American Horse’s Embarrassing Mistake

The story is told of how the great Sioux leader American Horse made a painful mistake in battle.  It was sometime in the 1860s, before he had become a chief.  His tribe’s traditional enemies the Crows attacked their camp at night.  American Horse—then known as Manishnee (cannot walk)—awoke in the middle of the fight.  He jumped up and opened fire with his rifle, then yelled out that he had hit something.  But it turned out that he’d shot a Sioux hobbled pony.  He never quite lived it down.