Battle of Warbonnet Creek

The Battle of Warbonnet Creek was a skirmish characterized by a duel between "Buffalo Bill" Cody and a Cheyenne young warrior named Heova'ehe or Yellow Hair (often incorrectly translated as 'Yellow Hand'). The engagement is often referred to as the First Scalp for Custer because of this incident. It occurred July 17, 1876, in Sioux County in northwestern Nebraska.

After the defeat of George A. Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn, many Native Americans joined with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, encouraged by the Indians' success. About 200-300 Cheyenne warriors with their families of Morning Star's band also known as Dull Knife, set out from the Spotted Tail and Red Cloud agencies in Nebraska.

The United States Army had brought the U.S. 5th Cavalry Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Asa Carr, from Oklahoma to a position on the Cheyenne River in South Dakota to guard against such an occurrence. Carr was replaced in command on July 1 by Colonel Wesley Merritt, and when news of the Battle of the Little Big Horn reached General George Crook on July 5, the 5th Cavalry was ordered to reinforce Crook on Goose Creek in Montana. However word of the breakout of the Cheyenne also reached Merritt, and guided by "Buffalo Bill" Cody, Merritt was able to intercept the Cheyenne warriors.

Merritt planned an ambush. The veteran cavalry officer hid most of his 350 troopers inside covered wagons and posted sharpshooters nearby but out of sight. Spotting Merritt's seemingly unescorted wagon train along Warbonnet Creek, a small war party of 6 Cheyenne warriors charged directly into the trap to divert attention from the main body of Cheyenne. A few warriors were wounded by the troopers, but the only real action of the engagement was a "duel" between "Buffalo Bill" and a Cheyenne warrior named Heova'ehe (translated as Yellow Hair). Cody pulled his Winchester carbine and killed the Indian, then pulled out a Bowie knife and scalped him. The rest of the warriors after an attempt to rescue the small war party, fled seeing the main body of soldiers revealed, so quickly that not a single trooper was killed or injured. Merritt then complied with his orders to join Crook, whose expedition then linked up with that of General Alfred H. Terry, bringing a combined strength of the U.S. force to about 4,000.

Ever the showman, Buffalo Bill returned to the stage in October, his show highlighted by a melodramatic reenactment of his duel with Yellow Hair. He displayed the fallen warrior's scalp, feather war bonnet, knife, saddle and other personal effects.

Other References

 * Dillon, Richard H. (1983). North American Indian Wars.
 * Greene, Jerome A. "Lakota and Cheyenne: Indian Views of the Great Sioux War, 1876-1877"