Crazy Horse (Lakota: T‘ašunka Witko, pronounced t'khashúnka witkó), (c. 1840 – September 5, 1877) was a respected member of the Oglala Sioux Native American tribe. Based on his courage in the battlefield, his people recognized him as a great leader dedicated to honoring Lakota's traditions and values leading them into a war against the takeover of their lands by the Federal government of the United States.

"Early life"

No one knows about Crazy Horse exact birth date and place. One of his former warriors, He Dog, mention 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.... I am now 92 years old." That would mean that Crazy Horse was born about 1838. 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." According to winter counts kept by Cloud Shield and White Bull, that year was 1840.

A September 14, 1877 article in the New York Sun reporting Crazy Horse's death gave his birth place as the South Cheyenne River. Other sources point to either Rapid Creek, near present day Rapid City, South Dakota, or near Bear Butte outside Sturgis, South Dakota. Crazy Horse's father, who was also named Crazy Horse (c. 1811) but took the name Worm after passing the name to his son, was Oglala Lakota and his mother, Rattling Blanket Woman (c. 1815), was Miniconjou Lakota. Rattling Blanket Woman may have been a member of the One Horn or Lone Horn family, leaders of the Miniconjou.

"Early warfare against the U. S. 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 became a wanderer into the lake country of the Sand Hills where he had the vision that became his compass. His vision led him to go against Lakota customs by not wearing face paint or a war bonnet in battle, and to rub dust over his hair and body before going into battle. When he returned after three days, Worm was upset since Crazy Horse went on his journey alone while village was disturbed about Conquering Bear's death. When he told Worm about his quest, Worm erupted because Crazy Horse didn't prepare himself properly.

Through the late 1850s and early 1860s, Crazy Horse's reputation as a warrior grew among the Lakota. Little documentation exists of the fights involving Crazy Horse because the vast majority of these were raids against other Plains tribes. Because of his fighting ability, Crazy Horse was installed as an Ogle Tanka Un (Shirt Wearer or war leader) in 1865.

On December 21, 1866, Crazy Horse led the Oglala contingent with a war part of 1,000 warriors, including members of the Cheyenne and Miniconjou tribes in an ambush of U.S. troops stationed at Fort Phil Kearny . This became known as the Fetterman massacre. He led a decoy party that drew the Federal soldiers out of Fort Kearny while the main body of warriors secured the Lodge Trail Ridge. The ambush was the worst Army defeat on the Great Plains at the time.

Little Bighorn Campaign

On January 8, 1877, his warriors fought the Battle of Wolf Mountain with the United States Cavalry in the Montana Territory. This was their last major battle. On May 8, they 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. To encourage Crazy Horse to go to Washington D.C. to meet with newly elected President Rutherford B. Hayes, Lt. William Philo Clark made him a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Indian Scouts on May 15, 1877. He still declined Lt. Clark's offer.

The attention that Crazy Horse received from the Army caused Red Cloud and Spotted Tail to be jealous. Rumors began to spread 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. Crook planned to send a large number of Lakota warriors to stop them and wanted Crazy Horse to lead the attack. Crazy Horse and 7-foot-tall Miniconjou leader Touch the Clouds objected to the plan, saying that they had been promised peace when they surrendered.

Crazy Horse finally agreed to the plan, saying that he would fight "till all the Nez Perces were killed". But, Frank Grouard, who had a grudge 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". Uproar over the misinterpretation grew until it reached General Philip Sheridan, who ordered Crook to investigate the matter.

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. Friends of Crazy Horse learned of the plot and informed him. He responded by taking his ill wife to her parents at the Spotted Tail Agency, where his enemies circulated stories that he had fled Fort Robinson. Crazy Horse then went to the Brulés agent, Capt. Luke Lea, who said that Crazy Horse should return to Fort Robinson and correct the false rumors.

On September 5, 1877, he returned to Fort Robinson, guards attempted to arrest him. He resisted and William Gentiles, a 20-year army veteran who never rose above the rank of private, lunged at Crazy Horse with his bayonet, striking him near his left kidney. 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. His body was taken away by his parents and laid to rest somewhere in the Badlands.

Controversy over his death

Monument Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy wrote that Crazy Horse "died about midnight." According to military records he died before midnight, making it September 5, 1877. According to the Oglala Sioux, he died after midnight, making it September 6, 1877. The monument located at the spot of his death says September 5, 1877. Each year the Oglala Sioux meet at the spot of his death on September 6.

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.

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 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.

Bourke goes on to relate how he double checked on Little Big Man's account by visiting the Fort and inspecting the guardhouse door, where he reported finding a deep hole that could only have been made by a bayonet.

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. Bourke's memoirs of his personal experiences and acquaintance with the pivotal figures of the events he reports on makes him an especially credible source of information on the Indian Wars of the 1870s and 80s.

Source

Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia