In the spring of 1876, a young Arikara scout named Running Wolf enlisted at Fort Lincoln to serve with the United States Army. He was one of seven warriors from his nation—Young Hawk, Horns in Front, Tall Bear, Foolish Bear, Red Foolish Bear, and Charging Bull—who signed on for a campaign that would take them deep into Montana Territory. They were led by Big John, a veteran Arikara scout, who guided them from Fort Berthold, through Fort Stevenson, and on to Bismarck, where they crossed the river by steamboat. On the following morning, they reported to headquarters under the direction of Fred Gerard, another scout, and were formally enlisted.

At the time, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer was away in Washington. The expedition would not begin until he returned six days later. When he did, the scouts were ordered to prepare for a parade. They marched in traditional Arikara dress, singing ancestral songs to mark the start of what promised to be a long and difficult campaign.

Custer led the procession with the white cavalry, while the chief scout, Lieutenant Charles Varnum, kept the scouts near his command. Rain delayed the early stages of the march. The column set up camp after camp as it moved west: a large flat near the Heart River, a spot the men called Turkey Buzzard Camp, another near Big Mountain, and one beyond that at a place they named Young Man’s Butte. Heavy mud slowed the wagons, and foot-sore horses forced some men to fall behind.

At one point, Red Foolish Bear returned with word that a soldier named Red Bear had been left behind with an exhausted horse. Bobtail Bull led a party back for him and returned by dawn. The army pressed into the badlands. Near the border of the territory, the men cut timber to build a bridge.

Orders came down that every man was to carry his own rations. They established camp after camp as they moved through the Little Missouri Valley, and then a sudden snowstorm dropped two to three feet of snow. It melted the next day, leaving the column to slog through mud along a ridge until they met a Crow scout named Crow Bear, who had brought mail from Powder River. He ate quickly and turned back.

The march continued. They descended into Beaver Creek, followed it to its end, crossed open prairie, and eventually reached a spot where the Powder River met the badlands. There, Custer visited Varnum’s tent and called for Bobtail Bull. He ordered seven scouts to ride ahead and find fresh Dakota tracks.

Young Hawk, Forked Horn, and One Feather from the Arikara, along with Karu, Martaka, Buffalo Body, and White Cloud from the Dakota, were told not to return until they had found signs of the enemy. Some white soldiers accompanied them. A steamboat was docked at the Powder River, and camp was set up nearby. Two ailing scouts, Horns in Front and Karu, were left behind under Tall Bear’s care.

The army crossed the Tongue River and made camp on a plateau, then moved again to a ridge near the Rosebud River. On the morning of the next move, Custer and his brother Tom came to speak with Bobtail Bull and Bloody Knife, with Gerard interpreting. Young Hawk reported that he had discovered a fresh Dakota trail and a camp along the river. A steamboat soon arrived with supplies.

Boxes of hardtack were distributed, and the scouts filled their saddlebags. Custer, busy with dispatches, selected six scouts to carry messages back to the base camp at Powder River: Foolish Angry Bear, Running Wolf, Howling Wolf, Curly Head, and Young Hawk. But Young Hawk and Goose were held back because of their value as trackers and sharpshooters, so four scouts were sent instead. They were told to remain at the base once the dispatches were delivered.

Reluctantly, they left the main column around midafternoon and rode through the night, stopping only briefly for breakfast, until they reached the Powder River camp at sunrise. By noon, Running Wolf was chosen to lead a new mission. He, Howling Wolf, Horns in Front, Tall Bear, Charging Up the Hill, and Curly Head were ordered to deliver dispatches from Fort Lincoln back to Custer. They rode until midnight, rested, and camped near the Rosebud the next morning.

At dusk, they spotted figures they believed to be Dakotas and hid in the timber until sunset. Tall Bear suggested turning back, but a white soldier insisted with signs and Dakota words that they complete the mission. They crossed the Rosebud at night, the water up to their armpits, and by late afternoon the next day arrived at the Big Horn camp, thinking it was Custer’s. It was not.

