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| Isaiah Dorman, the only black man known to have been present during the Battle of the Little Bighorn, was married to a young woman from the Santee Sioux trip. He had worked as a trader and trapper, and eventually settled at Fort Rice in the Dakota Territory. There he worked cutting wood for the fort. Written records indicate that he was a large, strong man, and could cut a cord of wood faster than his helper could stack it.
Dorman knew the Sioux language, and he knew the land. In November of 1865, the post commander and quartermaster hired Dorman to carry mail between Ft. Rice and Ft. Wadsworth — a 360-mile round trip. He apparently made the journey with little effort. He was rehired in 1867 to do the same job because it was too dangerous for soldiers to carry the mail. Dorman was 55 when Custer was setting off for the LIttle Bighorn. Custer himself issued a special order that Isaiah should be brought along as an interpreter. Dorman was reportedly anxious to see his Indian friends again. He could never have envisioned how that meeting would go. Dorman was pinned under his dead horse just after Reno’s short-lived charge into the Indian village. George Herendeen, one of Reno’s scouts, said “I saw Indians shooting at Isaiah and squaws pounding him with stone hammers. His legs below the knees were shot full of bullets.” Apparently the Sioux had recognized him and were angry that he was riding with the white cavalry. |
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