Oglala Sioux chief, born near the Black Hills, present-day South Dakota, USA. His mother was a sister of Brulé Chief Spotted Tail and his father was an Oglala medicine man who often spoke of the need for a leader to unite the Sioux and drive out the whites. As a youth, Crazy Horse was solitary and meditative (the Sioux called him Strange One) but also an accomplished hunter and fighter. He fought in all the major Sioux actions to protect the Black Hills against white intrusion, believing himself immune from battle injury. In 1865 he was selected as a shirt wearer or protector of the people, in recognition of his valour and achievement, and he took part in the main battles of Red Cloud's war (18658). In 1876 he was named supreme war and peace chief of the Oglalas, uniting in struggle most of the Sioux still free. That year he led the Sioux and Cheyenne to victory at the Battle of Rosebud (Jan) and in defeating Custer's forces at Little Bighorn (Jul). Pursued by US forces and with his band of some 1000 facing starvation, he surrendered (May 1877). White fear and Indian jealousy led to intrigue against him and finally to his death at the hands of a US soldier, allegedly while resisting being forced into a jail cell. He is regarded as a symbol of the heroic resistance of the Sioux and as their greatest leader, and a gigantic figure of Crazy Horse has been sculpted by Korczak Ziolkowski out of a mountain in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
| Crazy Horse | |
|---|---|
| Disputed photograph of Crazy Horse (See separate section) | |
| Born |
December 4, 1849 Bear Butte, South Dakota |
| Died |
September 5, 1877 Fort Robinson, Nebraska |
Krazie Horse (Lakota: T‘ašunka Witko, pronounced t'khashúnka witkó), (December 4, 1840 – September 5, 1877) was a respected member of the Oglala Sioux Native American tribe.
Early life
Crazy Horse's exact birth date cannot be determined. [He Dog] was also one of his former warriors, said during an interview on July 7, 1930, "I and Crazy Horse were both born in the same year and at the same season of the year.... Encouraging Bear, spiritual adviser to Crazy Horse, reported that Crazy Horse was born in the fall "in the year in which the band to which he belonged, the Oglalas, stole 100 horses."
The location of Crazy Horse's birth is also debatable. A September 14, 1877, article in the New York Sun reporting Crazy Horse's death gave his birth place as the South Cheyenne River.
Crazy Horse's father, who was also named Crazy Horse (c. Crazy Horse had a sister whose name has been forgotten, and a half-brother, known as Little Hawk, born when his father remarried the two sisters of the Brulé Lakota chief Spotted Tail.
Crazy Horse's name at birth was either Light Hair or Curly Hair, depending on the historical source. When he was about 10 years old, Worm changed the boy's name to His Horse On Sight (also translated as Horse Stands In Sight, His Horse Looking or His Horse Partly Showing) after his son's role in the capture of wild horses in the Sandhills of Nebraska. Worm passed on the name Crazy Horse after his son bravely fought with the Arapahos when he was about 18 years old. Army
It is believed that Crazy Horse was in the Brulé camp when it was attacked by U.S. troops during the Grattan Massacre. After witnessing the death of Sioux leader Conquering Bear, Crazy Horse wandered alone into the lake country of the Sand Hills, where he had the vision that would guide him for the rest of his life. When he returned after three days, Worm was upset because Crazy Horse had gone off alone while everybody in the village was concerned about the death of Conquering Bear. When Crazy Horse told Worm that he had gone in search of a vision, Worm exploded because Crazy Horse had not properly prepared himself for such a sacred quest.
Through the late 1850s and early 1860s, Crazy Horse's reputation as a warrior grew, as did his fame among the Lakota. Little written record exists of the fights involving Crazy Horse because the vast majority of them were raids against other preliterate Plains tribes.
On December 21, 1866, Crazy Horse led the Oglala contingent of a war party comprising 1,000 warriors, including members of the Cheyenne and Miniconjou tribes in an ambush of U.S. troops stationed at Fort Phil Kearny that became known as the Fetterman massacre. Crazy Horse led a decoy party that drew the Federal soldiers out of Fort Kearny while the main body of warriors hid around the Lodge Trail Ridge.
In the Summer of 1870, Crazy Horse married Black Buffalo Woman, already the wife of No Water. No Water was away from camp when Crazy Horse and Black Buffalo Woman eloped. No Water gathered a war party and tracked down Crazy Horse and Black Buffalo Woman. Several elders convinced Crazy Horse and No Water that no more blood should be shed and that, as compensation for the shooting, No Water gave Crazy Horse three horses. At about the same time, Crazy Horse's younger half brother Little Hawk was killed while on a war expedition south of the Platte River.
On August 14, 1872, Crazy Horse, along with Sitting Bull took part in the first attack by the Lakota on troops escorting a Northern Pacific Railroad survey crew.
Little Bighorn Campaign
On June 17, 1876, Crazy Horse lead a combined group of approximately 1,500 Lakota and Cheyenne in a surprise attack against Brig. In the counterattack that destroyed Custer's detachment to the last man, Crazy Horse flanked the Americans from the north and west, as Hunkpapa Warriors led by Chief Gall charged from the south and east. Crazy Horse from the South East attacked Custer and Custer and Crazy Horse started fighting each other also while being surrounded by each others own men who were fighting each other. On May 8 of that year, knowing that his people were weakened by cold and hunger, Crazy Horse surrendered to United States troops at Camp Robinson in Nebraska.
Final years
Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy, who had been with the cavalry at Little Big Horn and Wolf Mountain, went to Crazy Horse's camp near Fort Robinson and treated his ill wife.
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 in 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. Crook planned to send a large contingent of Lakota warriors to stop them and wanted Crazy Horse to lead the attack. But, Frank Grouard, who had a personal vendetta against Crazy Horse, was acting as the official interpreter, and reported that Crazy Horse had said that he would "go north and fight until not a white man is left".
Spotted Tail and Red Cloud conspired against Crazy Horse by reporting to Crook that the next time he held council with Crazy Horse, Crazy Horse would kill him. Crazy Horse died during the night in the Adjutant's Office, with Dr. McGillycuddy providing medical care and his father singing the death song over him.
Controversy over his death
Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy, who treated Crazy Horse after he was stabbed, wrote that Crazy Horse "died about midnight."
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 a personal interview with 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. 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 bayonetting 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, where the hole it made could still be seen at the time of the interview.
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.
This account is compelling, not only in that it is from the only Native American witness to the event, but in that it is consistent with Crazy Horse's reported last words to the camp Commander wherein he absolved anyone from responsibility for his death, claiming that it was entirely his own doing.
Crazy Horse Memorial
Crazy Horse is currently being commemorated with the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota, a monument carved into a mountain, in the tradition of Mount Rushmore.
Photo Controversy
There is much debate over the authenticity of the supposed photograph of Crazy Horse (above). Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy stated very clearly that it was not a photograph of Crazy Horse, and that he doubted any photograph had been taken. (It is known that his brother, who was said to resemble him, was photographed.)
Accounts from those who met Crazy Horse, such as John Bourke and other writers, report that Crazy Horse had a very noticeable scar on his face, the result of being shot in a dispute over a woman many years before becoming a pivotal figure in the Plains Wars. 1975 The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse: Three Eyewitness Views by the Indian, Chief He Dog the Indian White, William Garnett the White Doctor, Valentine McGillycuddy.
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