White Man Runs Him - (c.

Circa

Circa , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...

 1858 – June 2, 1929) was a Crow scout serving with George Armstrong Custer

George Armstrong Custer

George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Raised in Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1858, where he graduated last in his class...

’s 1876 expedition against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne that culminated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn

Battle of the Little Bighorn

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand and, by the Indians involved, as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, was an armed engagement between combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army...

.

Early life

Also known as White Buffalo That Turns Around, he was born into the Big Lodge Clan of the Crow nation, the son of Bull Chief and Offers Her
Red Cloth. At the age of about 18, he volunteered to serve as a scout with the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 on April 10, 1876, in its campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne, traditional enemies of the Crow.

Service as a scout

Originally assigned to the infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

, he was later transferred to Custer’s Seventh U.S. Cavalry. He scouted for Lt.

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 Charles Varnum

Charles Varnum

Charles Albert Varnum was a career United States Army officer. He was most noted as the commander of the scouts for George Armstrong Custer in the Little Bighorn Campaign during the Black Hills War, as well as receiving the Medal of Honor for his actions in a conflict following the Battle of...

’s column in the days preceding the battle. On June 25, 1876, he accompanied Varnum and Custer to the Crow’s Nest, a natural rock formation overlooking the Little Bighorn valley

Little Bighorn River

The Little Bighorn River is a tributary of the Bighorn River in the United States in the states of Wyoming and Montana. The Battle of the Little Bighorn was fought on its banks in 1876, as well as the Battle of Crow Agency in 1887....

, to assess the situation. The Crow scouts, including White Man Runs Him, Goes Ahead

Goes Ahead

Goes Ahead was a Crow scout for George Armstrong Custer’s 7th Cavalry during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne...

, Curley

Curley

Ashishishe , known as Curly , was a Crow scout in the United States Army during the Sioux Wars, best known for having been one of the few survivors on the United States side at the Battle of Little Bighorn. He did not fight in the battle, but watched from a distance, and was the first to report the...

, Hairy Moccasin

Hairy Moccasin

Hairy Moccasin was a Crow scout for George Armstrong Custer’s 7th Cavalry during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne...

 and others, advised Custer to wait for reinforcements. Custer refused their advice, however, and prepared to attack.

Convinced they were about to die in battle, the scouts took off their uniforms and donned Crow war clothing. When Custer demanded to know why, they responded that they wished to die as warriors rather than soldiers. Custer was angered by what he perceived as fatalism

Fatalism

Fatalism is a philosophical doctrine emphasizing the subjugation of all events or actions to fate.Fatalism generally refers to several of the following ideas:...

 and relieved them from further service about an hour before engaging in the final battle. White Man Runs Him retired to a ridge along with Goes Ahead, Hairy Moccasin, and Strikes That Bear to join Maj.

Major

Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

 Marcus Reno

Marcus Reno

Marcus Albert Reno was a career military officer in the American Civil War and in the Black Hills War against the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne...

. They were engaged briefly in battle but would survive the engagement. He then joined Col.

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 John Gibbon's

John Gibbon

John Gibbon was a career United States Army officer who fought in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars.-Early life:...

 column.

Later life and legacy

After the battle, he lived on the Crow reservation near Lodge Grass, Montana

Lodge Grass, Montana

Lodge Grass is a town in Big Horn County, Montana, United States. The population was 510 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Lodge Grass is located at ....

. He was the stepgrandfather of Joe Medicine Crow

Joe Medicine Crow

Joseph Medicine Crow is a Crow historian and author. He is also an enrolled member of the Crow Nation of Native Americans...

, a Crow tribal historian who used his grandfather’s stories as a basis for his later histories of the battle and grandfather to Pauline Small

Pauline Small

Pauline Small was the first woman to be elected to office in the Crow Tribe of Indians. In 1966 she was elected to Vice-Secretary of the Crow Tribal Council, holding office de facto to 1972, and served in various positions within the Crow Tribal Offices, many to do with supporting...

, the first woman elected to office in the Crow Tribe of Indians

Crow Nation

The Crow, also called the Absaroka or Apsáalooke, are a Siouan people of Native Americans who historically lived in the Yellowstone River valley, which extends from present-day Wyoming, through Montana and into North Dakota. They now live on a reservation south of Billings, Montana and in several...

. His status as a Little Big Horn survivor made him a minor celebrity late in life, and he even made a cameo appearance in the 1927 Hollywood movie, "Red Raiders".

White Man Runs Him lived the remainder of his life on the Crow reservation in the Big Horn Valley region of Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

, just a few miles from the site of the famous battle. He died there in 1929 and was buried in the cemetery at the Little Big Horn Battlefield.

His granddaughter was Pauline Small

Pauline Small

Pauline Small was the first woman to be elected to office in the Crow Tribe of Indians. In 1966 she was elected to Vice-Secretary of the Crow Tribal Council, holding office de facto to 1972, and served in various positions within the Crow Tribal Offices, many to do with supporting...

His Stepgrandson is Joe Medicine Crow

Joe Medicine Crow

Joseph Medicine Crow is a Crow historian and author. He is also an enrolled member of the Crow Nation of Native Americans...