Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #530490 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 389 pages

From the Inside Flap
"I made medicine the first time when I was seventeen years old. It was during the month of May, I believe, although we did not divide the years into months or weeks as the white people later taught us to divide them. . . . My father taught me some medicine practices for myself. He showed me where to gather the seed of a certain grass that has power to shield me. . . . My horse was protected by the same medicine."

Told with vigor and insight, this is the memorable story of Wooden Leg (1858–1940), one of sixteen hundred warriors of the Northern Cheyennes who fought with the Lakotas against Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Wooden Leg remembers the world of the Cheyennes before they were forced onto reservations. He tells of growing up on the Great Plains and learning how to be a Cheyenne man. We hear from him about Cheyenne courtship, camp life, spirituality, and hunting; of skirmishes with Crows, Pawnees, and Shoshones; and of the Cheyennes’ valiant but doomed resistance against the army of the United States. In particular, Wooden Leg recalls the fight against Custer at the Little Bighorn, a controversial and arresting recollection that stands as the first published Native account of that battle.

As an old man in his seventies, Wooden Leg related the story of his life and the Little Bighorn battle in interviews with Thomas B. Marquis (1869–1935), formerly an agency physician for the Northern Cheyennes. Marquis checked and corroborated or corrected all points of importance with other Cheyennes. This edition features a new introduction by Richard Littlebear, president of Chief Dull Knife College and an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne Nation of Montana.

Customer Reviews

This book is a gift to humankind
About five months ago I became a father to a beautiful and wonderful little boy. Every time I look at him and hold him I think of him as a gift. I don't mean that in a religious way, because that is not my belief. I am currently reading Wooden Leg for the second time in about 10 years. In reading this book, I realized that it too is a gift. Thomas Marquis, Wooden Leg and his Cheyenne compatriots who gave of their time and memories accomplished a tremendous service to the literature and history of a time that we will never see again. It was a beautiful life, though, to be sure, it had its share of horrors. In this book you will learn about nineteenth century Cheyenne culture and religion. You will read and be enthralled at Wooden Leg's recounting of Custer's Last Stand. Marquis, who acted as his own interpreter through sign language, did a wonderful job at arranging and organizing all of the stories related to him to make it into a cohesive read. I am very surprised that I am the first to review this book. Other "gift" books include Plenty Coups, Two Leggings and Memoirs of a White Crow Indian (the story of Thomas Leforge). I could go on, but this is a wonderful start. Enjoy these gifts and share them with someone special.

informative yet not what I thought
Though I am not finished yet I have to say that it is a very informative book on the indian way of life. If thats what you buy this book for then you wont be disappointed. By the title you would think it was all about the Little Big Horn battle and though I'm sure it will come to that, so far (one third though the book)it has only mentioned life of the plains indians and how they built their tee pees, how they war'd against each other and also fought together. As I said I haven't finished yet but I like what I've read so far.