Wooden Leg (American Indians (Ready Reference series))
Author Profile
Wooden Leg, camping with Cheyenne and Sioux people near the Powder River in March of 1876, was attacked by troops led by Colonel J. J. Reynolds. Subsequently, he was with those who escaped to the shelter of Sitting Bull’s encampment on the Little Bighorn River when Custer attacked. Following Custer’s destruction, his family did not follow the ill-fated group led by Dull Knife and Little Wolf; Wooden Leg would live to write of the “Fort Robinson outbreak” by the Cheyenne imprisoned there. He was part of the Ghost Dance movement in 1890.
In his autobiography, he recounts these major historical events and explains the problems of adjusting to reservation living, especially the experience of monogamy and being forced to give up one of his wives. His appearance and survival at such a unique time in American Indian history and his apprehension of the need to record these events earned him an important place in history.
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