White Swan (c.1850—1904), or Mee-nah-tsee-us in the Crow language, was one of six Crow Scouts for George Armstrong Custer’s 7th Cavalry Regiment during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. At the Battle of the Little Bighorn in the Crow Indian Reservation, White Swan went with Major Reno's detachment, and fought alongside the soldiers at the south end of the village. Of the six Crow scouts at the Battle of the Little Bighorn White Swan stands out because he aggressively sought combat with multiple Sioux and Cheyenne warriors, and he was the only Crow Scout to be wounded in action, suffering severe wounds to his hand / wrist and leg / foot. After being disabled by his wounds, he was taken to Reno's hill entrenchments by Half Yellow Face, the pipe-bearer (leader) of the Crow scouts, which no doubt saved his life.
On the 27th, after the battle, Half Yellow Face made a special travois for White Swan and moved him to the Far West steamship so he could get medical care. White Swan was treated in a temporary Army hospital at the junction of the Bighorn and Yellowstone rivers. At the Crow encampments on Pryor Creek, other returning scouts reported that White Swan had died, but he survived his wounds.
Following the Battle of the Little Bighorn, White Swan continued for five years (1876 to 1881) to serve as a scout with the U.S. Army, though he was significantly disabled. He had a severely deformed right wrist and hand, and he limped from the wound in his foot / leg from wounds received at the Battle on the Little Bighorn. In photographs White Swan also had a scar on his forehead where he been struck with a war club in a separate battle with a Sioux warrior.
