According to White Bull the Santee who took Custer's
horse just after the battle at the Little Bighorn was
Noisy Walking (aka Noisy Walker aka Sound the Ground
as He Walks). He was the son of the Wahpekute chief
Inkpaduta, the leader of the Santee and Yanktonais camp
at the LBH. Maybe Grey Tracks was another name of him.
His twin brother Tracking White Earth was wounded
at the battle and later died of his wounds in Canada.
Charles Eastman, who was related to Inkpaduta, said
that “for twenty years the Western Sioux claimed that
one of his sons killed Custer. It is possible, but there
is no proof. (…) it is true that the warriors of the
western Sioux had the greatest regard for the bravery
of Inkpaduta´s sons in battle.”
Inkpaduta and his band were much hated by the Americans,
no wonder his descendants hid their identity and knowledge
about the Custer fight in fear of retaliation.
the Little Bighorn Battle Inkpaduta (or Red Top) and his
band fled to Canada with Sitting bull.
There Inkpaduta died in 1881. —
were several descendants living in Canada, even in 1934
there were two of his sons, Little Spirit (Wanagi Ciquana)
and Charley Maku and also a daughter living near Pipestone
Reservation in Manitoba.
best sources I have about Inkpaduta and his sons are Doane
Robinson´s “History of the Dakota or Sioux Indians”
(Ross & Haines, Minneapolis 1967) although he presented
Inkpaduta like a kind of villain, and Maxwell Van Nuys´
“Inkpaduta – The Scarlet Point” (1998) who gave a more
balanced view of the Santee chief. —
had many children, including two sets of twin sons. One
set of twins Gray Earth Track (AKA Sounds the Ground When
He Walks, and Noisy Walking) and White Earth Tracking
chased the trooper who fled from LBH. White Earth Tracking
was mortally wounded by the trooper. Gray Earth Track
shot the trooper to death and took his horse. He later
claimed the man he had killed (some miles from the battlefield)
was Custer and the powerful sorrel horse he captured was
Vic. Of course the Indians did not know it was Custer
until later, so the claim came much later. This son of
Inkpaduta kept and rode the white faced, white stockinged
horse for another twenty years. Of course, it was not
Vic. — Walt Cross
heard that Gray Tracks/Sounds the ground when he walks/Noisy
Walking died in Canada in 1878 or around that date, his
brother kept the horse. The descendants were enrolled
at Standing Rock and Cheyenne River.
daughter married a Bull Ghost and End Of Horn here on
Standing Rock. Two sons were enrolled at Cheyenne River,
one son enrolled at Spirit Lake and one enrolled at Sisseton.
of Inkpaduta 's wife and two children was with the group
of Ihuntonwan at Whitestone, when the massacre happened.
The son was called Little Ghost.
is considered a hero to many native people, We honored
him by keeping his family safe. Today we can talk about
his relatives and who they are but even 50 years ago no
one would speak his name in fear of the government. Today
we have young people named after him to celebrate their
victory in war.
— Ladonna Brave Bull Allard
is the photo and some text from the book of Mark Diedrich:
date and photographer unknown. This photo, published here
for the first time, was only recently discovered, and
is purportedly of Inkpaduta, the notorious Wahpekute Dakota
chief. No known photograph of him was thought to exist.
Yet, this slightly out of focus portrait portrays an Indian
who fits Inkpaduta´s general facial description
-- long, slim face, with high cheekbones, sunken sully
eyes, and a large mouth with unusually big canine teeth.
If it indeed is Inkpaduta, it probably was taken before
the 1857 Spirit Lake massacre, and it was apparently turned
up by Frank Heriott, an authority on the Inkpaduta troubles
in Iowa. (from Mark Diedrich: "Famous Chiefs of the
Eastern Sioux" Coyote Books 1987)
if it is Inkpaduta at all, I don't think the photograph
could have been made before 1857. I haven't seen many
photos taken "in the field", when photo techniques
hadn't developed so far. —