The Death of Isaiah Dorman: Battle of the Little Bighorn

 

Video : The Death of Isaiah Dorman: Battle of the Little Bighorn

On June 25, 1876, at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, five companies of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry, under the direct command of George Armstrong Custer were wiped out. 

Amid the chaos of that day, one figure often overlooked emerges: Isaiah Dorman, the only African American killed in the battle. As a skilled interpreter for the U.S. Army, Dorman's life bridged worlds—Black, White, and Native.  His death encapsulated the brutal ironies of the Indian Wars.

Isaiah Dorman's early life remains shrouded in mystery. Born around 1832 in Pennsylvania, he was likely freeborn, with a father of African-Jamaican descent and a mother of mixed African and Native American heritage. By the 1850s, Dorman was in the Dakota Territory working as a trapper, trader, and laborer. He married Celeste St. Pierre, a young woman from the Santee Sioux band led by Inkpaduta, and integrated deeply into Native life. Dorman was described as a large, dark-skinned man. There are no authenticated surviving photographs of Dorman

In spring 1876, Dorman joined Custer's 7th Cavalry expedition against the Lakota and Cheyenne, hired as a civilian Sioux interpreter at a premium rate due to his expertise and connections, including friendships with figures like Chief Sitting Bull. The campaign aimed to force non-reservation tribes onto designated lands amid gold rush tensions in the Black Hills. Departing from Fort Abraham Lincoln, the force marched toward the Little Bighorn River, unaware of the massive Native encampment ahead—estimated at 7,000 people, including 1,500-2,000 warriors.

On June 25, 1876 when Custer divided his 600 men into battalions, Dorman rode with Major Marcus Reno's detachment of about 140 troops, tasked with attacking the village from the south. As Reno's men charged into the valley, they met fierce resistance from Lakota and Cheyenne warriors. Reno ordered a retreat across the river to defensive bluffs, but Dorman fell behind. Eyewitness Private Roman Rutten recalled seeing Dorman on one knee, methodically firing a non-regulation sporting rifle at advancing Indian warriors, shouting, "Goodbye, Rutten!" as the soldier galloped past. An Indian account described: "We passed a black man in a soldier's uniform... He turned on his horse and shot an Indian right through the heart. Then the Indians fired... and riddled his horse with bullets. His horse fell over on his back and the black man could not get up."

Accounts of his final moments vary but paint a grim picture. One narrative claims Sitting Bull, recognizing his old acquaintance, dismounted, offered water from a buffalo horn cup, and said, "Don't kill that man, he is a friend of mine," before riding on. However, many are skeptical of this story. Moving Robe Woman (Eagle Robe), shot him in revenge for her brother's death, after which a group of Lakota women tortured him with stone hammers and knives.  His body was mutilated—arrows embedded, slashes across the face and body, and a 16-by-2-inch strip of skin removed as a war trophy by his wife's niece, Iron Antelope, later preserved in a North Dakota museum. Private William Slaper described finding the corpse "with many arrows shot into his body and head, badly cut and slashed." These acts reflected Native beliefs that wounds would carry into the afterlife, punishing Dorman for siding with the "bluecoats" against his adopted people.