Crazy Horse Totally Explained

Everything about Crazy Horse totally explained

Crazy Horse (Lakota: Thašųka Witko, literally "His-Horse-is-Crazy") (ca. 1842 – September 5, 1877) was a respected war leader of the Oglala Lakota, who fought against the U.S. federal government in an effort to preserve the traditions and values of the Lakota way of life.

Early life

Sources differ on the precise year of Crazy Horse's birth, but all seem to agree that he was born between 1840 and 1845. According to He Dog, a close friend, he and Crazy Horse "were both born in the same year and at the same season of the year", which census records and other interviews place at about 1845. Chips, an Oglala medicine man and spiritual adviser to the Oglala war leader, reported that Crazy Horse was born "in the year in which the band to which he belonged, the Oglala, stole One Hundred Horses, and in the fall of the year", a reference to the annual Lakota calendar or winter count. Among the Oglala wintercounts, the stealing of one hundred horses is noted by Cloud Shield, and possibly by American Horse and Red Horse owner, equivalent to the year 1840-41. Oral history accounts from relatives on the Cheyenne River Reservation place his birth in the spring of 1840. Probably the most credible source, however, is Crazy Horse's own father. On the evening of his son's death, the elderly man told Lieutenant H. R. Lemly that his son "would soon have been thirty-seven, having been born on the South Cheyenne river in the fall of 1840."
Crazy Horse was born with the name 'In The Wilderness' or 'Among the Trees' (in Lakota the name is phonetically pronounced as Cha-O-Ha) meaning he was one with nature. His nickname was Curly. He had the same light, curly hair as his mother. After witnessing the death of Lakota leader Conquering Bear, Crazy Horse began to get trance visions. His father Waglula (Worm) took him to what today is Sylvan Lake where they both sat to hemblecha (vision quest).

Wagon Box Fight

On August 2 1867 Crazy Horse participated in the Wagon Box Fight near Fort Phil Kearny. He captured one of the army's new Second Allin breech-loading rifles from one of the soldiers on the wood cutting crew. However, most of the soldiers made it to a circle of wagon boxes that had no wheels and used them for cover as they fired at the Lakota. The Lakota took substantial losses in the fight as the new rifles could fire ten times a minute compared to the old muskets in prior battles at a rate of only three times a minute. The Lakota would charge after the soldiers fired, expecting them to still be using the muskets that took about 20 seconds to reload. But instead it took only about six seconds to reload the new rifles. The Lakota casualties numbered around 200 that day. Many are buried in the hills that surround Fort Phil Kearny in Wyoming. Crazy Horse and his followers attempted to rescue the camp and its headman, (Old Man) American Horse. He was unsuccessful and American Horse and nearly his entire family was killed by the soldiers after holing up in a cave for several hours.
On January 8, 1877, his warriors fought their last major battle, the Battle of Wolf Mountain, with the United States Cavalry in the Montana Territory. On May 5 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. NOTE: As an indication of its permanent status, the designation "Camp" was changed to "Fort" in 1878.

Surrender and death

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'd promised to remain at peace when they surrendered. According to one version of events, Crazy Horse finally agreed, saying that he'd 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'd "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.
   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.

Controversy over his death

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 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's 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.:
William Gentles. Historian Walter M. Camp circulated copies of this account to individuals who had been present who questioned the identity of the soldier and provided two additional names. To this day, the identification remains questionable.

Photograph controversy

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 — a monument carved into a mountain, in the tradition of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial (on which Korczak Ziółkowski had worked). The sculpture was begun by Ziółkowski in 1948. When completed, it'll be 641 feet (195 meters) wide and 563 feet (172 meters) high. Though still incomplete because of funding constraints, the sculpture has been criticized by some Native American activists (most notably Russell Means ) as exploitive of Lakota culture and Crazy Horse's memory as well as desecrating sacred ground:

Imagine going to the holy land in Israel, whether you're a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim, and start carving up the mountain of Zion. It's an insult to our entire being. It's bad enough getting four white faces carved in up there [onMount Rushmore], the shrine of hypocrisy.

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