Bloody Knife was assigned to Major Marcus Reno, who had a command of 140 soldiers, at the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. During the battle, Custer directed Bloody Knife and the other Arikara and Crow scouts to drive off the herds of Indian ponies in the Sioux camp. As Reno's soldiers and scouts approached the camp, the Indians, mostly Lakota-Sioux and Cheyenne, spotted them and quickly mobilized their warriors to attack Reno. The soldiers quickly dismounted and formed a skirmish line to shoot at the enemy, but they kept coming and Reno's unit began taking heavy casualties. Reportedly, Bloody Knife was standing next to Reno, who had motioned for Bloody Knife to approach him so he could ask Bloody Knife what the Indians would do when his command began to move away from their village. Bloody Knife was shot in the head and killed while mounted on his horse before making a reply. Reno, his face smeared with the gore from Bloody Knife's wound, panicked and ordered a withdrawal. Reno and his men retreated into woodland near the river with the braves in aggressive pursuit, and his poor response cost many of his troops their lives. Bloody Knife was one of three Arikara scouts assigned to Reno to die during the battle; the others were Little Brave (also known as Bear's Trail or Little Soldier) and Bobtail Bull. The US Army suffered a huge defeat.