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160:, unlike Vestal , did fight at the Little Big Horn and his report of Isaiah's last stand rings through. Rutten was on a horse that hated the odor of Indians so his immediate problem was how to stay in the saddle. During a wild ride he passed Isiaih, whose horse had been shot. The black man was on one knee, firing carefully with a non-regulation sporting rifle. He looked up and shouted, "Goodbye, Rutten.
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A horrific 16"x2" strip of "leather" skin was cut from Dorman's body during the mutilation. It was then dried and kept for decades by the natives as a war trophy. In 1986, Eugene
Burdick donated it to the North Dakota State Museum where it still rests today in storage. Afraid of Lightening sold it to
228:
A 2008 biography of
Sitting Bull by the prominent historian Robert Utley notes the incident in more detail. According to Utley, Dorman fell, badly wounded in the chest, and several warriors gathered around to finish the job. Dorman made a final plea in the Sioux language to "my friends", asking that
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were common at the time. Some writers on
Sitting Bull repeat the account as credible however, suggesting that it had little to do with sentimental notions of grand chivalry, but rather a practical gesture by the Sioux leader towards a doomed man. The water given and the 'stop order' was therefore a
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into the battle and was left behind when Reno retired across the river to the high bluffs. According to most accounts as in
Connell (1985), he gave a good account of himself- shooting several braves with a non-regulation sporting rifle. According to the account of one Indian survivor of the battle:
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Nowlan's official report on the 7th's 1876 Campaign, an item of $ 62.50 is listed as being owed to Dorman for services rendered in June 1876. A man named Isaac McNutt, who was a handyman at Ft Rice, attempted to claim the wages; but his claim was dismissed for lack of proof of connection. Dorman's
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named
Celeste St. Pierre. His Dakota name was "Cetan Sapa", or Black Hawk. He was known to the Sioux as "Azimpi". There are no known photographs of him, and the only existing descriptions describe him as "very big" and "very black". An Indian pictograph of Reno's retreat shows a black man in Army
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woman scouring the battlefield, dispatched Dorman with a rifle shot, and others following mutilated the body. This was done so that the enemy would not look good in the spirit world. Whatever the exact details most writers agree that Dorman was friendly with the
Indians, but this did not save him
176:) scouts, which had been slashed open and a willow branch stuck in the opening. To the Indians, mutilations were characteristic of different tribes and particular marks meant certain things. As for the torture, the Indians considered him a traitor who had fought with the bluecoats against them.
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We passed a black man in a soldier's uniform and we had him. He turned on his horse and shot an Indian right through the heart. Then the
Indians fired at this one man and riddled his horse with bullets. His horse fell over on his back and the black man could not get up. I saw him as I rode
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In
November 1865, he was hired to carry the mail on a 360-mile (580 km) round trip between Forts Rice and Wadsworth for $ 100 (~$ 1,990 in 2023) a month - good pay at the time. It is said that he had no
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The Sioux leader then dismounted, poured water into a buffalo-horn cup and gave it to the black man. His obligation thus discharged, Sitting Bull mounted up once more, and rode on. Eagle Robe (
172:. One odd detail reported is that his coffee pot and cup were filled with blood. A report that he had been 'sliced open' may be a translator's error; near his body was that of one of the Ree (
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131:. (At least one report says that Dorman had not started out with the rest of the Montana Column, but had caught up with it at the Rosebud with a message and when he attempted to return to
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Connell holds that Dorman and
Sitting Bull most likely knew each other, but doubts the veracity of the Sioux chief's drink offer, noting that similar stories of European style
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204:(Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1932), "Isaiah Dorman and the Custer Expedition" by Ronald McConnell, Journal of Negro History, 33 (July 1948), and
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Eugene in 1932. His father and grandfather fought in the battle and are likely to be the harvesters of this morbid trophy. See Other
Sources below.
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by E. A. Brininstool, 1925, 1989. Vestal relates that Dorman was shot and wounded by the Indians on the field of battle. The Sioux chief
50:. Date of births of both 1832 (in Philadelphia, as a freeman) and 1840 exist. Other records suggest that he was a slave in the 1840s in
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According to Connell 1985, white survivors tell a similar story. Dorman had been unhorsed but continued to fire at the Indians:
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The Negro asked for water and Sitting Bull took his cup of polished black buffalo horn, got some water and gave him to drink.
