Gall ( Native American leader ) Gall ( c . 1840 – 1894 ) Lakota Phizí , ( gall bladder ) was a battle leader of the Hunkpapa Lakota in the long war against the United States . He was one of the commanders in the Battle of Little Bighorn . Early years . Born in present - day South Dakota around 1840 , Gall was said to receive his nickname after eating the gall of an animal killed by a neighbor . He grew to be a giant of a man weighing close to 300 pounds . He was recognized as an accomplished warrior during his late teens and became a war chief in his twenties . Leading the Lakota in their long war against the United States , he served with Sitting Bull during several battles , including the famous Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 . Battle of the Little Bighorn . Since the early 1980s , archaeological researchers conducted battlefield excavations after a major grass fire . Historians have been studying accounts by participating Indians and tribal oral histories . Based on these elements , contemporary reassessment of the Battle of Little Bighorn has given Gall greater credit for several crucial tactical decisions that contributed to the Sioux and Cheyenne ' s overpowering defeat of the five companies of cavalry led by Custer of the 7th Cavalry . Major Marcus Reno ' s initial attack on the southeast end of the Indian village killed Gall ' s two wives and several children . Gall described it : " My heart was very bad that day . " During the opening phase of the battle , the Lakota and Cheyenne repulsed Reno ' s three companies of cavalry from the south - eastern end of their large village . Gall was one of the few Indians to suspect that Custer ' s strategy was probably a two - pronged attack . He believed that determining the location of the other half of Custer ' s attacking force was critical to Indian defense . Gall crossed the river and rode to the northeast , where he spied Custer ' s chief scout , Mitch Bouyer , returning to Custer from an overwatch of the Indian village . After locating the main element of Custer ' s five companies , Gall correctly determined that they probably intended to force a river crossing and an entrance into the northern end of the village . Riding back down from the bluffs , Gall told Sioux and Cheyenne forces returning from Reno ' s repulse of his suspicions . With Crazy Horse , he led forces north across the river to drive Company E and F due north up present - day Calhoun Couley to present - day Finley Ridge . There they forced three of Custer ' s companies to fight a largely defensive battle . Within minutes , Gall and his forces took a position north east of Finley Ridge and poured a withering fire down on Companies C , I and L . When Crazy Horse charged through an opening between Lt Calhoun ' s Company L and Company I in a sudden surprise right envelopment attack , Company L probably began to pull back off the ridge to try to link up with Company I . Companies C and L ' s tried to redeploy from holding off Gall ' s men to the east and others to the south . This probably looked like a panicked retreat to Gall and his forces . Seeing that the two Cavalry companies no longer had the fire superiority that held the Indians at bay , Gall and his men attacked from the east as the other Indians attacked the cut - off elements of Company C from both the east and the south . They soon finished off Companies C and L , and forced survivors and some of Company I to flee towards Custer and his men north of the so - called " Last Stand Hill . " A few of the soldiers of Companies C , I and L also fled south toward the river . The places where they fell were later marked by white marble monuments , which still stand . Soon the Indians finished off Custer and his men in the remaining companies C , E , and K . The last approximately 28 survivors made a dash south for the river . They were trapped in the box canyon called " Deep Ravine " . After killing them , the Indians had won the battle , having completely annihilated Custer ' s five companies . In later years , Gall recounted his role in the battle . He had mistakenly thought the survivors of Custer ' s three southeastern companies fled northwest to Custer because they ran out of ammunition . Other evidence suggests the horse soldiers ran out of the will to fight and yielded to the flight instinct , with many men simply running , even abandoning loaded rifles . The Sioux and Cheyenne picked these up and fired the weapons to drive off the soldiers ' horses , thus depriving them of a key tactical mobility advantage . The native warriors ' attacking Greasy Grass Ridge from the southeast came mostly on foot . Gall kept up enfillading fire from the northeast . Later years . In late 1876 , many of the Hunkpapa bands crossed over the border into Canada where they struggled to survive for the next several years . Gall came to disagree with Sitting Bull and brought his band back to the United States in 1880 and surrendered . On May 26 , 1881 , he and his band were loaded onto steamers along with Crow King , Black Moon , Low Dog and Fools Heart and shipped downriver to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation . The first complete census taken of the Lakota at Standing Rock in the fall of 1881 listed Gall with a band of 52 families , totaling 230 people . Becoming a farmer , he encouraged his people to assimilate to reservation life . He became a Christian convert . He served as a judge of the Court of Indian Affairs on the reservation . He became friendly with the Indian Agent , James McLaughlin . Eventually Gall turned against Sitting Bull , who had become involved with the Ghost Dance movement . Gall lived on the Standing Rock Agency until his death on December 5 , 1894 . His interment was in Wakpala , South Dakota ' s Saint Elizabeth Episcopal Cemetery .