View source for Crow scouts

{{infobox military unit
|unit_name=Crow Scouts
|image=[[File:Crow Scouts 1913.jpg|300px]] 
|caption=Crow scouts visiting the Little Bighorn battlefield, circa 1913. From left to right; White Man Runs Him, Hairy Moccasin, Curly and Goes Ahead.
|dates=1876 - 1877
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|allegiance={{flag|United States of America}}
|branch=[[United States Army]]
|type=[[United States Army Indian Scouts|Indian scouts]]
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|battles=[[Great Sioux War]]<br>
*[[Battle of the Little Big Horn]]
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|notable_commanders=[[George A. Custer]]
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'''Crow Scouts''' were first used by the [[United States Army]] in 1876 during the [[Great Sioux War]]. Because the [[Crow Nation|Crow]] tribe was generally peaceful with the [[United States|Americans]], the army was able to enlist  Crow [[warrior]]s to help track [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|native Americans]] they perceived to be hostile. A small group of Crow scouts witnessed [[General officer|General]] [[George A. Custer]]'s defeat at the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] and later some former scouts fought in the [[Crow War]] of 1887.<ref name=autogenerated1>http://www.bridgestree.org/documents/Custers_Scouts_at_Little_Big_Horn.pdf</ref>

==Service History==
===Great Sioux War===
[[File:Curley.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Curly, by David F. Barry, {{circa 1876}}.]]
{{Main|Great Sioux War}}

 In April 1876 the small Crow tribe was living under army control at the [[Crow Agency, Montana|Crow Agency]] in [[Montana]]. The [[Sioux]] and [[Cheyenne people|Cheyenne]] were traditional enemies of the Crow so at the beginning of the Great Sioux War, several Crow warriors enlisted to guide Custer's expedition to the [[Little Bighorn River]]. Six Crow scouts and thirty-nine [[Arikara people|Arikara]] scouts witnessed the Battle of the Little Big Horn, from June 25 to 26. Custer, leading over 500 men, intended to crush at least 900 encamped Cheyenne, Sioux and [[Arapaho people|Arapaho]] warriors by delivering a three-pronged assault but ultimately the Americans were repulsed, leading to the deaths of over 250 soldiers. Four of the scouts, [[Curly]], [[Goes Ahead]], [[Hairy Moccasin]] and [[White Man Runs Him]] rode with Custer's column while two others, Half Yellow Face and [[White Swan, Crow Indian Scout|White Swan]] rode with [[Major]] [[Marcus Reno]]. Custer's scouts were relieved just before the beginning of the main battle because they changed out of their blue uniforms and put on their tribal wear. The scouts angered Custer and said they wanted to die like warriors, not as soldiers. Seventeen year old Curly refused to leave though but through the insistence of [[Mitch Bouyer]], a mixed-blood [[French Canadian|French]] and [[Lakota people|Lakota]] guide, the young man was convinced to depart with the other three scouts. Curly watched the fight through a spy glass, from the top of a ridge, about a mile and a half away from the battlefield. When the fighting was over he eluded Sioux horsemen for two days until finally reaching the [[steamboat]] ''Far West'' at the confluence of the Little Bighorn and [[Bighorn River]]s. Using [[sign language]], Curly was able to communicate the first report of Custer's defeat.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> 

After being relieved, White Man Runs Him, Goes Ahead, Hair Moccasin and the Arikara scout Strike the Bear joined up with Reno's column and the other two scouts. They were briefly engaged in battle from the top of a ridge, repulsing a Sioux charge. All of them survived and retreated with Major Reno, except White Man Runs Him who continued fighting under [[Colonel]] [[John Gibbon]] who rescued Reno's men on June 26. When the war was over, the Crow scouts were no longer needed and subsequently disbanded like the Arikara and Sioux scouts. However, in 1887, some former scouts were involved in the brief Crow War during which the United States Army fought a successful battle against hostile Crows just north of the Little Bighorn battlefield.<ref name=autogenerated1 />

==See also==
*[[White Swan, Crow Indian Scout]]
*[[Hairy Moccasin]]
*[[White Man Runs Him]]
*[[Goes Ahead]]
*[[Curly]]
*[[Apache Scouts]]
*[[Navajo Scouts]]
*[[Pawnee Scouts]]
*[[Black Seminole Scouts]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crow Scouts}}
[[Category:United States Army Indian Scouts]]
[[Category:Military history of the United States]]
[[Category:History of Montana]]
[[Category:Great Plains]]
[[Category:American Old West]]
[[Category:Great Sioux War of 1876]]