Follow Us
Like Us
Historical records matching Joseph Medicine Crow
view all
Immediate Family
-
daughter -
mother
-
father -
stepfather
-
half brother
-
Privatehalf sibling -
Privatehalf sibling
About Joseph Medicine Crow
Washington Post Obituary
According to Crow tradition, a man must fulfill certain requirements to become chief of the tribe: command a war party successfully, enter an enemy camp at night and steal a horse, wrestle a weapon away from his enemy and touch the first enemy fallen, without killing him.
Joe Medicine Crow was the last person to meet that code, though far from the windswept plains where his ancestors conceived it. During World War II, when he was a scout for the 103rd Infantry in Europe, he strode into battle wearing war paint beneath his uniform and a yellow eagle feather inside his helmet. So armed, he led a mission through German lines to procure ammunition. He helped capture a German village and disarmed — but didn’t kill — an enemy soldier. And, in the minutes before a planned attack, he set off a stampede of 50 horses from a Nazi stable, singing a traditional Crow honor song as he rode away.
“I never got a scratch,” he recalled to the Billings Gazette decades later.
Medicine Crow died Sunday at 102, according to the Gazette. He was the Crow’s last war chief, the sole surviving link to a long military tradition. But he was also an activist, an author, a Medal of Freedom recipient and a vital chronicler of the history of his tribe.
“I always told people, when you meet Joe Medicine Crow, you’re shaking hands with the 19th century,” Herman Viola, curator emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, told the magazine at Medicine Crow’s alma mater, Linfield College.
Medicine Crow was born in a log home near Lodge Grass, Mont., in 1913. He was given the name Winter Man by a visiting Sioux warrior, he wrote in his memoir, in the hope that he would grow up strong, healthy and able to endure adversity.
His upbringing matched his name. Medicine Crow’s maternal grandfather, Yellowtail, raised the boy in the Crow warrior tradition, putting him through a grueling physical education regime that involved running through snow barefoot to toughen his feet and bathing in frozen rivers to strengthen his spirit. From other relatives, Medicine Crow heard stories of the Battle of Little Bighorn from people who were there, including his great uncle, White Man Runs Him, who served as a scout for George Armstrong Custer. Joe Medicine Crow was a centenarian, living to age 102Joe Medicine Crow was a Native American and member of the Crow Tribe tribe.Joe Medicine Crow is Notable.World War II Victory MedalBorn on Oct 27, 1913, the son of Leo Medicine Crow and Amy Yellowtail pg25 of the Whistling Water Clan, Apsáalooke (Absarokee) People, enrollment # 3378. (Apsáalooke / Absarokee means "Children of the Large Beaked Bird") (Known by the US Nation by the misnomer "Crow Nation"). pg.17On the 4th day after a child is born among the Crow people, the important people, uncles, elders, and others are called together to name the newborn child. A Sioux man who had faught against the Crow many times was visiting Yellowtail (Josephs' grandfather). This visiting Sioux man was given the honor of naming him. The first name he was given was Winter Man. He was called Winter for many years. Son of Amy Yellowtail and Leo Medicine Crow
- Reference: WikiTree Genealogy - SmartCopy: Sep 14 2020, 15:13:04 UTC
view all
Joseph Medicine Crow's Timeline
| 1913 |
October 27, 1913
|
Lodge Grass, Big Horn County, Montana, United States
|
|
| 1949 |
March 4, 1949
|
Big Horn County, Montana, United States
|
|
| 2016 |
April 3, 2016
Age 102
|
Billings, Yellowstone County, Montana, United States
|