Little Thunder

Little Thunder (Wakiŋyaŋ Čikala, * around 1820, † 1879 ) was a Brulé Lakota (Wazhazha band ).

Life

After Conquering Bear's death as a result of the Grattan massacre in 1854, Little Thunder took over the management of the Brulé group. Little Thunder was born around 1820. Physically, Little Thunder was a giant for the time with a length of over 1.90 meters. In addition, he was said to have an outstanding intelligence. In 1855 Little Thunder and his group of around 250 Brulé Lakota fell victim to the US campaign of revenge under General William S. Harney . On September 3, 1855, Harney and 600 men attacked the Indian camp on Blue Water Creek in western Nebraska. Among the leading figures of the Little Thunder group, Spotted Tail stood out, who tried with the courage of desperation to counter Harney's attack in order to gain time for the women and children to flee. Nevertheless 86 Indians, the majority women, children and old people, fell victim to this attack by the Americans. Around 70 women and children were captured. Little Thunder and Spotted Tail survived the fight, seriously injured.

Little Thunder meets Richard Francis Burton

In the winter of 1855, Harney asked Little Thunder to take part in peace negotiations at Fort Pierre . Little Thunder and his peace faction complied and signed a treaty, which was not ratified by the United States Senate . In the following years, Little Thunder was viewed by the Americans as the chief of the Brulé Sioux . The English travel journalist Richard Francis Burton met Little Thunder at Fort Laramie in 1860 . The old chief complained to Burton that the food deliveries contracted in 1851 were being misappropriated by the agent at the time.

In later years, Little Thunder settled with the Ring (Thunder) band at Cut Meat Creek on the Rosebud Reservation. Little Thunder's grandson Frank told George E. Hyde that Little Thunder had died in Milk's Camp on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota, around 1879.

Family relationships

• Father: Black Moon or Chief Big Thunder
• Mother: unknown
• Siblings: At least five brothers, but all of whom were killed by the Pawnees around 1843 .

literature

• Kingsley M. Bray: Crazy Horse - A Lakota Life , University of Oklahoma Press, Lincoln 2006, ISBN 0-8061-3785-1
• Donovin Arleigh Sprague: Rosebud Sioux (English), Arcadia Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-7385-3447-1
• Richard Burton: The City of the Saints, Among the Mormons and Across the Rocky Mountains to California. 1861