Hermosa Arts & History Association Stories of Local People
Obituary Library
This is an extensive collection of obituaries and other documents detailing the lives of Hermosa and Custer County residents. This collection exists because of the long-term efforts of a few inspired HAHA members. Lyla G. Robertson began the project by cutting obituaries out of local newspapers for many years and donated her obituary scrapbook to HAHA. Lilah Pengra continued the project, drawing from several sources including Ancestry.com until Linda Hasselstrom took it over. It was digitized in 2026 by Ruth Wilford.
Visit the library here.
This is an extensive collection of obituaries and other documents detailing the lives of Hermosa and Custer County residents. This collection exists because of the long-term efforts of a few inspired HAHA members. Lyla G. Robertson began the project by cutting obituaries out of local newspapers for many years and donated her obituary scrapbook to HAHA. Lilah Pengra continued the project, drawing from several sources including Ancestry.com until Linda Hasselstrom took it over. It was digitized in 2026 by Ruth Wilford.
Visit the library here.
Recollections and Stories from Local People
In addition to the obituary library, Lyla, Lilah, and Linda reached out to community members asking them to share their memories and stories of life in Hermosa.
Those can be found here.
In addition to the obituary library, Lyla, Lilah, and Linda reached out to community members asking them to share their memories and stories of life in Hermosa.
Those can be found here.
The Life of Arrow Wound
By Lilah Morton Pengra, volunteer HAHA researcher
Arrow Wound, son of Red Dog and Slow, was born just west of the Black Hills in 1853, and went by the name Black Eyes. He received his adult name, Walks With Arrow Wound, after a battle in which he was wounded but continued to fight. Walks With Arrow Wound later shortened his name to Arrow Wound or Arrow Wounded. Some records give a first name of Solomon or Sam.
Arrow Wound served at Camp Robinson (later named Fort Robinson). The camp had been established to guard the first location of the Red Cloud Agency. He enlisted as a scout in Company D under command of Lieutenant William P. Clark, 2nd U.S. Cavalry. Arrow Wound served two three-month enlistments, December 12, 1876 through July 1, 1877.
In May 1887, he went to England with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, staying for an entire year. He lived his later years in eastern Custer County and across the river in Red Shirt in Oglala Lakota County, raising horses, harvesting prairie hay, and was reported to be the best mechanic at the Pine Ridge Agency.
Arrow Wound died in 1939 and is buried in St. Bernard’s Catholic Cemetery at Red Shirt, South Dakota,.
Read more about Arrow Wound here:
By Lilah Morton Pengra, volunteer HAHA researcher
Arrow Wound, son of Red Dog and Slow, was born just west of the Black Hills in 1853, and went by the name Black Eyes. He received his adult name, Walks With Arrow Wound, after a battle in which he was wounded but continued to fight. Walks With Arrow Wound later shortened his name to Arrow Wound or Arrow Wounded. Some records give a first name of Solomon or Sam.
Arrow Wound served at Camp Robinson (later named Fort Robinson). The camp had been established to guard the first location of the Red Cloud Agency. He enlisted as a scout in Company D under command of Lieutenant William P. Clark, 2nd U.S. Cavalry. Arrow Wound served two three-month enlistments, December 12, 1876 through July 1, 1877.
In May 1887, he went to England with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, staying for an entire year. He lived his later years in eastern Custer County and across the river in Red Shirt in Oglala Lakota County, raising horses, harvesting prairie hay, and was reported to be the best mechanic at the Pine Ridge Agency.
Arrow Wound died in 1939 and is buried in St. Bernard’s Catholic Cemetery at Red Shirt, South Dakota,.
Read more about Arrow Wound here:
| arrow_wound_extended_story.pdf |