|
| |
Famous Native People
There is no known photograph of Crazy
Horse, therefore I cannot display one.
Tasunke Witko
Crazy Horse
(1840 - 1877) OGLALA - LAKOTA
Oglala; (pronounced Og-la-la
sometimes pronounced Og-a-la-la meaning Scatters Their Own.)
|
One does not sell the land
upon which the people walk.
Crazy Horse
|
Crazy Horse was the greatest chief the Sioux ever had. I make this
claim because he was a wonderful man. He never was wounded in his
life until he came to meet his death. Crazy Horse was always in the
front ranks when there was a fight, but an arrow or bullet had never
pierced his body. Not even any horse that he ever rode was wounded.
That is how this celebrated Indian chief came to be called 'Crazy
Horse.' He never cared to dress up in gaudy clothes, but was a very
plain man. In battle he did not wear a full war-bonnet, but simply
the full body of a hawk on the left side of his head. Over his
shoulders he wore a red cape, which was his full dress.
In the battle of the Little Big Horn, Crazy Horse rode to meet the
soldiers first. He rode before them from one end of the line to the
other. The soldiers were all in a line, shooting at him, but they
did not harm his body. Many times he repeated this, but neither he
nor his horse was wounded. So they called him 'Ta-sun-ke Wit-ko,' or
'Crazy Horse.'
Extract from the book 'My People the Sioux' by
Luther
Standing Bear.
Crazy Horse was known among his
people as a farsighted chief, committed to safeguarding the
tradition and principles of the Sioux (Lakota) way of life.
Distinguished by his fierceness in battle, he was a great general
who led his people in a war against the invasion of their homeland
by the white man. As a fierce enemy, Crazy Horse summoned the anger,
fear and respect of the U.S. Government and its army.
Tashunka Witko, Crazy Horse, was probably born in 1844 at Bear Butte, Mato Paha to the Lakota and to the
Cheyenne Noahvose, possibly on the Belle Fourche River
east of Paha Sapa, the Black Hills, in present day South Dakota. His name in his
early years was
Curly.
Bear Butte (Mato Paha or Bear Mountain) a sacred site
Curly's father, also named Crazy Horse, was an Oglala Lakota, and his mother,
Rattling Blanket Woman, was a Brulè Lakota. Curly also had a sister and a
half-brother. Rattling Blanket Woman died when he was young. His father took her
sister as a wife and she helped to rear Curly. He spent time in both the Oglala
and Brulè camps. Curly’s boyhood was in the days when the western Sioux seldom
saw a white man, and then it was usually a trader or a soldier.
Curly was groomed according to tribal customs. At that period, the Sioux prided
themselves on the training and development of their sons and daughters, and they
did not overlook a step in that development. Before he was 12, Curly had killed
a buffalo and received his own horse. On August 19, 1854, he was in
 Conquering Bear’s camp
in northern Wyoming
when that Brulè leader was killed in the Grattan Massacre, a bloody dispute
between Indians and soldiers over a butchered cow.
The way of the warrior was a societal role preordained for males in traditional
Lakota life. Following the Grattan Massacre, Curly, like other young men, set
out alone on a Vision Quest. He was not disappointed: The boy had a vivid dream
of a rider in a storm on horseback, with long unbraided hair, a small stone in
his ear, zigzag lightning decorating his cheek, and hail dotting his body.
Although a warrior, he bore no scalps. People clutched at the rider, but could
not hold him. The storm abated, and a red-backed hawk flew over the rider’s
head. When Curly reported the dream to his father, and the medicine man was
consulted, the latter interpreted it as a sign of his son’s future greatness in
battle.
The following year, Curly witnessed the destruction of Sioux tipis and
possessions by soldiers during General William Harney’s punitive crusade through
Sioux territory along the
Oregon Trail. During his formative years, Curly experienced several more
revelations about white people, stemming from incidents involving the U.S. Army.
One such incident involved a retaliation in which the army wiped out most of an
unsuspecting Lakota village, killing women and children as well as warriors.
General William Harney
At the age of 16, Curly joined a war party against the Gros Ventres, an offshoot
of the Arapaho. He rode well in the front of the charge, and immediately
established his bravery by closely following Hump, one of the foremost Sioux
warriors, drawing the enemy's fire and circling around their advance guard.
Suddenly Hump's horse was shot from under him, and a rush of warriors converged
to kill or capture him while down. Nevertheless, amidst a shower of arrows, the
youth leaped from his pony, helped his friend into his own saddle, sprang up
behind him, and carried him off to safety, the enemy hotly pursued them.
Elder Crazy Horse took the name, Worm, after passing his name to his courageous
son when he was about 18 years old. For the first time, at that age, Crazy Horse
rode as an adult warrior in a raid on Crows. Like the rider in his dream, he
wore his hair free, a stone earring, and a headdress with a red hawk feather in
it. His face was painted with a lightning bolt, and his body bore hail-like
dots. The raid was successful, but Crazy Horse sustained a wound in the leg.
