Arapaho

Like their long time allies, the Cheyenne, the Arapaho were split into Northern and Southern factions. After participating in several battles alongside the Cheyenne during Red Cloud's War, and in the attacks at Sand Creek and Washita, by the time of the battle at the Little Bighorn, the Arapaho were mostly to be found on their reservation.

Just before the battle, five Arapaho warriors (Yellow Eagle, Yellow Fly, Well Knowing One, Left Hand, and Waterman or Water Man) went on a raid against their enemies, the Shoshone, when they came across a small party of Lakota warriors who, believing they were scouts for the U.S. Army, invited them to their village along the Little Bighorn. There, they were threatened with death by Lakota warriors, until they were identified by the Cheyenne chief Two Moons as Arapahos.

Despite still being viewed with suspicion, the five warriors all participated in the battle on June 25. One of them, Left Hand, mistakenly killed a Lakota that he thought was an Arikara scout, and another, Water Man (or Waterman) claimed to have killed a soldier but did not take his scalp as he was short haired.

The five Arapaho all survived the battle and went back to their reservation. Today, the five are honored on the Indian Memorial, across from Last Stand Hill.