Also known as (?) Cetan Kinyan.
1 The nationality of
Chief (?) Flying Hawk was Oyuhkpe Teton Lakota. Chief (?) Flying Hawk was born in March, 1852 at
near Rapid Creek, Lakota Territory; "I was born four miles below where Rapid City now is, in 1852, about full moon in March. "My father was Black Fox and my mother's name was Iron Cedarwoman. "-[357].
1,3 He was the son of
Chief (?) Black Fox and
(?) Iron Cedar Woman.
3 Chief (?) Flying Hawk was war circa 1862 at Tongue River Region; "When ten years old I was in my first battle on the Tongue River—Montana now. It was an Overland Train of covered wagons who had soldiers with them. The way it was started, the soldiers fired on the Indians, our tribe, only a few of us. We went to our friends and told them we had been fired on by the soldiers, and they surrounded the train and we had a fight with them. I do not know how many we killed of the soldiers, but they killed four of us. "After that we had a good many battles, but I did not take any scalps for a good while. I cannot tell how many I killed when a young man."[357].
3 He was war on June 26, 1876 at
Battle of the Little Big Horn, Lakota Territory; Chapter 4 - THE CUSTER FIGHT
Dinner over, the old man wished to sit on the open veranda in the clear pure air and see the sunset shadows grow slowly over the hills and valleys all about. Another pipe-smoke to get his mind centered properly on the old times, and after a short time of quiet he began to relate the incidents of the Custer fight: "The Indians were camped along the west side of the Big Horn in a flat valley. We saw a dust but did not know what caused it. Some Indians said it was the soldiers coming. The chief saw a flag on a pole on the hill. "The soldiers made a long line and fired into our tepees among our women and children. That was the first we knew of any trouble. The women got their children by the hand and caught up their babies and ran in every direction. "The Indian men got .their horses and guns as quick as they could and went after the soldiers. Kicking Bear and Crazy Horse were in the lead. There was thick timber and when they got out of the timber there was where the first of the fight was. "The dust was thick and we could hardly see. We got right among the soldiers and killed a lot with our bows and arrows and tomahawks. Crazy Horse was ahead of all, and he killed a lot of them with his war-club; he pulled them off their horses when they tried to get across the river where the bank was steep. Kicking Bear was right beside him and he killed many too in the water. "This fight was in the upper part of the valley where most of the Indians were camped. It was some of the Reno soldiers that came after us there. It was in 'the day just before dinner when the soldiers attacked us. When we went after them they tried to run into the timber and get over the water where they had left their wagons. The bank was about this high (12 ft. indicated) and steep, and they got off their horses and tried to climb out of the water on their hands and knees, but we killed nearly all of them when they were running through the woods and in the water. The ones that got across the river and up the hill dug holes and stayed in them. "The soldiers that were on the hill with the pack-horses began to fire on us. About this time all the Indians had got their horses and guns and bows and arrows and war-clubs, and they charged the soldiers in the east and north on top of the hill. Custer was farther north than these soldiers were then. He was going to attack the lower end of the village. We drove nearly all that got away from us down the hill along the ridge where another lot of soldiers were trying to make a stand. "Crazy Horse and I left the crowd and rode down along the river. We came to a ravine; then we followed up the gulch to a place in the rear of the soldiers that were making the stand on the hill. Crazy Horse gave his horse to me to hold along with my 'horse. He crawled up the ravine to where he could see the soldiers. He shot them as fast as he could load his gun. They fell off their horses as fast as he could shoot. (Here the chief swayed rapidly back and forth to show how fast they fell). When they found they were being killed so fast, the ones that were left broke and ran as fast as their horses could go to some other soldiers that were further along the ridge toward Custer. Here they tried to make another stand and fired some shots, but we rushed them on along the ridge to where Custer was. Then they made another stand (the third) and rallied a few minutes. Then they went on along the ridge and got with Custer's men. "Other Indians came to us after we got most of the men at the ravine. We all kept after them until they got to where Custer was. There was only a few of them left then. "By that time all the Indians in the village had got their horses and guns and watched Custer. When Custer got nearly to the lower end of the camp, he started to go down a gulch, but the Indians were surrounding him, and he tried to fight. They got off their horses and made a stand but it was no use. Their horses ran down the ravine right into the village. The squaws caught them as fast as they came. One of them was a sorrel with white stocking. Long time after some of our relatives told us they had seen Custer on that kind of a horse when he was on .the way to the Big Horn. "When we got them surrounded the fight was over in one hour. There was so much dust we could not see much, but the Indians rode around and yelled the war-whoop and shot into the soldiers as fast as they could until they were all dead. One soldier was running away to the east but Crazy Horse saw him and jumped on his pony and went after him. He got him about half a mile from the place where the others were lying dead. The smoke was lifted so we could see a little. We got off our horses and went and took the rings and money and watches from the soldiers. We took some clothes off too, and all the guns and pistols. We got seven hundred guns and pistols. Then we went back to the women and children and got them together that were not killed or hurt. "[357].