According to his father's interpretation, he had taken two scalps, unlike the
rider in the vision.
Crazy Horse had three wives during his lifetime, Black Buffalo Woman, Black
Shawl, and Nellie Laravie.
The warrior became further known to many of the Sioux bands for his courage in
the War for the Bozeman Trail of 1866-68 under the Oglala Chief Red Cloud, when
the army began to build a road in Powder River country from the Oregon Trail to
the goldfields of Montana.
He was one of the young chiefs, along with the Miniconjou Hump and the Hunkpapas
Chief Gall, and Chief Rain-In-The-Face, who used decoy tactics against the
soldiers. Near Fort Phil Kearny, in what is now north central Wyoming, Crazy
Horse participated in the Indian victory known as the Fetterman Fight.
Bozeman Trail
In December 1866, Crazy Horse acted as a decoy leader helping to lure Lt.
Colonel William J. Fetterman and 80 soldiers from Fort Phil Kearny into a trap,
then utter defeat by Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors. Owing to such
deeds, Crazy Horse became a war leader by his mid-twenties. Chief Sitting Bull looked to
him as a principal war leader. In fact, he was one of the youngest Lakota men in
memory to receive one of the highest honors and responsibilities accorded to
males: the title of Shirtwearer. Crazy Horse honed his skills as a guerrilla
fighter and studied the ways of his military adversaries.
When Red Cloud and Chief
Spotted Tail settled on reservation lands following the Fort Laramie Treaty
of 1868, in which the army agreed to abandon the posts along the Bozeman Trail,
Crazy Horse became war chief of the Oglalas, with some Brulè followers as well.
Moreover, he gained friends and followers among the Northern Cheyennes through
his first marriage to Black Buffalo Woman, a Cheyenne.
In March 1876, when General George Crook's scouts discovered an Indian trail, he
sent a detachment under Colonel Joseph Reynolds to locate an Indian camp along
the Powder River in southeastern Montana. At dawn on March 17, Reynolds ordered
a charge. The Indians retreated to surrounding bluffs and fired at the troops,
who burned the village and rounded up the Indian horses. Crazy Horse regrouped
his warriors and, during a snowstorm that night, recaptured the herd.
On June 17, 1876, Crazy Horse led a combined group of approximately 1,500 Lakota
and Cheyenne in a surprise attack against General George Crook's force of 1,000
cavalry and infantry, and 300 Crow and Shoshone warriors in the
Battle of the Rosebud.
Repeated assaults forced Crook’s troops to retreat. The battle delayed Crook
from reinforcing the 7th Cavalry under George A. Custer. After the successful
engagement, the Indians then moved their camp to the Bighorn River to join Chief
Sitting Bull's large encampment of Sioux and Cheyenne. Eight days later, on the
Greasy Grass (Little Bighorn) River, he led Lakota and Cheyenne warriors again
in a decisive victory against George Custer's 7th Cavalry.
On the 25th of June, 1876, the great camp was scattered for three miles or more
along the level riverside. Behind a thin line of cottonwoods stood five circular
groups of teepees, ranging from half a mile to a mile and a half in
circumference. Here and there stood a prominent, white, solitary tipi; these
were the lodges or "clubs" of the young men. Crazy Horse was a member of the
Strong Hearts and the Fox (Tokala) lodge. He was watching a game of ring toss,
when a warning came from the southern end of the camp of the approach of troops.
Although taken by surprise, they instantly responded. Crazy Horse led his men
northward to cut off Custer and his troops. Crazy Horse and Chief Gall, a chief
of the Hunkpapa Sioux, led their warriors in a pincer attack that quickly
enveloped Custer's divided cavalry. There would be reprisals.
Custer with Crow Scouts
When the nomadic hunting bands ignored the order to report to their reservations
by January 31, 1876, the military organized a pogrom against them. The next
autumn and winter, Colonel Nelson A. Miles led the 5th Infantry in a ruthless
pursuit of the Indian bands, wearing them down and making it difficult for them
to obtain food. Crazy Horse received word that if he surrendered, his people
would have a reservation of their own in the Powder River country.
Crazy Horse and other northern
Oglala leaders arrived at the
Red Cloud Agency, located near
Camp Robinson, Nebraska, on
May 5,
1877.
Together with
He
Dog, Little Big Man, Iron Crow and others, they met in a
solemn ceremony with First Lieutenant William P. Clark as the
first step in their formal surrender.
