Lakota Noon: The Indian Narrative of Custer's Defeat

by Gregory F. Michno

In Lakota Noon, the Indian participants of the Battle of the Little Bighorn tell their own story of that hot day in June 1876. The author's innovative approach allows readers to follow the warriors onto the battlefield and see the fight through their eyes.

Genres: American History, History, Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1997

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

In law schools and psychology classes across the country, professors like to indulge in an experiment on witness perception: while class is proceeding, a person will run into the room and perform an act, such as stealing the professor's briefcase, before running back out. The class is then polled as to that person's age, gender, race, height, weight, and clothing. The result is usually akin to a visual game of "telephone".

When you combine witness perception with the vagaries of human memory, you get a mess. Ask anyone who's ever sat in a courtroom. No two stories will ever be exactly the same. As science and Proust have shown us, a memory is like a room: every time you go back into that room - that is, every time you remember a memory - it rearranges things. The mind abhors dissonance, and will fill in gaps and smooth the edges and put things into order. And if the mind has to invent things to do this, so be it.

Witness perception (and witness credibility) is at the heart of Custer's Last Stand, contemporarily known as the Battle of the Little Big Horn. You always hear it described as a battle with no survivors. This, of course, is ridiculous, because unless it's a John Woo-style Mexican standoff, there are always survivors in battle. In the case of the Little Big Horn, there were thousands of them, both participants and observers. Of course, since they were Indians, their accounts were variously ignored, elided, cherry-picked, massaged, or coerced.

Gregory Michno, an amateur historian turned semi-expert on Plains Indian history, has attempted to take the mass of Indian accounts and cohere them into something resembling an overall narrative of the battle. If Michno's interpretation is controversial, and subject to attack, it is nevertheless a compelling picture. I don't give this five stars based on historical certitude or literary merits; rather, I gave it five stars based on my utter fascination with this project, and its results.

For the most part, the layout of Lakota Noon is such: There are six sections, and within each section are a number of chapters, dealing with various aspects of the battle, such as Reno's charge and retreat, Custer splitting his command, and of course, the last rush. Michno tells the story of the battle in ten-minute increments. He gives the Indian testimony first, and then has an analysis section following the Indian testimony in which Michno gives context and commentary.

Like John Gray, Michno relies on time-motion analysis, which always gives a good foundation for any historical study, since it defines the boundaries of the possible. Michno uses time-motion to great effect to puncture the legend of Crazy Horse. I've always found it odd that Americans have decided to honor Crazy Horse with the biggest stone carving ever, despite knowing very little about him (including what he looked like, since he was never photographed). This isn't to say that we shouldn't honor Indian heroes - we should. It's to say that Crazy Horse was uniquely a creation of the media of the times (for instance, there is no good proof that Crazy Horse was part of the decoy that led Lt. Grummond and Capt. Fetterman to their doom, yet the story is repeated unquestioningly). The old saw about the Little Big Horn was that Crazy Horse led 1,000 warriors in a great sweep around Custer's left, coming up behind him and rolling over the Boy General like a vengeful wave (I think Ambrose bought this story, and I know for a fact that the Nat'l Park Service rangers at the park still spin this yarn). According to Michno's account, accompanied with statistics like the distance traveled verses speed of travel, if Crazy Horse had really made his vaunted ride, it would've taken so much time that he would've arrived at Last Stand Hill long after the battle.

There is also a wonderful discussion on the size of the village. Surviving white witnesses gave accounts of a massive village, stretching as far as the eye could see, with some estimates ludicrously high (the witness perception problem; if you're a soldier in 1876, looking down at that admittedly big village, you're probably going to see a thousand Indians for every hundred). Michno uses the size of the valley, compared with the size of an Indian lodge, to give a far more reasonable, un-hysterical view of the Indian encampment. He also makes important points regarding the number of total Indians verses the number of combatants. If there were 20,000 Indians, then we can estimate that half were females, and of the remaining 50%, we can lop off the old and young, for an actual fighting force of around 3,000. When we look at it this way, 600 soldiers attacking a village of 3,000 warriors, Custer starts to look less insane (especially since a number of warriors would have to guard the retreating village and pony herd).

This is the value of Michno's work. You separate the myths and legends and get into real details about what actually happened. The true Indian hero of the day turns out to be Lame White Man, whose attack broke Custer's defenses. Students of the battle will also be interested in Michno's re-analysis of the last stand chronology, especially as it pertains to the collapse of Keogh's "wild" I Company and the length of the final fight on Last Stand Hill itself (did it last long enough so that Reno/Benteen could've saved them?). Lakota Noon also goes a long way in describing the movements of Yate's battalion, which split from Custer's command after Custer left Reno to make his charge into the valley.

