Hairy Moccasin (also known as Esh-sup-pee-me-shish) ( 1854October 9, 1922) was a Crow scout for

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

's 7th Cavalry during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and

Northern Cheyenne The Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation ( chy, Tsėhéstáno; formerly named the Tongue River) is the federally recognized Northern Cheyenne tribe. Located in southeastern Montana, the reservation is approximately ...

. He was a survivor of the

Battle of the Little Big Horn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...

. He volunteered to become an Army scout on April 10, 1876, and joined fellow Crow warriors White Man Runs Him, Curly,

Goes Ahead Goes Ahead (1851 – May 31, 1919) was a Crow scout for George Armstrong Custer’s 7th Cavalry during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. He was a survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and his accounts of t ...

, White Swan, and

Half Yellow Face Half Yellow Face (or Ischu Shi Dish in the Crow language) (1830? to 1879?) was the leader of the six Crow Scouts for George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. Half Yellow Face led ...

(leader of the Crow scouts) in the valley of the Little Big Horn River near the current site of

Crow Agency, Montana Crow Agency ( cro, awaasúuchia) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Big Horn County, Montana, United States and is near the actual location for the Little Bighorn National Monument and re-enactment produced by the Real Bird family known as Ba ...

to assist the Army's fight against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. Both tribes were traditional enemies of the Crow. After scouting the encampment on the banks of the Little Big Horn River, they reported to Custer. After Custer got angry at his changing into traditional Crow clothing for the battle believing he was going to die, Hairy Moccasin was dismissed by Custer about an hour before the last stand. He joined Strikes the Bear (an Arikara Scout), White Man Runs Him, and

with Major

Marcus Reno Marcus Albert Reno (November 15, 1834 – March 30, 1889) was a United States career military officer who served in the American Civil War where he was a combatant in a number of major battles, and later under George Armstrong Custer in the Gr ...

's column on the ridge overlooking the last stand. Attacked but not overrun, most of Reno's men survived the engagement. After the

Black Hills War The Great Sioux War of 1876, also known as the Black Hills War, was a series of battles and negotiations that occurred in 1876 and 1877 in an alliance of Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne against the United States. The cause of the war was the ...

ended, Hairy Moccasin settled onto the Crow Reservation in

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

. He died October 9, 1922, near Lodge Grass and was buried in Saint Ann's Cemetery. Crow Scouts 1913

References

Custer's Scouts at Little Big Horn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hairy Moccasin 1854 births 1922 deaths Crow tribe People of the Great Sioux War of 1876 Native American United States military personnel People of pre-statehood Montana United States Army Indian Scouts Burials in Montana Battle of the Little Bighorn

See also

References