For the next four months, Crazy Horse resided in
his village near the Red Cloud Agency. The attention that Crazy
Horse received from the Army elicited the jealousy of
Red Cloud and
Spotted Tail, two Lakota who had long before come to the
agencies and adopted the white ways. Rumors started to spread at
the
Red Cloud Agency and
Spotted Tail Agency about Crazy Horse's desire to slip out
of the agency and return to the old ways of life.
In August
1877, officers at Camp Robinson received word that the
Nez Perce of
Chief Joseph had broken out of their reservations in
Idaho
and were fleeing north through Montana toward
Canada. When asked by Lieutenant Clark to join the Army
against the Nez Perce, Crazy Horse and the
Miniconjou leader
Touch the Clouds objected, saying that they had promised to
remain at peace when they surrendered. According to one version
of events, Crazy Horse finally agreed, saying that he would
fight "till all the Nez Perce were killed". But his words were
apparently misinterpreted by scout
Frank Grouard who reported that Crazy Horse had said that he
would "go north and fight until not a white man is left". When
he was challenged over his interpretation, Grouard left the
council. Another interpreter,
William Garnett, was brought in but quickly noted the
growing tension.
With the growing trouble at the Red Cloud Agency,
General
George Crook was ordered to stop at Camp Robinson. A council
was called of the Oglala leadership, however, this was cancelled
when Crook was informed that Crazy Horse had said the previous
evening that he intended to kill the general during the
proceedings. Crook ordered Crazy Horse's arrest and then
departed, leaving the military action to the post commander at
Camp Robinson, Lieutenant Colonel
Luther P. Bradley. Additional troops were brought in from
Fort Laramie and on the morning of
September 4,
1877,
two columns moved against Crazy Horse's village, only to find
that it had scattered during the night. Crazy Horse fled to the
nearby Spotted Tail Agency with his ill wife. After meeting with
military officials at the adjacent military post of
Camp Sheridan, Crazy Horse agreed to return to Camp Robinson
with Lieutenant
Jesse M. Lee, the Indian agent at Spotted Tail.
On the morning of
September 5,
1877,
Crazy Horse and Lieutenant Lee, accompanied by Touch the Clouds
as well as a number of Indian scouts, departed for Camp
Robinson. Arriving that evening outside the adjutant's office,
Lieutenant Lee was informed that he was to turn Crazy Horse over
to the Officer of the Day. Lee protested and hurried to
Bradley's quarters to debate the issue, but without success.
Bradley had received orders that Crazy Horse was to be arrested
and forwarded under the cover of darkness to Division
Headquarters. Lee turned the Oglala war chief over to Captain
James Kennington, in charge of the post guard, who accompanied
Crazy Horse to the post guardhouse. Once inside, no doubt
realizing the fate that was about to befall him, Crazy Horse
struggled with the guard and Little Big Man and attempted to
escape. Just outside the door of the guardhouse, Crazy Horse was
stabbed with a bayonet of one of the members of the guard. He
was taken to the adjutant's office where he was tended by the
assistant post surgeon at the post, Dr.
Valentine McGillycuddy, and died late that night.
Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy
The following morning, Crazy Horse's body was
turned over to his elderly parents who took it to Camp Sheridan,
placing it on a scaffold there. The following month when the
Spotted Tail Agency was moved to the Missouri River, Crazy
Horse's parents moved the body to an undisclosed location. There
are at least 4 possible locations as noted on a state highway
memorial near
Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
His final resting place remains unknown.
Crazy Horse had signed no treaties, and he surrendered only because he did not
want his followers to suffer depravation, cold, and hunger. Except for Gall and
Sitting Bull, he was the last important chief to yield.
Death of Crazy Horse
Dr. McGillycuddy, who treated Crazy Horse after
he was stabbed, wrote that Crazy Horse "died about midnight."
According to military records he died before midnight, making it
September 5, 1877.
John Gregory Bourke's memoirs of his service in
the Indian wars, "On the Border with Crook" details an entirely
different account of Crazy Horse's death. Bourke's account was
from an interview with Crazy Horse's relative and rival, Little
Big Man, who was present at Crazy Horse's arrest and wounding.
The interview took place over a year after Crazy Horse's death.
Little Big Man's account is that, as Crazy Horse was being
escorted to the guardhouse he suddenly pulled from under his
blanket two knives, one in each hand. One knife was reportedly
fashioned from the end of an army bayonet. Little Big Man,
standing immediately behind Crazy Horse and not wanting the
soldiers to have any excuse to kill him, seized Crazy Horse by
both elbows, pulling his arms up and behind him. As Crazy Horse
struggled to get free, Little Big Man abruptly lost his grip on
one elbow, and Crazy Horse's released arm drove his own knife
deep into his own lower back.
When Bourke asked about the popular account of
the Guard bayoneting Crazy Horse, Little Big Man explained that
the guard had thrust with his bayonet, but that Crazy Horse's
struggles resulted in the guard's thrust missing entirely and
his bayonet being lodged into the frame of the guardhouse door.