Of course, there are problems with the book. As a literary object, the writing is workmanlike at best, plodding at worst. More problematic is the time-scheme, which is based on many, many assumptions that Michno doesn't make clear. There is also a lot of paraphrasing of the Indian sources, which negates the purpose of letting the Indians tell the story in their own words (since there will be inherent interpretative bias in any paraphrasing).

Still, when the Indian accounts are taken as a whole, it is remarkable how well they substantiate other evidence and corroborate other accounts. The result is a book that further rehabilitates the reputation of George Custer. Far from being a lunatic, he is shown as a skilled commander who was failed by his subordinates and forced to conduct a defense on poor ground. This conclusion does not lessen the Indian achievement that day. Rather, it heightens the victory, which was won by a deliberate, multi-pronged advance that probed for weaknesses in the cavalry's skirmish lines, then exploited every breach.

[Dsinglet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I had visited the battlefield known as "Custers last stand" to the army and "Battle on the Greasy Grass" to the Indians, I was keen to read the Indian account of what happened. I had picked up this book at the battlefield shop but didn't read it for five years.

The author has used accounts given by Indian participants exclusively. We see the historic victory of 1876 through their eyes. He shows each stage of the battle with a map where the positions of warriors and cavalry are shown. He discusses the different styles of fighting. The soldiers stand in mass, firing in every direction. The warriors fight a gorilla warfare, hiding in the coulies and waiting for opportunities to strike. They run down any soldier who tries to escape.

The battle begins when the Indian camp is attracked in the morning. It is a surprise attack leaving the Indians scrambling to find their war ponies and dress for battle. They also need to evacuate the women and children. Sitting Bull the great Hunkpapa war chief stays with the camp to exhort the warriors to "brave up" and to help the families escape. Crazy Horse , the great Battle chief , leads many warriors and accounts label him as the bravest warrior on the field. The battle rages all day in blinding heat. The smoke and dust obscure everything. Only the Indians have access to water and several times the soldiers try to break for the river but are repulsed. There are accounts of soldiers shooting themselves in the head. The Indians, becoming more battle hardened, begin to launch individual runs right into the midst of the soldiers. Some die this way but the effect is to cause the soldiers to lose heart.

Each individual account by a warrior is full of detail from his experience. It makes a fastinating read. The battle ends somewhere around six pm. The last soldiers are killed on "last stand hill". Exactly who killed Custer is not resolved. Most Indians said they had no idea he was there. They were more interested in the fine grey horses the troop rode. This battle began the serious persecution of the tribes. The were hunted down and killed or forced onto the reserves. Only Sitting Bulls band held out by going to Canada. Even that was a short respite.

[Don Cygan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read a plethora of Custer books, from the original "Kick the Dead Lion" and "Custer's Luck" to a variety of more recent offerings, I find Michno's book refreshing and original. This is a book devoted almost entirely to the Native American point of view of the LBH battle. Having some personal experience with the LBH story, as well, (having walked/ridden the battlefield several times), it is clear to me that Michno does a good job of bringing the events and Sioux/Cheyenne accounts into perspective with the more traditional accounts of the "whites". He is able to take into account and realistically balance the often gray-areas of memory and statements of events from both sides that took place almost 150 years ago.

[Keith Akers · Rating 4 out of 5]

O. K., this is only my second Little Bighorn book, but I thought it was quite good and very different from Philbrick's book. There isn't a lot of "background," and of course no extensive discussion at all of all the infighting between Custer, Reno, Terry, etc. -- this is about the Indians and told from their point of view. But you do get a good appreciation of all the Indian tribes and the subgroups of the Lakota and their allies, and their relationships to each other.

The emphasis is on a blow-by-blow account of the battle from the Indians' point of view. It's broken down into chapters covering 10-minute segments, with an account from each of the Indians who was there (including several women). You really feel like you are doing history yourself. The author does offer discussion and analysis, but you get the basic data (the witnesses' accounts) themselves as well, so you can judge for yourself. There is a lot of insight into the battle and how they saw it. If you really want detail on the battle itself, this is quite good. The maps do not outline troop movements, but do attempt to track each one of the Indian witnesses and where they saw what, and when. I found myself constantly referring to the maps to figure out where Antelope or Fears Nothing were when they saw what they talked about. So if you actually want to know about the three hours and some minutes leading up to the "Last Stand," this is your book.

