The Death of Baptiste Garnier

Before he died in this street, Little Bat was the hunter other scouts measured themselves against. His father was French and he grew up among his mother's people, the Lakota; the Louis Riel Institute counts him among the Métis. Frank Grouard's 1894 biography records him as the greatest hunter Grouard ever met, a man who could outrun the fleetest horse over distance and never wasted ammunition. James H. Cook, in Fifty Years on the Old Frontier, ranked him among the best-known interpreters in Lakota country. His wife, Julia Mousseau, and sister Eulalia were known for their beadwork.

What the plaque says

The Death of Baptiste Garnier The chief of Fort Robinson scouts, Baptiste "Little Bat" Garnier was shot by James Haguewood, bartender, in this building known as Dietrich's Saloon, December 16, 1900. "Little Bat" died near the center of the street intersection about 3 a.m. and was buried at the Fort Robinson cemetery. The record of death and interment states: "Deceased was brutally shot while wholly unarmed and without cause or justification," on a plea of "self-defense," Haguewood was acquitted. Garnier served his country well in bringing peace to the frontier. Crawford Historical Society Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Robinson State Park — 3.0 mi
  The army post beside the Red Cloud Agency where Crazy Horse was bayoneted in 1877 and Morning Star's Northern Cheyenne broke out into the January cold of 1879.
• Toadstool Geologic Park — 15 mi
  A pocket of badlands in the Oglala National Grassland where sandstone caps balance on clay stems, ancient tracks cross the rock, and a trail leads on to a 10,000-year-old bison bone bed.
• Agate Fossil Beds National Monument — 24 mi
  A fossil quarry on the Niobrara that also keeps the gifts Red Cloud and other Lakota and Cheyenne visitors gave the ranching family who were their friends for thirty-five years.

More markers nearby

• Crawford 1891 School Bell — 0.5 mi
• Crawford — 0.7 mi
• Red Cloud Agency — 1.6 mi
• German P.O.W. Camp — 1.9 mi