Traditionally historians of the Little Big Horn fight have focused on Custer and his troops -- on what they were doing and where they died. But as one Miniconjou warrior told a gathering at a 1926 commemoration of the battle, the Lakotas and Cheyennes also lost brave men. These men had died defending their homes and families, and they too deserved recognition.

Hokahey! A Good Day to Die! details the final moments of each of the fallen Cheyenne and Lakota heroes. Richard G. Hardorff sifted through the many interviews with Indian survivors of the battle, cross-checking every story of a wounded or dead individual to ascertain who was killed, in which action, and by whom. He concludes that the Indian dead comprised thirty-one men, six women, and four children -- astonishingly light losses when compared with the number of cavalry dead. Concise, well-written, and respectful of Cheyenne and Lakota cultural practices, this book is an essential contribution to our understanding of how the Cheyennes and Lakotas waged the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

On May 7, 1877, less than a year after his overwhelming victory at Little Big Horn, Crazy Horse, the charismatic Oglala Sioux whose name had become the epitome of Indian resistance to white encroachment, surrendered at Camp Robinson, Nebraska Territory. A young man of slight build and quiet ways dramatically at odds with his extraordinary influence and stature, he was viewed by the military as a potential civil leader of all Sioux.

What happened between May 15, 1877, when, anticipating a visit to the president in Washington, Crazy Horse was sworn in as a noncommissioned officer in the U.S. military, and September 5, 1877, when he was bayoneted in the back by a military guard, is the stuff of rumor and legend. And yet, reliable accounts of the last days of Crazy Horse do exist. The interviews collected in this book describe in stark detail the surrender and death of Crazy Horse from the perspective of Indian and mixed-blood contemporaries. Supplemented by military orders, telegrams, and reports, and rounded out with dispatches from numerous newspaper correspondents, these eyewitness accounts compose a unique firsthand view of the events and circumstances surrounding this tragic episode in Lakota history.

The Battle of the Washita is one of the most tragic - and disturbing - events in American history. On November 27, 1868, the U.S. Cavalry under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer attacked a peaceful Southern Cheyenne village along the Washita River in present-day western Oklahoma. This U.S. victory signaled the end of the Cheyennes' traditional way of life and resulted in the death of Black Kettle, their most prominent peace chief.In this documentary history, Richard G. Hardorff presents a broad range of views of the Washita battle. Eyewitnesses to the destruction of the Southern Cheyenne village included soldiers, officers, tribal members, Indian and white scouts, and government officials. Many of these witnesses recorded their memories of the event. The records they left vary from oral accounts handed down through Cheyenne families to personal letters, diary entries, newspaper columns, and even official government files. With Washita Memories, Hardorff has collected these surviving documents into a one-of-a-kind primary resource. Each document is reproduced in full with an introduction and extensive annotation, and a general introduction places the campaign and its aftermath in historical context. Hardorff also provides fourteen detailed maps of the battle site and campaign routes.

A much-neglected source of first-hand views on the Battle of the Little Bighorn is presented in this third and final volume of Indian testimony collected by award-winning author Richard G. Hardorff.

Like its companion volumes, Lakota Recollections and Cheyenne Memories, Indian Views offers thirty-five interviews and statements from Indians who were eyewitnesses to the battle. Here is the story of the battle as told through the observations of twenty-nine Sioux and nine Cheyennes, from the point at which the soldiers were first detected on their march toward the Indian settlement, to the bitter end, as the Indians packed up and moved their camps.

Interviews, narratives, and statements by Crazy Horse, Crow King, Two Moons, and Turning Hawk are only a few of the accounts given, extracted from letters, newspaper stories, Army reports, and manuscripts.

The prologue and epilogue contain the impressions of three Seventh Cavalry soldiers, while the appendix presents Walter M. Camp's analytical conclusions of General Terry's order to Custer. Their combined efforts resulted in a valuable contribution to the historiography of one of the most dramatic and controversial episodes in our military history.

Extensive notes provide in-depth analysis of sometimes conflicting statements regarding soldiers' identities, based on their clothing, positioning, and Indian accounts. Detailed background on the combatants is given as well as commentary on the number of Indian casualties in the fight. The eight maps which accompany these accounts illustrate the positions of fighters throughout the battle.

This collection of primary source material, originally obtained by Army personnel, newspaper correspondents, anthropologists, and historians, is a must for any scholar of the Battle of the Little Bighorn and an important addition to the literature leading to a better perspective of the events of the summer of 1876.

Only six Cheyenne Indians (but thirty-two Sioux) died in the fighting at the Little Bighorn River that wiped out the command of General George Custer. Brave Wolf, the son of the prophet Old Brave Wolf, later recalled the courage of the doomed men in the Seventh Cavalry. He was at the scene on that bloodiest of Sundays in the summer of 1876.

Brave Wolf and twelve other members of his tribe tell what happened in Cheyenne Memories of the Custer Fight, compiled and edited by Richard G. Hardorff. Between 1895 and 1908 naturalist George Bird Grinnell talked with Brave Wolf, American Horse, and other combatants at the Little Bighorn. Researcher Walter Mason Camp sought out Tall Bull, Bull Hump, and Little Wolf, whose voices are added to these pages. Casting light on events is the skilled Cheyenne interpreter Long Forehead, also known as Willis Rowland. Tribal historian John Stands in Timber, who gathered material from Cheyenne elders, describes the movements of Custer and his soldiers. Hamlin Garland's interview with Two Moons recreates the noise and dust and smoke and frenzied confusion at the Little Bighorn.

The fifteen Sioux (and one Cheyenne) who speak in "Lakota Recollections of the Custer Fight" witnessed Custer's Last Stand. Their testimony sheds light on what happened at the Little Bighorn on the bloodiest of Sundays, June 25, 1876. Flying Hawk, Standing Bear, He Dog, Red Feather, Moving Robe Woman, Eagle Elk, White Bull, Hollow Horn Bear, and other Indian survivors of the Custer fight were interviewed during the early decades of the twentieth century by men genuinely interested in the historical truth, including Judge Eli S. Ricker, General Hugh L. Scott, John G. Neihardt, and Walter S. Campbell. The interviews are collected here with introductions and notes by the editor.