Dewey Beard or Wasú Máza ("Iron Hail", 1858–1955) was a

Minneconjou Lakota The Miniconjou ( Lakota: Mnikowoju, Hokwoju – ‘Plants by the Water’) are a Native American people constituting a subdivision of the Lakota people, who formerly inhabited an area in western present-day South Dakota from the Black Hills ...

who fought in the

Battle of Little Bighorn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nort ...

as a teenager. After

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his clas ...

's defeat, Wasu Maza followed

Sitting Bull Sitting Bull ( lkt, Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake ; December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies. He was killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Roc ...

into exile in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and then back to

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

where he lived on the

Cheyenne River Indian Reservation The Cheyenne River Indian Reservation was created by the United States in 1889 by breaking up the Great Sioux Reservation, following the attrition of the Lakota people, Lakota in a series of wars in the 1870s. The reservation covers almost ...

(in Dewey and Ziebach counties). Iron Hail joined the

Ghost Dance The Ghost Dance ( Caddo: Nanissáanah, also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) was a ceremony incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. According to the teachings of the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka (renamed Jack Wil ...

movement and was in Spotted Elk's band along with his parents, siblings, wife and child. He and his family left the

on December 23, 1890 with Spotted Elk and approximately 300 other Miniconjou and 38

Hunkpapa Lakota The Hunkpapa ( Lakota: ) are a Native American group, one of the seven council fires of the Lakota tribe. The name ' is a Lakota word, meaning "Head of the Circle" (at one time, the tribe's name was represented in European-American records a ...

on a winter trek to the

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation ( lkt, Wazí Aháŋhaŋ Oyáŋke), also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located entirely within the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the G ...

to avoid the perceived trouble which was anticipated in the wake of Sitting Bull's murder at

Standing Rock Indian Reservation The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic "Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaksa ...

. He and his family were present at the Wounded Knee Massacre, where he was shot three times, twice in the back and some of his family, including his mother, father, wife and infant child were killed. He recounted his experiences in an in depth interview with

Eli S. Ricker Eli Seavey Ricker (April 29, 1843 - May 17, 1926) was a corporal serving the Union Army during the American Civil War, newspaper editor, rancher, judge, and activist known for his support of Native Americans and other social causes. He was one o ...

for a book Ricker planned to write. Dewey Beard changed his name from Iron Hail when he converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He was a member of

Buffalo Bill's Buffalo Bill's is a hotel and casino in Primm, Nevada, United States, at the California state line. It is one of the Primm Valley Resorts, owned and operated by Affinity Gaming. It has 1,242 guest rooms and suites. The hotel is home to the now cl ...

Wild West Show Wild West shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe that existed around 1870–1920. The shows began as theatrical stage productions and evolved into open-air shows that depicted romanticized stereotypes of c ...

for 15 years and was featured in Buffalo Bill's 1914 silent picture

The Indian Wars Refought ''The Indian Wars Refought'' is a 1914 American silent Western film that depicts several historical battles of The Indian Wars. The film was directed by Theodore Wharton and stars William F. Cody, Nelson Appleton Miles and Charles King, all ...

. In the early 1940s Beard and his wife Alice were raising horses on their land on the

. In 1942 the Department of War annexed of the reservation for use as an aerial gunnery and bombing range. Beard's family was among the 125 Lakota families uprooted from their homes. They were compensated by the government for their land in installments which were too low to enable them to afford more property, and as a result they both moved into a poor section of

Rapid City Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

. When he died in 1955 at the age of ninety six, Dewey Beard was the last known Lakota survivor of the

Battle of the Little Big Horn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...

, and the last known Lakota survivor of the Wounded Knee Massacre.Library of Congress: Dewey Beard interview (audio recordings) https://lccn.loc.gov/2009655342

References

External links

* Lakota people Miniconjou people Converts to Roman Catholicism from pagan religions Native American Roman Catholics Native American people of the Indian Wars Battle of the Little Bighorn Pine Ridge Campaign Massacres of Native Americans Native American genocide 1858 births 1955 deaths {{NorthAm-native-stub