Rain-in-the-Face: Legend, Folklore and Conflict with the Custers

Like most accounts involving oral tradition, that of Lakota warrior Rain-in-the-Face is clouded with vagueness and contradictions. Much of his life after the Little Bighorn has been the topic of written history, but even that is often contradictory. This warrior has been the subject of poetry, folklore, legend and even mystery.

His Name

It is believed Rain-in-the-Face was born around 1835 in what is now North Dakota. Even the origin of his name is subject to varying accounts and speculation. One version states that as a child he was left out in a cradle or cradle board while his mother worked. When rain began to fall it dotted or streaked his exposed face before she could move him to shelter.

Other accounts include that his face was bloodied in a boyhood fight with a young Cheyenne, and then rain fell and streaked the blood. Yet another states that as an older boy he was involved in an all-day fight against Gros Ventres. Again, his face was bloodied and the blood was streaked by rain. He later allegedly stated he once painted his face for battle and rain streaked the mix of red and black face paint.

Early Exploits

Rain-in-the-Face did not become a chief as such, but he appears to have been something of a warrior leader. He participated in Red Cloud’s War, including the well known 1866 Fetterman Fight and raids against forts in Dakota Territory. He gained notoriety, however, in 1873 and 1874, overlapping into 1875.

1873 Yellowstone Expedition

During the 1873 Yellowstone Expedition, cavalry escorted the survey party for the proposed Northern Pacific Railroad. The route crossed what was designated as Unceded Territory in which tribes, by treaty, could carry out their traditional hunts. Both treaty and non-treaty tribes hunted there.

Two members of the expedition wandered out on their own, apparently looking for fossils common in the area. They had been warned not to. Neither was scalped, apparently due to baldness or short-cropped hair. However, their bodies were found dead, shot full of arrows and badly mutilated.

Conflict With Custer

In December 1874 the scout Lonesome Charlie Reynolds was at the Standing Rock Agency. He observed a “scalp dance” in progress. It was common at such gatherings for warriors to recount their exploits. “Beating one’s own drum” was standard in Sioux culture and events. During the dance Reynolds heard Rain-in-the-Face boasting that he had killed the survey expedition members.

Reynolds reported what he had heard to Custer at Fort Abraham Lincoln. Custer sent a detachment to arrest Rain-in-the-Face. It included his brother Tom. When Reynolds pointed Rain-in-the-Face out in the agency’s trading post, Tom Custer was said to have grabbed the warrior from behind and pinned his arms while he was shackled.

Rain-in-the-Face was then taken to Fort Lincoln. He was locked in a guard house for several months, along with a civilian who had been caught stealing army grain. George Custer interviewed Rain-in-the-Face multiple times over those months, It appears these sessions were on amicable terms, and maybe even in Custer’s residence. No formal trial took place and no sentence was passed.

After a period of months Rain-in-the-Face escaped when someone tore planks from the guardhouse, possibly to aid the civilian. The occupants were well away before the sentry sounded an alarm. No discipline was carried out against the “negligent” guard; some speculate the escape was known and orchestrated by higher-ups as a way to make the matter go away without formalities and red tape.

After the incident, Rain-in-the-Face allegedly threatened to kill Tom Custer, cut his heart (or heart and liver) out and eat it. Maybe the threat was real. From that point on it falls into much folklore. It also smacks of mystery.

Frank Huston

The mystery includes Frank Huston, who called himself an “unreconstructed Reb.” Embittered by wrongs suffered in America’s Civil War, he went west and lived for years among the Sioux. More on Huston will be posted another time, but it’s noteworthy that he claimed to have witnessed Rain-in-the-Face’s arrest and later helped spring him from the guard house. He claimed Tom Custer kicked and slapped Rain-in-the-Face while the latter was restrained.

It is questionable whether Rain-in-the-Face was even present when the two civilians were killed in 1873. Being Hunkpapa Sioux rather than Oglala, he was likely hunting buffalo with his subtribe far away. He may have merely boasted of the killings as part of the scalp dance routine. 

Carrying Out The Threat

It is also questionable whether Rain-in-the-Face was present – at least on that part of the battlefield – when the Custers were killed. Indian accounts vary. It remains uncertain that he even made the famous threat against Tom, but folklore spun the tale bigger. The severe degree of brutal mutilation Tom’s body suffered adds to it.

Eye witnesses who found the bodies of Custer and his 7^th Cavalry comrades – including those who helped bury them – indicate Tom Custer’s heart was not cut out. His head had been pounded flat, his arms and thighs sliced open and his abdomen sliced open with entrails strewn out. The body was then shot full of arrows. The body could be identified only by known tattoos.

However, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow heard somewhere of Rain-in-the-Face’s threat. In 1878 he wrote a poem that championed the Indians’ plight. It also served to skew popular perceptions with its historical inaccuracies, including the lines . . .

And Rain-in-the-Face, in his flight,

          Uplifted high in air

          As a ghastly trophy, bore

          The brave heart that beat no more,

         Of the White Chief with yellow hair.

It implies the revenge was against George Custer, also called “Long Hair” and “Yellow Hair” by various tribes. It also, however, decries the “broken faith” that lay at the root of so many of the nation’s Indian conflicts.

Later Life

Rain -in-the-Face went to Canada with Sitting Bull’s band and finally returned and went onto an agency in 1881. Like Sitting Bull, he also toured with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. He later became an attraction at the 1893 World’s Fair. Eventually he learned to write his name and made money selling autographs.

It appears much of the confusion and folklore surrounding Rain-in-the-Face grew from this public attention. He was asked frequently if he had really carried out his supposed threat. At times he acknowledged doing so, apparently because he was badgered so frequently with that question.

Rain-in-the-Face even built on his response when questioned by a reporter. Whether he grew tired of the questioning or was under influence of alcohol, he replied that he had killed Tom Custer, cut his heart out, bit a piece off and spit it in Tom’s face.

Historians question the veracity, or even the logistical feasibility of such statements. It remains in question as to whether Indians present at the battle even recognized either Custer at the time, or if Rain-in-the-Face was near them.

Rain-in-the-Face may have had as many as seven wives over time, and one is thought to have stabbed him in a fit of jealousy. He is said to have asked that he be punished rather than the wife. More conflict may have followed, involving either that wife or another – or both.

Rain-in-the-Face eventually lived out his later years on the reservation, but he spoke willingly to anyone asking about the Little Bighorn. His accounts are described as varied and even, at times, “far-fetched.”  If so, they are like many other accounts that surround both him . . . and what happened at the Little Bighorn.