The figures they had seen were part of a returning party under an officer known to the Arikara as Strikes Two, coming back after the battle. It was there that Running Wolf and the others learned the outcome of the fight at the Little Bighorn. The Battle of the Little Bighorn had ended in catastrophe. Custer and every man under his immediate command were dead.

General Alfred Terry, known to the Arikara as Bearcoat, had taken command. A steamboat had arrived carrying wounded survivors. Two scouts, Crowbar and a white soldier, confirmed the grim news. Crowbar listed the fallen scouts by name: Bloody Knife, Bobtail Bull, Little Brave, Forked Horn, Red Foolish Bear, Young Hawk, and Goose.

Running Wolf’s friends, his fellow Arikara warriors, had been killed in the timber and ravines alongside the Seventh Cavalry. Terry visited the scout camp and gave Running Wolf his field glasses, ordering him to watch for the returning steamboat. Running Wolf and Charging Up the Hill carried out the task but saw nothing. The next day, Terry repeated the order, and Howling Wolf joined them.

That afternoon, Running Wolf heard a whistle. The steamboat had arrived. Wounded soldiers were carried off. Among them was Goose, his hand wrapped, draped in a blanket.

Running Wolf helped him ashore. Goose described the fight in the timber and said the others were following on foot. Soon the remaining survivors arrived: Young Hawk, Red Foolish Bear, Forked Horn, and Half Yellow Face, a Crow scout. Young Hawk reported that Bloody Knife, Bobtail Bull, and Little Brave had been killed.

He described the battle in the timber and ravine, and how he had held the reins of Little Brave’s horse during the fighting. The next morning, the wounded and Goose reboarded the boat. Terry and his command, with a chief the scouts knew as Red Nose, led the column onward. Terry ordered the scouts, including Running Wolf, Forked Horn, Charging Up the Hill, and Tall Bear, to scout for a Dakota crossing.

They returned ten days later to find that a soldier was missing and the camp had relocated to the Rosebud, now joined with the base camp at Powder River. Scouts were sent up the Rosebud to search for Sitting Bull. Midway, they met General George Crook leading soldiers and scouts, including Arapaho warriors. They followed the Dakota trail to the Tongue River, then on to the Powder River, camping in heavy timber.

A letter arrived with new orders. Seven scouts—Soldier, Black Fox, Charging Up the Hill, Boy Chief, Young Hawk, Running Wolf, and Karu—were sent to Crook’s camp. Crook ordered them to stay and scout, submitting reports every two days. While near Beaver Creek, Running Wolf and Young Hawk hunted alone before rejoining the others.

They encountered a cavalry unit and some Indians. Karu returned with orders that four scouts would relieve him. That night, short on rations, the scouts camped alone. Around midnight, Dakota warriors attacked.

The soldiers, caught off guard, retreated to a ridge. The cavalry mobilized after a bugle sounded, and the Dakotas withdrew. The scouts played only a minimal role in the skirmish. The group moved on to Soldier Butte, then to an abandoned Dakota camp near the Little Missouri, and finally to Custer’s former site near the Rosebud.

As the soldiers wrote letters to be sent to Fort Lincoln, Running Wolf, Young Hawk, and the others set off at sunset. They traveled through the night, stopping briefly at Young Man’s Butte and Sentinel, and arrived at Fort Lincoln by nightfall. Running Wolf was honorably discharged in January 1877. He had served Custer with loyalty, scouted with skill, and warned of what he had seen on the trail.

He survived when Custer did not. He carried the last messages of doomed men and witnessed the aftermath of a defeat that would be argued about for generations. The warnings he and the other scouts brought back—reports of a massive encampment of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho—were dismissed or underestimated by the commander who led his men into the valley of the Little Bighorn. Running Wolf’s name would be nearly erased from the popular telling of the battle, which centered on Custer’s last stand rather than the intelligence that preceded it.

His account survived in the memories of his people and in the records of the scouts who rode with him, a quiet reminder of what was known before the disaster and what was ignored.