3 He was war in 1882 at
Crow Territory; When I was twenty years old we went to the Crows and stole a lot of horses. The Crows discovered us and followed us all night. When daylight came we saw them behind us. I was the leader. We turned back to fight the Crows. I killed one and took his scalp and a field glass and a Crow necklace from him. We chased the others back a long way and then caught up with our own men again and went on. It was a very cold winter. There were twenty of us and each had four hourses. We got them home all right and it was a good trip that time. We had a scalp dance when we got back. "We soon moved camp. One night the Piegans came and killed one of our people. We trailed them in the snow all night. At dawn we came up to them. One Piegan stopped. The others went on. We surrounded the one. He was a brave man. I started for him. He raised his gun to shoot when I was twenty feet away. I dropped to the ground and his bullet went over me; then I jumped on him and cut him through below the ribs and scalped him. We tied the scalp to a long pole. The women blacked their faces and we had a big dance over it. "The next day I started out again with some men and we ran into a Crow camp. We got into that camp by moonlight, but we got caught. They started to fire on us. We all ran into a deep gulch. We got out, but when it was day we saw them coming with a herd 'of horses, going back to the Crow camp. We got in front of them and hid in a hollow. When I looked out I saw they had Sioux horses which they had stolen from our camp. "A big Crow was ahead and the others were riding behind. I took a good aim at the big Crow and shot him in the chest. The rest of them left the horses and ran away. The big Crow was still living. I took another shot at him, then I took his scalp. We took all the horses they had stolen. There were sixty-nine head that time. "Some time after we went to hunt buffalo. All the men went on this hunt. While we were butchering the kill some Piegans were coming. We went to meet them and had a fight. Some missed their 'horses and were running on foot. I was on a good fast horse. I ran over one and knocked him down and fell on him and scalped him alive (ugh). Another one of my people was close by and he shot the one I scalped. This fight was below where Fort Peck is. "More Piegans came. More of them than us. We were attacked by the Piegans. I kneeled down beside a sage bush. A Piegan shot at me but missed. I shot at him and hit his horse. It went down. Then I turned back and ran into a Piegan. Four of them were butchering buffaloes. I shot at them but missed. The Piegans ran and left their horses, and I took them all. We killed three of the Piegans. They shot one of our horses through the head. The fight was over and the Piegans went to a hill. "On the way back we ran into a lot of Crows and we had a fight on horseback. We chased them but no one was killed. We had a scalp dance on the Piegans."[357].
3 He married
(?) Eagle Pipe after 1888.
1 Chief (?) Flying Hawk lived after 1890 at
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Wounded Knee District, Shannon Co., South Dakota, USA; "One of the major Oglala bands of the 19th Century was the Oyuhkpe, which settled on Pine Ridge Reservation in the Wounded Knee District. In the 19th Century its great leaders included such chiefs as Tobacco, White Plume, Black Fox, the latter’s son Kicking Bear, and Big Road – in every case men with strong links to the Northern Lakota divisions. The band has always had very strong Miniconjou connections. It is my belief that the Oyuhkpe band actually was part of the Miniconjou oyate for much of the period 1760-1830. Subsequently they shifted back to the Oglala circle, but continued to maintain very strong Northern Lakota links – especially Miniconjou, but also to the Itazipco and Hunkpapa – until the reservation system terminated the old migratory way of life. Crazy Horse had very strong ties to this band – indeed an agency document from 1874 states that he was an Oyuhkpe. One Oyuhkpe sub-band was known as the Wakan or Sacred band (it may be the outfit to which Kicking Bear’s family belonged). My reconstruction of early Lakota history suggests that this was a very conservative band, with strong links to the Calf Pipe Keepers; sister tiyospaye existed among the Itazipco and Hunkpapa."-[Bray].
2Flying Hawk. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
(?) was listed as the "Head of the Household" on the US Indian Census Rolls at
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Wounded Knee District, Shannon Co., South Dakota, USA, on June 30, 1904.
1 He died on December 24, 1931 at age 79.