32 Facts About White Swan

At the Battle of the Little Bighorn in the Crow Indian Reservation, White Swan went with Major Reno's detachment, and fought alongside the soldiers at the south end of the village.

White Swan was treated in a temporary Army hospital at the junction of the Bighorn and Yellowstone rivers.

At the Crow encampments on Pryor Creek, other returning scouts reported that White Swan had died, but he survived his wounds.

In photographs, White Swan had a scar on his forehead where he had been struck with a war club in a separate battle with a Sioux warrior.

When he could no longer be an Army scout, White Swan began to produce drawings that represented key events in his life, including events of the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

White Swan's wife had died when he was only 23 before he became an army scout, and he did not remarry.

White Swan lived for a time with an aunt, "Strikes By The Side Of The Water" who was the mother of Curly, another Crow scout, and he and Curly were known in the Crow Agency community as brothers, though their personalities were said to be the opposite of each other.

White Swan is buried in the National Cemetery at the Little Bighorn Battlefield at a location described below.

White Swan was born in approximately 1851 though some sources state his birth date was in 1850 or 1852.

White Swan had been raised in the traditional manner of his tribe, and would have acquired warrior status in his early teens through deeds of bravery.

White Swan married, but his wife died in 1873, before his enlistment as an army scout.

However the Great Sioux War of 1876 that engulfed the life of White Swan, started because the US Government had its own larger agenda.

Troopers with Reno later recounted how White Swan, though wounded, wanted to continue fighting, and disabled though he was, tried to crawl back to the firing lines.

White Swan was carried on the Far West about 40 to 50 river miles down the Bighorn to the Yellowstone, where he was left in a temporary hospital facility with some of the less seriously wounded soldiers.

Curly and Half Yellow Face had not gone with the other scouts to the Crow Village, and had returned with Gibbon to the mouth of the Big Horn where White Swan was in the temporary army hospital.

White Swan was sufficiently badly wounded that his recovery was delayed.

Records show that White Swan was discharged from Army scout duty in September 1876, but reenlisted in the Army for scouting activities in November 1877, through it is unlikely his wounds were healed by this time.

White Swan continued a recovery from his wounds, but suffered disabilities from them for the rest of his life.

White Swan continued to be limited by his battle wounds.

White Swan had lost the lower half of his right hand, and he had a right wrist that was permanently deformed to bend sharply inward.

White Swan was deaf and dumb, reportedly from a blow to his forehead by a war club in a battle with a Sioux warrior, probably at a time different than the Little Bighorn Battle.

In 1894 White Swan was crippled and unable to hear or speak.

White Swan died leaving no direct descendants and there were no indication of adoptive children, further indicating a limited group of close Crow relatives, by blood or clan, unusual in the Crow culture.

White Swan drew and painted on larger sheets of muslin canvas, showing multiple deeds from his life.

White Swan has emerged in Crow history as a talented artist.

White Swan would have needed income after he had ceased to be an army scout and living at Crow Agency, just a few miles from the site of the famous battle, he found a ready market for this art.

White Swan's art showing his war deeds ideally captured the essence of the Indian warrior tradition based on heroic acts.

When living at Crow Agency on the Little Bighorn river, White Swan had a tepee which had drawings around the lower portion that depicted the Custer battle.

White Swan's art is drawing increasing attention from collectors, and they have been the subject of exhibits, and the subject of University thesis.

Some of White Swan's works were collected as part of the Paul Dyck collection of Plains Indians art and artifacts, and are now part of the collection at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming.

White Swan died on August 12,1904, at the age of 53 or 54.

White Swan was buried at the Little Bighorn National Cemetery in the section set apart for veterans.