Minnie Hollow Wood

Minnie Hollow Wood (c. 1856 – 1930s) was a Lakota woman who earned the right to wear a war bonnet because of her valor in combat against the U.S. Cavalry at the Battle of Little Big Horn.^{[1][2][3]: 4:37} At one time, she was the only woman in her tribe entitled to wear a war bonnet.^[4]

Photographed around 1925

Biography

Her husband, Hollow Wood, was a Cheyenne who also fought at the Little Big Horn.^[5] Both Hollow Woods surrendered to Colonel Nelson A. Miles at Fort Keogh in Montana in 1877.^[5]

Minnie Hollow Wood lived on the Cheyenne reservation in Montana and became an informant of author and ethnologist Thomas Bailey Marquis. Marquis suggested that she was a "favorite" of Miles while she was a prisoner at Fort Keogh.^[6]

Representation in popular culture

Minnie Hollow Wood was the subject of an animated short by Yvonne Russo.^[7] Minnie's War Bonnet premiered at the Red Nation International Film Festival in 2019.^[8]

See also

• Buffalo Calf Road Woman – Cheyenne warrior (c. 1844–1879)
• Moving Robe Woman – Native American womenPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback
• One Who Walks With the Stars – Native American warriorPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback
• Pretty Nose – Arapaho woman

References

1. Hirschfelder, Arlene; Molin, Paulette F. (2012). The Extraordinary Book of Native American Lists. Scarecrow Press. p. 217. ISBN 9780810877108.
2. Dennis, Yvonne Wakim; Hirschfelder, Arlene; Flynn, Shannon Rothenberger (2016-04-18). Native American Almanac: More Than 50,000 Years of the Cultures and Histories of Indigenous Peoples. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-1-57859-607-2.
3. Russo, Yvonne (November 15, 2019). Minnie's War Bonnet. The Warrior Tradition. Event occurs at 4:37 – via PBS.
4. Green, Rayna (1992). Women in American Indian society. Internet Archive. New York : Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7910-0401-2.
5. "LBH Warriors" (PDF). Friends Of The Little Bighorn Battlefield. April 26, 2014. p. 21. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 22, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2006.
6. Liberty, Dr. Margot (November 2006). "Cheyenne Primacy: The Tribes' Perspective As Opposed To That Of The United States Army: A Possible Alternative To 'The Great Sioux War of 1876". Friends Of The Little Bighorn Battlefield. Archived from the original on August 30, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
7. "Minnie's War Bonnet: A modern Native warrior woman". IndianCountryToday.com. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
8. "Red Nation Film Festival | Minnie's War Bonnet". Retrieved 2020-09-30.

External links

• Minnie's War Bonnet – animated short
• Directory of Plains Indians at the Battle of the Little Big Horn
• Two images of Minnie Hollow Wood in "Native American Women and the U.S. Military"