COMMANDER // 1820–1879
Little Thunder
2 battles1 war
Lifespan
1820 – 1879
Active service 1854–1855 — 2 battles across 1 war; first command at age 34.
Profile
Wakíŋyaŋ Čík’ala was a Sicangu Lakota chief. He took over as chief of the Sicangu after the death of Conquering Bear by U.S. Army soldiers in a dispute about a wandering Mormon cow in 1854, which had prompted the Grattan Massacre of 30 U.S. Army troops on August 19, 1854, and led to the First Sioux War. The U.S. Army sent 600 troops led by Brevet Gen. William S. Harney to Little Thunder's village on Blue Water Creek, a tributary of the North Platte River in Nebraska, near what is now known as Ash Hollow State Historical Park.
Battles (2)
1854
Grattan massacreSioux Wars · Lakota
1855
Battle of Ash HollowSioux Wars · Sicangu