Little Big Man
Little Big Man related that, in the hours
immediately following Crazy Horse's wounding, the camp Commander
had suggested the story of the guard being responsible as a
means of hiding Little Big Man's involvement in Crazy Horse's
death, and thereby avoiding any inter-clan reprisals.
Little Big Man's account, as related by Bourke,
is questionable, as it is the only one of 17 eyewitness sources
(aside from one other account that states the eyewitness was
"not sure" of the identity of the perpetrator) from Lakota, US
Army, and "mixed-blood" individuals which fails to attribute
Crazy Horse's death to a soldier at the guardhouse. It should
also be noted that, as a US Army officer, Bourke can hardly be
considered a neutral chronicler of the matter.
The "last words" often attributed to Crazy Horse
contain as the second to last sentence a terse implication of
the guard. This widely published account directly contradicts
the prior, witnessed statement made to the Post Commander.
"My friend, I do not blame you for this. Had I
listened to you this trouble would not have happened to me. I
was not hostile to the white men. Sometimes my young men would
attack the Indians who were their enemies and took their ponies.
They did it in return. We had buffalo for food, and their hides
for clothing and for our teepees. We preferred hunting to a life
of idleness on the reservation, where we were driven against our
will. At times we did not get enough to eat and we were not
allowed to leave the reservation to hunt. We preferred our own
way of living. We were no expense to the government. All we
wanted was peace and to be left alone. Soldiers were sent out in
the winter, they destroyed our villages. The "Long Hair"
[Custer] came in the same way. They say we massacred him, but he
would have done the same thing to us had we not defended
ourselves and fought to the last. Our first impulse was to
escape with our squaws and papooses, but we were so hemmed in
that we had to fight. After that I went up on the Tongue River
with a few of my people and lived in peace. But the government
would not let me alone. Finally, I came back to the Red Cloud
Agency. Yet, I was not allowed to remain quiet. I was tired of
fighting. I went to the Spotted Tail Agency and asked that chief
and his agent to let me live there in peace. I came here with
the agent [Lee] to talk with the Big White Chief but was not
given a chance. They tried to confine me. I tried to escape, and
a soldier ran his bayonet into me. I have spoken."
The identity of the soldier accused of being
responsible for the bayoneting of Crazy Horse is also debatable.
Only one eye witness account actually identifies the soldier as
Private William Gentles.
Photograph controversy
Most people
agree this is not Crazy Horse
Most sources question whether Crazy Horse was
ever photographed. Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy, surgeon at Camp
Robinson at the time of Crazy Horse's death, doubted any
photograph of the war leader had been taken. In 1908, historian
Walter Camp wrote to the agent for the Pine Ridge Reservation
inquiring about a portrait. "I have never seen a photo of Crazy
Horse," Agent Brennan replied, "nor am I able to find any one
among our Sioux here who remembers having seen a picture of him.
Crazy Horse had left the hostiles but a short time before he was
killed and its more than likely he never had a picture taken of
himself."
In 1956, a small tintype portrait purportedly of
Crazy Horse was published by J. W. Vaughn in his book With
Crook at the Rosebud. The photograph had belonged to the
family of the famous scout, Baptiste "Little Bat" Garnier. Two
decades later, the portrait was again published with further
details about how the photograph was produced at Camp Robinson,
though the editor of the book "remained unconvinced of the
authenticity of the photograph."
Recently, the original tintype was acquired by
the Custer Battlefield Museum in Garryowen, Montana, who have
promoted the image as the only authentic portrait of Crazy
Horse. Historians however continue to refute the identification.
Experts argue that the tintype was taken a decade
or two after 1877. The evidence includes the individual's attire
(such as the length of the breastplate and the ascot tie). In
addition, no other photograph with the same painted backdrop has
been found. Several photographers passed through Camp Robinson
and the Red Cloud Agency in 1877 - including James H. Hamilton,
Charles Howard, David Rodocker and possibly Daniel S. Mitchell -
but none of them used the backdrop that appears in the tintype.
After the death of Crazy Horse, Private Charles Howard made an
image of the famed war leader's scaffold grave, located near
Camp Sheridan, Nebraska.
William Bordeaux made a sketch of Crazy Horse for
his book, based on a description of him by both Bordeaux's
father, Louis Bordeaux, and Crazy Horse's relative, Julia Clown
(aka Iron Cedar Woman). Both Bordeaux and Clown said he was
never photographed, and they knew him personally.
Crazy Horse Memorial
Crazy Horse is currently being commemorated with
the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The
monument carved into a mountain, when completed will be 641 feet
(195 meters) wide and 563 feet (172 meters) high.
For more information on this and other Native topics please visit
the Education section of this site by clicking here
|
