Iron Shell - Biography

Biography

Tukiha Maza (Iron Shell) was born c. 1820. Iron Shell was the son of Sicangu Chief Bull Tail. "Sicangu" meant "burnt thighs", the name given to some of the Lakota people who had been caught in a prairie fire that burned their legs. The French later gave them the name Brulé.

During a raid on the Pawnee by the Brulé in 1843, Iron Shell received recognition for his actions. Thirteen years later, at Fort Pierre, under Little Thunder, Iron Shell was made a sub-chief of the Brules. Iron Shell became chief of the Brulé's Orphan Band during the Powder River War of 1866-1868. When General Harney and his troops made a surprise attack in 1855 against the Brulé at present day Lewellen, Nebraska, Chief Iron Shell was there and fought against Harney's troops. Two of Iron Shell's wives were captured that day, though Iron Shell escaped. That confrontation constituted the largest loss of life through death or capture and loss of property that the Sicangu had ever experienced.

Chief Iron Shell led many attacks against the Omaha and Pawnee. On September 4, 1867, Chief Iron Shell and 180 of his followers arrived at North Platte. He eventually signed the Treaty of 1868 and settled in the Upper Cut Meat District on the Rosebud Reservation. He died in the 1870s and was buried near St. Francis, South Dakota.