mourning. I was a woman, but I was not afraid.”[2]
After the battle of the Little Big Horn, Moving Robe moved with her people to Canada. Then she moved to the Kenel area of Standing Rock. She lived in a one room log house with a barn on the Grand River west of Bullhead, South Dakota. She owned 18 horses and 23 cattle.
Moving Robe Woman, aged around 81, died in 1935 at the Standing Rock reservation in South Dakota.
[1] Another was Buffalo Calf Road, Cheyenne. See post on 12/9/25. https://authormarywalker.com/native-american-women-warriors-buffalo-calf-road/.
[2] This interview is published in Richard G. Hardorff’s book, Lakota recollections of the Custer fight, New Sources of Indian-military History. You can get the book online at https://www.amazon.com/Lakota-Recollections-Custer-Fight-Indian-Military/dp/0803272936.
