The Wolf and the Buffalo

The Wolf and the Buffalo: An historical novel of the Black Soldier in the American West by Elmer Kelton (1980)

The novel alternates between the viewpoints of Gray Horse Running (a Comanche warrior) and Gideon Ledbetter (a buffalo soldier). This sometimes results in the same event being told from both sides. It works.

Gray Horse obtains a spirit guide in the form of a wolf. Sometimes his medicine is strong, sometimes not. It seems particularly strong when his shield (made with his own hands, "hard as flint") deflects rifle bullets. Gray Horse and his best friend Limping Boy are an inseperable pair. They are loyal to each other no matter what adversity they face.

Gideon Ledbetter is a former slave, now a soldier in the 10th Cavalry. His is a hero's journey, where he traverses the darkness and emerges transformed. Most of his adversity is prejudice by white people. Gideon is accompanied throughout the novel by his best friend Jimbo. They served as slaves together, and joined the 10th Cavalry together. Jimbo has a special affinity for horses, which makes him a particularly valuable resource for the cavalry.

The novel includes many of the great stories of the old west like Adobe Walls and the Forlorn Hope.

Gray Horse is part of a mixed attacking force of several tribes at the battle of Adobe Walls. In this version, the medicine man who leads the attack is Isotai ("Hind End of a Wolf"). After the attack fails, he is renamed Coyote Droppings. [Most modern histories say the name of the medicine man was Eso-tai ("Coyote Dung'), both before and after the attack.] "The Shot" by an anonymous buffalo hunter kills an Indian warrior from a mile away. [Some modern accounts say that it was Coyote Dung that was killed, and all modern accounts say that Billy Dixon was the shooter, from a distance of 1500+ yards.] The attackers, already demoralized by losses, call off the assault when they realize that the buffalo hunters can kill them from such an extreme distance.

Gideon Ledbetter is a member of the tragic expedition known as the Forlorn Hope, which suffered The Staked Plains Horror. It was a particularly droughty year, many of the known water sources had dried up. When they ran out of water, desperate soldiers drank horse urine. This version attributes the disaster to bad luck, whereas modern accounts blame inept leadership by white officers. If not for the heroic efforts of Gideon, constantly encouraging his comrades to persevere, propping them up when they fell, using blankets draped over scrub to furnish shade, the whole expedition would have perished. The novel omits the subsequent court martial fiasco where black enlisted men were used as scapegoats to shield the white officers.

The novel documents the destruction of the Comanche nation. Their whole way of life revolved around war and buffalo hunting. The buffalo hunters reduced the herds to the point that they were insufficient to support the Comanches. The buffalo soldiers forced them onto reservations. As one Comanche put it, "We became white people." Given the way that Comanches despised white people, this was about the worst thing that Comanches could say about themselves.

One of the most interesting scenes in the novel is where a deserter (a former slave) steals horses and seeks out the Comanches with the intention of joining them in their fight against white people. The Comanches skewer him with arrows and scalp him before he is dead.

Most the white people in the novel are portrayed in a very bad light. The Comanches viewed white people as less than human. If they acted like this, I can see why.