Scout and Interpreter Isaiah Dorman: “Wasicum Sapa,” the Black White Man

I initially planned this post for mid-May. It was May 14, 1876 when Custer hired Isaiah Dorman as a scout and interpreter. However, with this month observed as Black History Month, the post belongs here first. One attribute that set Dorman apart was his skin color.

Various Indian tribes called black soldiers “buffalo soldiers,” reportedly because the soldiers’ dark, tightly curled hair resembled that of a buffalo. However, black enlistees were relatively rare on the northern plains, even as late as 1876.

Dorman was not a buffalo soldier, as such. He was civilian recruited and hired for a military expedition. His knowledge and skills made him invaluable. Dorman’s background is of interest.

It is feasible that Dorman was an escaped slave. A family by the name of D’Orman in the Alabama/Louisiana area reported a runaway slave named Isaiah. Historical records seem unclear. More reliable accounts, however, indicate Dorman was a free man whose employment took him westward during America’s Civil War. Regardless, Dorman knew freedom on the northern plains, and he made the most of it.

A National Park Service post states that Dorman was born a freeman in Water Street, Pennsylvania. Apparently his father was African-Jamaican while his mother was part African and part Delaware Indian.

The post states Dorman helped build Fort Ridgely, in Minnesota in 1853. He then worked as a “servant” for General Alfred Sully at Fort Kearny, Nebraska, then in Virginia during America’s Civil War, and then in Dakota Territory in 1864.

After 1865 Dorman worked cutting wood in Dakota Territory. He married Celeste St. Pierre, a Sioux woman, and they supplied firewood to steamboats and horses to the U.S. Army. In 1866-67 Dorman worked carrying mail between Forts Rice and Wadsworth in Dakota Territory. Historian Thom Hatch states it was a good role for Dorman, who was trusted by the Sioux as he traveled through their lands.

Having married a Sioux Indian woman and lived among Sioux bands (possibly including Sitting Bull’s), Isaiah Dorman became known to the tribe as “wasicum sapa,” or “black white man.” The name, of course, referred to his skin color. He was also called “Cetan Sapa,” or Black Hawk.

In 1867 Dorman was hired as a post interpreter at Fort Rice, which sometimes served as a meeting place for area tribes. He was able to read and write, and he also spoke the Sioux or Lakota tongue fluently. Dorman later served as a scout for railroad survey expeditions, and he would serve as an interpreter on military expeditions.

 One piece of evidence especially seems to support the belief that Dorman was born a free man. In a letter preserved in our National Archives, Dorman asked General Alfred Terry for a pay rate equal to the dangers of carrying mail through hostile territory. He made a good argument for it. The letter demonstrates not just excellent penmanship but also a fine command of the English language.

Unless that letter had been written by someone else on Dorman’s behalf, it shows he was well educated. That would have been unlikely for a slave. Some sources say others enlisted Dorman to help them with writing letters and even military reports.

Life changed for Dorman in 1875 when Captain Frederick Benteen became the post commander at Fort Rice. Benteen seemed biased toward the notion that black men were less competent. He apparently made life more difficult for Dorman.

However, Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer soon honored Dorman by commandeering him from Benteen,  his rival and subordinate. On May 14, 1876 Custer issued Special Order #2, which transferred Dorman to Custer’s command at Fort Abraham Lincoln. Dorman would serve as a scout and interpreter as the Dakota Column marched toward its destiny on the Little Bighorn.

Benteen also joined that expedition, but Dorman now reported to Custer. On his final assignment, Dorman and most of the column’s scouts were sent with Major Marcus Reno in his attack on the south end of a huge, combined village of nontreaty Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho. Sadly, had Dorman been under Benteen’s command he likely would have survived.

Like others in Reno’s disorganized retreat, Dorman and another scout died after their horses were shot from beneath them. Witnesses later stated Dorman fought honorably to the end along with the scout Lonesome Charley Reynolds as Reno’s soldiers fled.

Some accounts say Sitting Bull found the mortally wounded Dorman and gave him water. Most say squaws found Dorman and tormented him in death until his friend Sitting Bull shooed them away. The Sioux felt betrayed because Dorman was married to a member of their tribe; he had then scouted against them after living among them. His body, like nearly all others at the Little Bighorn, was found mutilated in various ways.

Stories vary, but all agree Dorman served honorably and invaluably until his death on June 25, 1876 on the Little Bighorn.

Note: It is coincidental that Dorman rode out from Fort Abraham Lincoln on his final mission. That fort was located next to a former Mandan village. It was at a nearby Mandan village that Lewis and Clark’s expedition met and wintered with a village of Mandans in 1804-1805.

The Indians found Clark’s slave York a curiosity. They reportedly attempted to wipe the dark color off his skin, as they had never before seen a black man. The scene was portrayed by renowned artist Charlie Russel, who went west as a boy in 1886 and spent much of his life upstream around the Missouri River in central Montana.

Also related: Black trapper, trader and scout Jim Beckwourth was a contemporary and companion of the famed Jim Bridger. Beckwourth married into the Crow tribe; apparently treated him as a chief. Beckwourth is believed to have died among the Crows around the time Red Cloud’s War in 1866 or 1867.