Bloody Knife - First Years As A Scout

First Years As A Scout

After working for the American Fur Company, Bloody Knife accompanied Brigadier General Alfred Sully in 1865 as a scout on his Sioux expedition. Bloody Knife proved useful to the group of Galvanized Yankees, prisoner soldiers from the Confederate States Army who served the Union in the America West instead of serving time in a prisoner-of-war camp at Fort Berthold. He also worked as a messenger, helping the troops to communicate with other military units in the area, which was still mainly controlled by the Sioux. In late 1865, Bloody Knife met with Captain Adams Bassett of Company C, Fourth U.S. Volunteer Infantry, whom he told that Gall had recently arrived near Fort Berthold, that Gall was not peaceful and had killed white men along the Missouri River. Bassett sent a lieutenant with a platoon and Bloody Knife to capture Gall or kill him if he would not surrender. Bloody Knife led the soldiers to the Hunkpapa village, south of the fort where Gall was staying. The men attempted to arrest Gall upon arrival, but when Gall tried to escape he was bayoneted and forced to the ground, and was twice stabbed with bayonets. The story goes that Bloody Knife took aim to administer a killing shot to Gall's head, but the officer in command knocked the shot wide, claiming Gall was already dead. Bloody Knife argued furiously with the officer to no avail. He departed, leaving Gall alive to become a Sioux war chief. However, since similar stories have been told about Gall attempting to kill Sitting Bull and being prevented, the story may be apocryphal.

In 1866, President Andrew Johnson authorized the formation of a force of Indian scouts when he signed the Indian Scout Enlistment Act. Bloody Knife enlisted as a corporal at Fort Stevenson in May 1868, but his early service was not without issue. Bloody Knife had a problem with alcohol that may have led to him deserting his post in September 1868. By 1872, the year of his involvement in the Yellowstone Expedition, he became a lance corporal.