AUGUST 12, 1904

CROW SCOUT MEE-NAH-TE-HASH (WHITE SWAN) DIED

Born between 1850 and 1852, White Swan (also “White Goose” & “Strikes Enemy”) lost his wife in 1873 and never remarried.  Shortly after, he became a scout for the 7^th Cavalry enlisting twice in 1876 & once in 1877.  The Crow allied with the U.S. Army to fend off encroachment on their lands by the Sioux and Cheyenne.  On June 25, 1876, he was one of six Crow scouts, including his first cousin Curly, assigned to Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer.  They advised Custer not to go into the Little Big Horn.  White Swan was with Major Reno in the ensuing battle where he lost the lower half of his right hand, took a bullet in the thigh, and lost his hearing.  He was saved by Half Yellow Face during the retreat.  Despite being disabled, White Swan remained a scout through 1881.  In 1894, crippled and unable to hear or speak, he created a series of drawings on pages from an accounting ledger book to explain his role in the famous battle.  He is buried in Custer National Cemetery in section A, grave number 460.

Source:  "White Swan, Crow," American-Tribes.com.  Retrieved, 6/8/2020, http://www.american-tribes.com/Crow/bio/WhiteSwan.htm
Photo:  Frank Reinhart (1861-1928), 1898.  Public Domain.