Buffalo Calf Road Woman

The most renowned woman warrior among the Cheyenne at the Battle of the Greasy Grass was Buffalo Calf Road Woman. In the Battle of the Rosebud she rescued her brother Chief Comes in Sight, who distinguished himself there and at the subsequent Battle of the Little Bighorn, as Little Hawk described. At the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Buffalo Calf Robe Woman fought beside her husband, Black Coyote. Afterwards, the Cheyenne called her Brave Woman.

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2005/10/30/helena_life/c09103005_02.txt

“Buffalo Calf Road Woman: The Story of a Warrior of the Little Bighorn”

By Rosemary and Joseph Agonito, $12.95; trade paper; 245 pages; Twodot

A new book, Buffalo Calf Road Woman: “The Story of a Warrior of the Little Bighorn” (TWODOT, Trade Paper, $12.95, September 2005) is hitting bookstores across the country as a controversy has begun swirling around the death of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

At a public gathering in Helena, on June 28, the Northern Cheyenne said they were ready break a vow of silence called by tribal leaders after the battle and began to reveal what they say actually happened.

At that event the Cheyenne made the startling revelation that Buffalo Calf Road Woman (also known as Buffalo Calf Trail Woman) delivered the final blow to Custer, knocking him from his horse just before he died. Since the revelation, Internet forums devoted to the Battle of the Little Bighorn and George Armstrong Custer have been vigorously debating the controversy.

The Northern Cheyenne promise to make more information public later in the year.

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However this controversy plays out in the months and years ahead, it is now possible to read the story, never before fully told, of the only woman to fight Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn — Buffalo Calf Road.

Based on the incredible true story of the woman who became a warrior during the three years of her people’s last stand in their final days of freedom on the Great Plains, Buffalo Calf Road Woman re-creates the heroism of one of history’s forgotten great women.

Rosemary Agonito is the author of six books and many articles and has lectured widely on women’s history and issues.

Joseph Agonito is a specialist in the Plains Indians and has been honored for his original research on American Indians. The Agonitos have traveled extensively in the West, visiting sites of Cheyenne history depicted in this book.