Gall was one the important military leader of the Hunkpapa Lakota and was one of the commanders who took part in the Battle of Little Bighorn (June 25, 1876).

Born in present day South Dakota around 1840, Gall was orphaned at an early age and was adopted as a younger brother by Sitting Bull. His first name was Matohinshda, or Bear-Shedding-His-Hair, he acquired his unusual name, Gall, (Pizia) when, as a hungry orphan, he ate the gall bladder of an animal killed by another member of the tribe. He soon became recognized as an accomplished warrior during his late teens and became a chief in his twenties. He was one of the most aggressive leaders of the Lakota nation in their last stand for freedom. Gall was considered by both Natives and whites to be a most impressive type of physical manhood.

Chief Gall Photographed by David F. Barry at Fort Buford, North Dakota, 1881.

He fought at the Battle of Big Mound with Inkpaduta, (the name translates to Red Cap or Red End,) and as a warrior in Red Cloud's campaigns of 1866 through 1868, he rose to a high status among the Lakota.

Gall refused to accept the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 that ended the preceding hostilities. When the treaty of 1868 was disregarded, he agreed with Sitting Bull to defend the last of their once-vast domain. He constantly defended his people's right to their buffalo hunting grounds and believed that the government should be held to the letter of its agreements with them. Refusing to give up, Gall joined Sitting Bull and others who refused to remain as “prisoners” within the territory set aside for them by the whites. Gall eventually became Sitting Bull's military chief, and led attacks on army troops along the Yellowstone River in 1872 and 1873.

Gall enjoyed Sitting Bull’s total confidence as the latter planned and directed attacks against U.S. soldiers. He was a born military strategist, able to make note of, and grasp, an exploitation of his enemy. For Chief Gall, the trail to the Battle of the Big Horn began with Major Marcus Reno and his unprovoked attack on Gall’s village along the Little Big Horn River. During Reno’s attack, his troopers killed several members of Gall’s family. Gall, using superior skill combined with inspiring ferocity, led his band in a counterattack, which led them to the great defeat of George A. Custer and his 7th Calvary command.

At the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876, Gall led his Hunkpapa warriors, who first checked Major Reno's advance across the river by chasing them into the woods. He then swept his warriors north to join Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux. Then his forces carried out a frontal attack on Custer's column, defeating the hapless unit. Following the battle, Chief Gall entered Canada along with his chief, Sitting Bull.

     

Middle Gall's wife and right with his nephew.

At some point, Gall and Sitting Bull had a disagreement that caused Gall to bring his band back across the border late in 1880. Gall appeared at Fort Peck at Poplar Creek, Montana on January 3, 1881. He surrendered to the military, bringing half of the Hunkpapa band with him. Although promised amnesty by the United States if they returned, when Gall crossed into the U.S., some of his people came under attack, and in the spring they were all rounded up and held as military prisoners at Fort Randall. From there they were transported to the Standing Rock Agency Reservation in Dakota Territory. Gall settled on Standing Rock, where he became friends with the man who would prove to be Sitting Bull's bitterest enemy, Indian Agent James McLaughlin.

James McLaughlin photograph taken in the 1880's

After Gall was subdued, he turned away from the freedom road and concentrated his attention on making his and his people's lives the best they could be, despite their internment on government reservations. Gall encouraged his people to accept the white man’s program for the Indian. Gall became a champion of federal efforts to "civilize" the Lakota. He lent his prestige to the reservation-farming program and became an active supporter of plans to educate Indian children in special schools.

When "Buffalo Bill" successfully launched his first show, he made every effort to secure both Sitting Bull and Gall for his leading attractions. The military was in complete accord with him in this, for they still had grave suspicions of these two leaders. While Sitting Bull reluctantly agreed, Gall haughtily said: "I am not an animal to be exhibited before the crowd," and retired to his tipi. His spirit was much worn, and he lost strength from that time on. That superb manhood dwindled.

Picture taken in also in the 1880's

Gall settled down in the Dakotas as a farmer and Judge of the Court of Indian Affairs on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, and became friendly with local settlers in his later years.

He turned against Sitting Bull, possibly for the latter's affiliation with the Ghost Dance movement. Gall ignored the Ghost Dance religion when it appeared on the scene and instead became an envoy to Washington, D.C. Gall became a reservation judge in 1889, and that same year gave his consent to the reduction in the reservation's size, despite Sitting Bull's opposition. Gall challenged Sitting Bull's leadership among the Lakota of Standing Rock, but he never matched his former mentor's influence and authority.

Gall lived on the Standing Rock Agency until his death on December 5, 1895. He is credited for the crucial tactical decision which sealed the fate of Custer's army at the Battle of Little Bighorn.