Captain Ball’s Scout: A Portentous Taunt — Pictographic Trash Talk on the Greasy Grass

On April 24^th, 1876 Captain Edward Ball was sent out on a circuitous scouting mission. It would take him to the Little Bighorn River where, not two months later, Custer would meet his destiny. It would also include an ironic twist that would conclude in tragedy.

Captain Ball’s Bighorn River Scout

Ball was part of Colonel John Gibbon’s Montana Column. Gibbon’s assignment was to patrol the north bank of the Yellowstone River in order to keep “hostile” or non-treaty Indians from crossing the river northward. Gibbon would also try to locate “hostiles” south of the Yellowstone.

Ball took two companies of 2^nd Cavalry on a foray up the Bighorn River from its mouth at the Yellowstone. They would reach the old site of the abandoned Fort C.F. Smith before circling north and eastward. Their looping reconnaissance covered nearly 180 miles. One development would take an ironic turnabout.

After marching out from Fort Shaw, Montana Territory with his Seventh Infantry, Colonel John Gibbon had picked up two more companies of infantry and four cavalry companies at Fort Ellis near present-day Bozeman, Montana. The Fort Ellis troops had been under command of Major James Brisbin. In time he would make some questionable demands – at least of his scouts.

Up the Bighorn to Fort Smith

Captain Ball’ s mission would be a far less arduous and largely futile foray, however. It would be marked by frequent stops to rest horses and mules. The animals were already weakening and wearing down under the expedition’s demands.

The scouting detachment initially moved 75 miles up the Bighorn River drainage. On reaching the Fort Smith site, they noted its adobe walls were undisturbed and intact. Only the structures’ roofs had collapsed since the fort was abandoned in 1868.

Apparently a group of miners bound for the Black Hills had camped there just a few days prior. (It is uncertain how Ball or his command determined the group’s identity or destination.) Smith’s detachment also soon located the year-old site of a Cheyenne encampment. They found no Indians, though.

Leaving via the Little Bighorn

Finding no sign of the “hostiles” believed to be somewhere in that area, Ball took his troops north and eastward onto the Little Bighorn. Lieutenant Edward McClernand, an engineer, described a portion of it in his diary. It would later prove to be the area where a huge combined village of nontreaty tribes would encamp. Custer would descend on them there.

In his 1968 book Diaries of the Little Bighorn, Captain Michael Koury summarized journals of many soldiers, scouts and traders. He notes McClernand’s April 29^th entry as, “. . . we reached a point where the Little Big Horn washes a long, irregular line of hills on the right, while a short distance ahead, a picturesque valley opens on the left.” Less than two months later, the largest known gathering of Sioux and Cheyenne would encamp at that location. Then Custer would come.

Before leaving the area that ominously would soon be the site of Custer’s demise, a Crow scout left a message for the Sioux. Although done with apparent humor, it would prove ominous – but not for its intended recipients.

The Greasy Grass Pictographs: Trash Talk and Taunt Along the Little Bighorn

The scout, named Jackrabbit Bull, took an empty bread or hardtack box and scratched pictographs on it. Using charcoal to make his depictions, he stated they would should show the Sioux what Crows and soldiers would to do to them. Then he placed blades of green grass into the cracks in the box. He stated this would show the Sioux the events would take place before summer was over.

It is little wonder a Crow scout would take humorous satisfaction in such a taunt. The Crow had diminished in number over time, and the Sioux were more numerous and powerful. The two were long-time blood enemies. Crow numbers had diminished in part due to attacks by the Sioux and their allies. In fact, Sioux continued their attacks and raids after the Crow had settled on their established treaty agencies.

Tables would turn, however, on Jackrabbit Bull’s taunt – at least at the Little Bighorn.

The Tables Turned

On June 26^th Gibbon’s column approached that site again. They learned of Custer’s annihilation. McClernand made an interesting notation in his diary. He wrote,

“The fight taking place here reminds me of a taunt left by one of the Crow scouts not more than 3 or 4 miles up the valley during our scout over this same ground on April 29^th. . . It is somewhat strange that, considering the hundreds of miles we have marched, this taunt should have been left so near the spot where the one desperate fight of the campaign took place.”

Many, if not most, enjoy seeing trash talk quashed and taunts proved wrong. Many examples from today’s athletics come to mind. From the Sioux and Cheyenne perspective, maybe the same sense was felt, assuming they found and understood Jackrabbit Bull’s prediction.

We can only assume that someone in the huge, unprecedented gathering of Sioux and Cheyenne found the crate. Given subsequent rains and snows, it is unlikely the charcoal pictographs remained intact. If so, would the recipient(s) have understood them for what they were? If so, they had the last laugh over the taunt that had been left along the Little Bighorn.