Osh-Tisch, whose name in the Crow language means "Finds Them and Kills Them," was born around 1854 in Crow Territory in what is now Montana. She was a badé: a Crow person assigned male at birth who lives as a woman, occupying a role that was recognized, honored, and spiritually significant in Crow culture. Badé people were valued for their artistry, their ceremonial knowledge, and their ability to move between the gendered worlds of Crow society. They were not marginal. They were central.

Osh-Tisch earned her name in 1876 at the Battle of the Rosebud, fighting alongside Crow warriors as scouts for General George Crook against Lakota and Cheyenne forces. During the battle, she rode into enemy fire to rescue a wounded warrior named Bull Snake, pulling him to safety and killing the Lakota warrior who had taken him down. Her courage that day was recorded by both Crow witnesses and American military observers. She was recognized as a warrior from that moment on.

She was also a master beadworker whose creations were sought after and celebrated. A spiritual leader whose ceremonial knowledge was irreplaceable. A keeper of Crow traditions. And in the late 1890s, she became the target of a federal agent who arrived on Crow territory intent on "civilizing" the people, which meant, among other things, forcing Osh-Tisch and other badé to dress as men, cut their hair, and abandon their identities.