Moving Robe Woman (Tȟašína Máni) — The Hunkpapa Lakota Woman Who Rode Into The Battle Of Little Bighorn After Learning Her Brother Had Been Killed

She was not simply a grieving sister who picked up a weapon — she was a Hunkpapa woman acting within a community that understood itself to be living through a prophetically significant moment, a fulfillment of what their greatest spiritual leader had foreseen.

Her courage was not separate from that context; it was part of it.

THE WINTER CAMPAIGN AND WHAT CAME AFTER

The victory at Little Bighorn set the stage for one of the most brutal military campaigns in the history of the American West.

The American public was outraged.

The Army was embarrassed and determined to restore its reputation.

Congress authorized additional troops and funding.

The military commanders who had failed to defeat the Lakota in the spring and early summer of 1876 were replaced by commanders with orders to pursue the non-treaty bands without mercy through the winter.