The author does time-and-motion analysis in order to sort out when things were happening on the battlefield. He rejects a lot of myths about the battle, such as a lot of stories about Crazy Horse's actions, which just couldn't have happened in the time allotted -- though he was there and was a major participant. Custer's attack really was a complete surprise to the Indians, and you get a strong impression that Custer was by no means walking into a trap or anything close. The Indians beat off one attack (from Reno as we know from other accounts) but then face another group of soldiers attacking from another direction (Custer as it turns out). The outcome really looks doubtful for the Indians until about 2/3 of the way through, so you really get an idea of the suspense of the situation. Also interesting was that the Indians did not even realize they had killed Custer until some time later!

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

From many standpoints I enjoyed this book. It is a much more balanced approached to the last stand of Custer, than others I have read. I also like that the author brings in many cultural and contextual aspects of that moment in history. It is fascinating to see how his approach in this brings a centering to that history. Custer is neither the arrogant egoist that didn't listen to his scouts nor some kind of gallant, betrayed hero, fighting against overwhelming odds. Additionally this book lends real depth and shape to the amazing victory that the combined village of American Indians were able to achieve against Custer and his troops.

The approach of the author is novel, in that he uses a chronological separation in 10 minute chunks, for each of the Indian participants. The author also uses wide and varied sources, and discusses the discrepancies between original source material. The presentation of individual narratives is such that the reader can read all of one individual's remembrances from beginning to end or read all the remembrances for a time frame. After each timeframe the author stops to synopsis and delve into any contradictions. This is the first work of its kind that focus on making sense of the tribal view of this history.

It has fascinating tidbits about some of my childhood favorites like Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. As well as the early years and formation of Black Elk. In many of the overviews and histories about Little Big Horn the diversity of the nations gathered there at the river is glossed over. There were mainly Lakota and Cheyenne, but even the Lakota were not from just one tribe, the gathering included Hunkpapa, Minneconjou, Oglala, Two kettle, Sans Arc and the Brulé who were a sub unit of the Dakota Tetons. There were also some unfortunate Arapaho youths who had actually just stopped by for the parties the night before and became embroiled in the battle. This is a great book for historians, ethnographical-linguist, social anthropologist and just anyone who would like a better understanding of the past and how that created the present.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say this is by far the best account I have read of the battle. The author uses the Native American accounts to describe the entire battle. It does not cover the "siege" of Reno. Only his initial attack. That's actually where the book starts. The book advances through the battle in 10 minute increments. Each 10 minutes has a map with each participant, or eyewitness shown on the map, as well as their movements in that period. While that method takes some getting used to on the readers part, I found that the book became more intense and the entire experience rose to a crescendo, when Custer and the remains of his command were overwhelmed.

Michno uses the archeological findings quite well to prove his points, but, the real starts are the participants. While there are a few that had embellished their roles, the vast majority told a story of their actions, and what they saw, that was very plausible. Most would tell you that they moved back or found cover if the firing was too hot. I found it interesting how most were more interested in preserving their life, rather than some feat of bravery. Gone is the sweeping left hook of Crazy Horse with a thousand warriors, replaced by a more likely gradual swelling of the NA ranks around the troops between Calhoun Hill and Last Stand Hill, till the numbers completely overwhelmed the cavalry soldiers, ending in their utter destruction.

Gone too is the picture of Custer as a vain glory hound that recklessly attacked an enormous village. Rather the picture emerges of a tactically able commander caught in a bad situation and let down by his subordinates.

Gone is the image of a village the size of a small city with thousands of warriors numerically superior to Custer's command, and replaced with a number of warriors equivalent to Custer's command.

Overall this is a fantastic book. One that anyone with any interest in the iconic battle should read.

[Ronn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an extremely well-researched and well-written book. The story is told in a fascinating manner, tracing the movements of individuals in 10-minute increments. This can be kind of confusing, but the discussion sections of each chapter tie everything together nicely. It is not, however, for easy or casual reading. I would high recommend it to military history buffs in addition to those interested in Native American history.

[Siobhan Fallon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic and necessary for understanding the Little Bighorn fight.

[James Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

An essential part of the LBH jigsaw which must be read by anyone who wants to understand what happened on that fateful June day in 1876. These, after all, are the only accounts by participants. An essential text.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book! You can follow one warrior throughout the entire book or just read the entire book from different warriors perspectives. A book to keep on your bookshelf for sure!

[Dorothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lakota Noon illuminates the victors of an atrocious battle--while bringing a more indepth dimension to the age-old debate over what transpired at the Little Bighorn.

[Don]

If Major Reno had continued his charge the end might have been different.

[Newt Ronan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carefully researched, quality writing. A nearly minute-by-minute account of Native participants' own accounts of their role in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Interesting maps accompany the descriptions.

[Donnacha · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive account of The Battle at The Little Bighorn.

[Debby Phielix · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books written about the Battle of Little Bighorn

[Chad Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a bit of a tough read but worth it. It certainly sheds new perspective on the method of fighting and mindset of the natives.