Mark Soldier Wolf (born – died 2018) was an

Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...

tribal elder and storyteller. Soldier Wolf was born in 1927 or 1928 to Scott Dewey. He was raised on the

Wind River Indian Reservation The Wind River Indian Reservation, in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, is shared by two Native American tribes, the Eastern Shoshone ( shh, Gweechoon Deka, ''meaning: "buffalo eaters"'') and the Northern Arapaho ( arp, h ...

by his grandmother. Soldier Wolf's great-grandmother was the war chief

Pretty Nose Pretty Nose (b. 1851) was an Arapaho woman who participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. She lived to be at least 101 years old and reportedly became a war chief. Biography Pretty Nose was Arapaho, though in some sources she is referr ...

who participated in the

Battle of 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 ...

in 1876. In his youth, Soldier Wolf was forced to attend

American Indian boarding schools American Indian boarding schools, also known more recently as American Indian residential schools, were established in the United States from the mid 17th to the early 20th centuries with a primary objective of "civilizing" or assimilating Na ...

. He stated that the memories of the boarding schools were "bad memories, dark stories. They didn't teach us, they trained us. They didn't teach us, they just kept us in line." Years later, he was part of a tribal delegation that participated in the repatriation of the remains of three Native American children who had died at the

Carlisle Indian Industrial School The United States Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, generally known as Carlisle Indian Industrial School, was the flagship Indian boarding school in the United States from 1879 through 1918. It took over the historic Carlisle ...

. Soldier Wolf was drafted in to the

US Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

in 1948. An accident in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

ruptured his eardrum and he was discharged in 1952. On his return to Wind River, Soldier Wolf was greeted by his 101-year-old great grandmother, Pretty Nose, wearing the tribal cuffs that showed she was a war chief. He worked with horses and sheepherding and married Florita, daughter of Richard Brown. Before the Northern Arapaho Tribe had an official historic preservation officer, Soldier Wolf acted as an informal historian for the group, assisted by his daughter Yufna who would later become the director of the Northern Arapaho Tribal Historic Preservation Office. Soldier Wolf provided Arapaho names for people, including all of his grandchildren, which are revealed during the official naming ceremonies. In the documentary ''Wolf Nation'' produced by Victoria Costello, Soldier Wolf led the Arapaho members in a traditional wolf dance to welcome the return of wolves to

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...

. Soldier Wolf explains the significance of the wolf to Native American cultures in the 2003 documentary ''Wolf: An Ancient Spirit Returns''. He was also a performer in the documentary ''Celebration! : the Plains Indian Museum powwow''. As one of the Arapaho representatives, Soldier Wolf signed an agreement with Arapahoe High School in Colorado that gave approval for the school to use the tribe's name, in exchange for the school promising to educate its students about the Arapaho people and culture. On ''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

'', Soldier Wolf explained "What makes it OK here, it helps advertise to the world who the Arapahoes are because there's hardly anything written about the Arapaho."

References

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External links

Memorial video by Yufna Soldier WolfOil painting of Mark Soldier Wolf
in full regalia by Deanna Matteson
Obituary
Arapaho people United States Marine Corps personnel of the Korean War Wind River Indian Reservation