Fredric Frances Gerard (November 14, 1829 – January 30, 1913) was an American frontiersman, army scout, and civilian interpreter for George Armstrong Custer's 7th U.S. Cavalry during the Little Bighorn Campaign.

[2][3] He eventually gave up the fur trade attempted to start a ranch west of Bismarck, North Dakota, across the Missouri River.

[3] Gerard was hired by Lieutenant Colonel Custer to serve at Fort Abraham Lincoln as an interpreter for his Arikara "Ree" scouts, as he was very familiar with the language from his years as a trader.

About dawn on the morning of June 25, 1876, Gerard accompanied Custer and the scouts to a high bluff known as the "Crow's Nest" to view the Little Bighorn River valley below.

The scouts could see dust kicked up by an immense pony herd, and claimed to see hundreds of lodges, indicating the presence of thousands of Indians.

As Major Marcus Reno's battalion, Gerard, and the Rees forded the river, to their surprise they saw large swarms of mounted warriors riding towards them to give battle, instead of fleeing at the approach of the cavalry as Custer had presumed.

He and Billy Jackson met up with Lt Charles DeRudio and Private Thomas O'Neill, and the four of them spent the rest of the 25th and most of the 26th hiding in the woods.

[3] In 1912, Gerard gave his account of the Little Bighorn Battle to writer Fred Dustin, who was compiling personal narratives from survivors.

[3] While at Fort Berthold in Dakota Territory, Gerard was for a time married to an Indian woman, the sister of a warrior named Whistling Bear.