Medicine Crow struck with his rifle and knocked the German’s weapon away.

In doing so, he satisfied one of the traditional requirements associated with Crow war leadership: taking an enemy weapon in direct combat.

But the encounter did not end there.

The two men grappled.

Medicine Crow was smaller, yet he managed to overpower the German.

In one account preserved by his family and USC, he began choking the soldier.

The German, terrified and losing consciousness, cried out for his mother.

That sound changed the moment.

Medicine Crow stopped.

He could have killed the man.