Customer Reviews

Wooden Leg : A Warrior Who Fought Custer

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About five months ago I became a father to a beautiful and wonderful little boy. Every time I look at him and hold him I think of him as a gift. I don't mean that in a religious way, because that is not my belief. I am currently reading Wooden Leg for the second time in about 10 years. In reading this book, I realized that it too is a gift. Thomas Marquis, Wooden Leg and his Cheyenne compatriots who gave of their time and memories accomplished a tremendous service to the literature and history of a time that we will never see again. It was a beautiful life, though, to be sure, it had its share of horrors. In this book you will learn about nineteenth century Cheyenne culture and religion. You will read and be enthralled at Wooden Leg's recounting of Custer's Last Stand. Marquis, who acted as his own interpreter through sign language, did a wonderful job at arranging and organizing all of the stories related to him to make it into a cohesive read. I am very surprised that I am the first to review this book. Other "gift" books include Plenty Coups, Two Leggings and Memoirs of a White Crow Indian (the story of Thomas Leforge). I could go on, but this is a wonderful start. Enjoy these gifts and share them with someone special.

Though I am not finished yet I have to say that it is a very informative book on the indian way of life. If thats what you buy this book for then you wont be disappointed. By the title you would think it was all about the Little Big Horn battle and though I'm sure it will come to that, so far (one third though the book)it has only mentioned life of the plains indians and how they built their tee pees, how they war'd against each other and also fought together. As I said I haven't finished yet but I like what I've read so far.

I know there'll be disagreement, but Wooden Leg speaks with a rather crooked tongue! He, understandably conceals the truth about his part in the Custer battle. He claims that few rifles and pistols were had by the Indians and further, that there was no celebrations that night! Hard, hard to believe!! Especially if you read accounts from the Reno Hill Battle. There were lots of fires, dancing night attacks on the soldiers.
Wooden Leg claims that most of the soldiers killed themselves and the Indians did little killing! His claim of use of thousands of arrows and few rifles or pistols by Indians led to most other deaths!
He understandably doesn't claim that he actually shot at any soldiers, only fired in their direction. I find this very hard to believe, especially since he was such a brave young warrior who had killed several Indians during raids on other tribes.
It is fascinating reading for information about tribal ways, customs and behavior.
Read it for that rather than an account of his "fight against Custer," since according to his tale, he spent most of his time riding about the battlefield, only to just miss the killing.
A huge grain of salt is in order and more reading of other Indian versions of the clash.

You'll never read a more descriptive book of the political and social milieu of the Plains Indians. The first half describes Northern Cherokee life in the mid 19th century as Wooden Leg was growing up. It was a revelation to me that Indian women then are just like women now, but the way they handled their "issues" then will shock you. The second half is devoted to Little Big Horn. I will not give it away, it's like nothing you ever read about the battle before. Remember, this book is an "as told to" a doctor account in 1922, while memories were still fresh and corrobation was still possible. The author didn't publish his notes until 1955.