Pretty Nose - Arapaho war chief

Pretty Nose (b.1851-d.c.1952) was a war chief of the Arapaho people. Her red, black and white beaded cuffs signaled her rank. She distinguished herself by fighting at the Battle of The Little Bighorn in 1876 where the Arapaho, Lakota and Northern Cheyenne defeated the U.S. army.

The above photography was taken at Fort Keogh in 1878. Pretty Nose lived for the rest of her life at a reservation. She was still alive in 1952 and saw her grandson, Mark Soldier Wolf, come back from the Korean War in 1952. By a clear spring morning, Soldier Wolf was reunited with his 101-year-old grandmother. Pretty Nose wore a buckskin dress with elk teeth and her cuffs.

When she saw him, Pretty Nose began to sing a war song. As her grandson later recalled: “It was really something when she sang that song. It didn’t sadden me, just put more strength into me and I wished I could have just stayed there with that song.”(Click here if you want to listen to the song sung by her grandson).

Warrior women of the Little Bighorn:

-Buffalo Calf Road Woman

-Susie Shot-In-the-Eye 

-Minnie Hollow Wood

-Moving Robe Woman

References:

Ahtone Tristan, “The story of Soldier Wolf”

Hall Alan R., A Man Called Plenty Horses, The Last Warrior of the Great Plains War