American Horse
Kathryn A Abbott (kabbott@history.umass.edu)
Sun, 30 Oct 1994 09:06:15 -0500
There were actually two men, both Oglala Lakota who were called American
Horse. The older American Horse was called Iron Shield by his own people
and was the son of Chief Smoke. He fought with Red Cloud, who was his
cousin, in the Sioux War of 1866. He was killed by General Crook's
cavalry at the massacre of Slim Buttes in 1876. The younger American
Horse was the son of Chief Sitting Bear. During the reservation era, he
was known as a "progressive," in that he sided with reservation agents.
He travelled with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show for a time. As far as I
can tell, both American Horses were Lakota, not European.