724: The Other Magpie
Crow Woman who Fought with Osh-Tisch in the Battle of the Rosebud
Lived Around 1876, Crow Nation (Present-day Montana, United States of America)
But unlike Osh-Tisch, The Other Magpie had no gun and only a coup stick (some Native people would use decorative sticks instead of weapons in war [the more decorations on the stick the more people they’d hit in battle like an insane game of tag—The Other Magpie’s had one feather tied to it]). The Other Magpie rode into battle and used her coup stick to create a distraction, waving it around and yelling.
She was apparently remembered for screaming “My spit is my arrows” at the Lakota (who had recently killed her brother, explaining why she was fighting in The Battle of the Rosebud in the first place). The Battle took place with the Crow and the US Army on one side and the Cheyenne and Lakota on the other. Today, it is recognized as the precursor to the infamous Battle of Little Bighorn.
The Other Magpie was remembered as being unmarried, pretty, brave, and wild. Pretty Shield, another Crow woman, also described her as wearing a stuffed woodpecker on her head. The Other Magpie painted her forehead yellow and rode a black horse.
In the battle, she struck a Lakota warrior and Osh-Tisch shot him, as though The Other Magpie was pointing out a target. The Crow only collected ten or eleven scalps in the whole battle (sources differ), one of which was the man The Other Magpie and Osh-Tisch took out. After it was over, The Other Magpie cut the scalp into pieces and passed it around to other Crow warriors.
Other than knowing The Other Magpie was present at the battle, nothing else of her is known. It is unknown when she was born or when she died, who her parents were, if she ever married or had children of her own. All of this is unknown.
Today, the site of the Battle of the Rosebud is a Montana State Park, which can be explored by visitors.
Badges Earned:
Rejected Princess*
*She is briefly mentioned in Osh-Tisch’s entry (linked below)
Sources:
https://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/osh-tisch
https://www.historynet.com/magpie-woman-chief-crow-warriors-weaker-sex.htm
http://historyheroines.com/2018/04/04/osh-tisch-and-the-other-magpie/