Sioux Warrior Rain-in-the-Face (Eastman's Biography)

Q: Who was Rain-in-the-Face?

Rain-in-the-Face was a Lakota Sioux warrior and war chief best known as the man who killed Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, Capt. Thomas Custer, or both, at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, even though there is no evidence for the claim.

Q: How did Rain-in-the-Face become known as Custer's killer?

Rain-in-the-Face became known as Custer's killer through the popular poem "The Revenge of Rain-in-the-Face" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, published in 1878.

Q: How accurate is the 1894 interview Rain-in-the-Face gave to W. Kent Thomas in 1894?

Historians continue to debate the accuracy of the 1894 interview with Rain-in-the-Face because Thomas got him drunk to get a good story. Eastman's account of Rain-in-the-Face's life is considered more accurate.

Q: How did Rain-in-the-Face die?

Rain-in-the-Face died of natural causes in 1905 at the Standing Rock Agency Reservation.

Joshua J. Mark

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Definition

Rain-in-the-Face (Ite Omagazu, l. c. 1835-1905) was a Lakota Sioux warrior and war chief during Red Cloud's War (1866-1868) and at the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876), after which he became famous as the man who killed Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, his brother Capt. Thomas Custer, or both of them.

More about: Sioux Warrior Rain-in-the-Face (Eastman's Biography)

Timeline

c. 1835 - 1905
Life of Sioux warrior Rain-in-the-Face.
1866 - 1868
Rain-in-the-Face is a war chief during Red Cloud's War.
21 Dec 1866
Rain-in-the-Face fights in the Battle-of-the-Hundred-in-the-Hands/Fetterman Massacre during Red Cloud's War.
c. 1868 - c. 1876
Rain-in-the-Face follows Sitting Bull and Sioux war chief Gall in continuing to resist US government's expansionist policies.
1874
Rain-in-the-Face is arrested for murder, imprisoned at Fort Lincoln, and escapes.
1876
Rain-in-the-Face fights at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
1877
Rain-in-the-Face retreats to Canada with Sitting Bull and Sioux War Chief Gall.
1878
Rain-in-the-Face becomes famous as the killer of General Custer after the publication of the poem "The Revenge of Rain-in-the-Face" by Henry W. Longfellow.
1880
Rain-in-the-Face returns from Canada to the USA and surrenders to US authorities.
c. 1894
Rain-in-the-Face gives the now-famous W. Kent Thomas interview.
c. 1895 - 1905
Rain-in-the-Face spends his last years at the Standing Rock Agency reservation.
1905
Rain-in-the-Face tells Charles A. Eastman his life story shortly before death.