62:, where he supported himself by cutting wood for the garrison. He was on friendly terms with the Indians and probably knew
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115:; there are references to Custer's servant 'Isa', which may have been him mistaken by people who didn't know who he was.
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recognized the black interpreter and stopped during the fighting to give him a last drink of water. According to Vestal:
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by a group of women who pounded him with stone hammers, slashed him repeatedly with knives, and shot his legs full of
292:'s command. He is swarmed by Indians, killed, and scalped. This is in keeping with some accounts of Isaiah's death.
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Indian widow could not be found and the account may be still drawing interest somewhere in the Army bureaucracy.
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135:, Custer ordered him to remain. However, Custer's request for his assignment still exists and is dated May 14.)
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Son of the Morning Star: Custer & the Little Bighorn, by Evan S. Connell, 1984, Promontory Press, p. 24-27
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Son of the Morning Star: Custer & the Little Bighorn, by Evan S. Connell, 1984, Promontory Press, p. 24-27
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temporary reprieve, one last acknowledgement of the interpreter the medicine man had once personally known.
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Sitting Bull-Champion of the Sioux-a Biography, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1932; Connell 24-27
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Sioux medicine man Sitting Bull reportedly offered Dorman a last drink of water on the battlefield.
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uniform flat on the ground beside a prostrate white horse, with "an abnormally thick right thumb."
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Sitting Bull The Life and Times of an American Patriot by Robert M. Utley, Macmillan 2008, p. 153
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In September 1871, he served as a guide and interpreter for a party of engineers making the
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to the D'Orman family and may have escaped and gone out West. By 1850, he had settled near
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over his shoulder and the mail in a waterproof pouch. He did this for about two years.
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they not count coup on him, since he was already dead. Sitting Bull rode up and said
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361:"Braves of All Colors: The Story of Isaiah Dorman, Killed at the Little Big Horn"
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Troopers with Custer: Historic Incidents of the Battle of the Little Big Horn
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tribe as a trapper and trader in the 1850s and married a young woman of
312:"Isaiah Dorman: The Only African American Killed at the Little Bighorn"
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Not much is known of Dorman's early life. Allegedly, his father was of
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Other eyewitness accounts from survivors indicate that Dorman was
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American military personnel killed in the American Indian Wars
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On June 25, 1876, Dorman accompanied the detachment of Major
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Survey. He may have accompanied the 7th Cavalry on the 1874
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Dorman's last stand at the Little Bighorn is documented in
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hired Dorman as an interpreter for his expedition to the
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littlebighorn.info/Articles/LilahPengra/StripofSkin.pdf
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Custer in '76: Walter Camp's Notes on the Custer Fight
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Dorman's body was found just out of the timber, near
22:(died June 25, 1876) was an interpreter for the
231:"Don't kill that man, he is a friend of mine."
119:Dorman during the Battle of the Little Bighorn
502:African-American United States Army personnel
46:descent and his mother was mixed African and
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278:In the 1991 television mini-series on the
34:, the only black man killed in the fight.
100:and walked the entire distance with his
475:, Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1976.
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38:Early life and service with the US Army
492:People of the Great Sioux War of 1876
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202:Sitting Bull-Champion of the Sioux
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337:"Isaiah Dorman (1840-1876) •"
280:American Broadcasting Company
517:Battle of the Little Bighorn
507:19th-century American slaves
274:Depiction in Popular Culture
254:'s and he was buried on the
242:once the battle was joined.
123:In the late spring of 1876,
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368:Montana Historical Society
109:Northern Pacific Railroad
70:'s bestselling 1985 book
522:People from Philadelphia
260:Custer National Cemetery
32:Battle of Little Bighorn
464:Son of the Morning Star
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184:Dorman and Sitting Bull
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30:. He perished at the
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512:1876 deaths
373:20 December
321:20 December
290:Marcus Reno
140:Marcus Reno
28:Indian Wars
26:during the
486:Categories
296:References
246:Aftermath
85:Inkpaduta
56:Fort Rice
52:Louisiana
239:Hunkpapa
222:chivalry
170:buckshot
166:tortured
174:Arikara
58:in the
468:(1985)
81:Lakota
48:Lenape
364:(PDF)
237:), a
156:Pvt.
98:horse
375:2021
323:2021
265:In
200:'s
148:by.
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303:^
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