Dennis Spilchuk Poet Verse

Notes About The Poem

Brave Woman

Brave Woman

Wounded and outnumbered by U.S. soldiers,
The Northern Cheyenne warrior chief Comes in Sight
Fights to stay alive in the Rosebud Creek Valley
When his sister spots his predicament,
And jumps on her pony, and races to save him.
Amid the arrows, bullets, and killing,
When in the moment, the violence ceases
As the combatants watch the heroic act
Of Buffalo Calf Road Woman rescuing her brother.
The Cheyenne elders call her “Brave Woman”
And name the battle in her honor,
“The Fight Where the Girl Saved Her Brother,”
Who, alongside her husband, fights Custer
At the Little Bighorn River in the Great Sioux War.
                                    ***

Notes:
1 Battle of the Rosebud (June 17, 1876): The Battle of the Rosebud took place in Big Horn County, Montana, U.S.A., on June 17, 1876. In their quest for the acquisition of Lakota Sioux lands in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the United States Army broke the Laramie Treaty of 1868 and attacked the Lakota and Cheyenne to force them onto reservations. Crazy Horse led the Native Americans, forcing the U.S. Army to withdraw. The battle was fairly even, with approximately 1,100 combatants on each side.
2 Buffalo Calf Road (aka Brave Woman) (1844–1879): Buffalo Calf Road Woman was a Northern Cheyenne woman who saved her wounded warrior brother, Chief Comes in Sight, at the Battle of the Rosebud on June 17, 1876. She fought alongside her husband, Black Coyote, at the Battle of the Little Bighorn during the Great Sioux War on June 25, 1876.

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Tom Cunningham July 24, 2021 at 2:43 PM The government at the time were good at going back on their word and ignoring treaties, they weren't worth the paper they were written on and they wonder why the Native Americans fought back. Tom Dennis Spilchuk July 25, 2021 at 5:40 AM The US government engaged in "Wars of Aggression" on the Native Americans, i.e. the Lakota Sioux etc. beginning with the "Indian Removal Act of 1830." Thank you for your thoughtful and caring comment.