Crazy Horse

“Much of the fun of studying the Battle of the Little Big Horn is the free rein it offers to the imagination.” Stephen Ambrose in reference to the many books written about the battle and yet none about the greater, longer Tongue River battle earlier wherein the Army had a clear 2 to 1 advantage over Crazy Horse, yet lost. Crazy Horse’s birth is widely disputed by most writers; all the way from 1840 to 1845. 1841 is generally accepted by most Historians.

Crazy Horse’s biological mother was a Mnicoujou and died when he was quite young. Crazy Horse’s father, an Oglala, later married a sister of the respected Sichangu leader, Chief Spotted Tail. She was in actuality, the only mother ‘Curly’ (Crazy Horse) ever knew. ‘Curly’ was Crazy Horse’s boyhood name. He was light complexioned, had lighter and wavier hair than most. A story is told of a winter time when food was scarce. CH’s Father brought back two antelope. The little boy of 6 or 7 rode his pony through the camp and invited the old to come to his teepee to eat. As a result, the mother had to distribute all of it. When it was gone the young child asked for food. His mother told him that the old folks had taken it all, and added: "Remember, my son, they went home singing praises in your name, not my name or your father's. You must be brave. You must live up to your reputation."

At sixteen Crazy Horse joined a war party against the Gros Ventres. He was well in the front of the charge, closely following Hump, one of the foremost Sioux warriors. Suddenly Hump's horse was shot from under him and enemy warriors rushed to kill. Amidst a shower of arrows the youth leaped from his horse, helped his friend into his own saddle, sprang up behind him, and, hotly pursued by the enemy carried him to safety. Thus, in his maiden battle, he allied himself with a wizard of Indian warfare. Hump, who was then at the height of his own career, pronounced Crazy Horse the coming warrior of the Teton Sioux.

No reliable photo has ever been discovered of Crazy Horse. He was a young man in his twenties under Chief Red Cloud’s command and was hand-picked by the venerable leader to engage the cavalry in several daring missions. This was during the heavy fighting in the 1860’s. Crazy Horse was reputed to always wear a protective wotai stone tied behind his ear when he took the battlefield or served on a dangerous decoy mission. The *wahshichu’s bullets were predicted to never harm him in combat as long as he faithfully wore the protective stone. (All stones are designed and made by Creator: who is to deny that some may be allowed special protective powers considering who the Maker of the stone is?) I myself wore a wotai stone for my 110 combat missions over Vietnam. What is a bit unique in my situation was the fact that a Sioux medicine person, Chief Fools Crow held a ceremony for me prior to my Vietnam departure in which within the ceremony it was predicted that I would see the enemy over a hundred times and the bullets would bounce from my plane- which is the way my combat happened, culminating in 110 combat missions wherein I received heavy ground fire and several SAM missiles as well. * Wah shi chu, White Man. ‘He reaches for the biggest pieces when you feed him. Lelah ahhtaah, tanka tatanka ehh chuh. Wah, hey, gob a lah.

The many battles with the U.S. Army under Red Cloud’s command drew to a victorious close (for the Sioux) with the signing of the Treaty of 1868. For almost 8 years afterwards there existed a sporadic peace between the Army and the Teton Lakota. We will come strongly back to the Treaty of 1868 later. Only six years after the signing of the Treaty, a large group of soldiers was led by the notorious Pehin Zizi or Yellow Hair, (Custer) into the Black Hills. The major culprit resulting in the breaking of the treaty was the discovery of gold by the Custer expedition. ‘Wahshichu mazazizi, lelah ahtah witkokolah.’ (The yellow metal (gold) that drove the white man crazy.) Frenzied miners began to swarm into the Black Hills. Declarations of a treaty can soon vanish when a materialistic society discovers material gain, be it gold, oil, bananas, tea, beaver pelts, slaves, cotton or what have you.

After the treaty, Crazy Horse and his followers spent most if not all of their time out in the Powder River country where game was far more plentiful than near the reservation confines established by the government. Since the signing of the treaty, a major factor was happening which would steer the Indians toward another showdown. Government rations were frequently not enough and the Indians solved this by simply leaving their assigned reservation and going off to hunt in order to add to their food supply.

Drifting to Hunt

December, 1875, the government issued an order that, they could no longer hunt in what would later be termed “Crazy Horse Country”- the hunting grounds west of the Black Hills to the Big Horns. All hunting bands would have to return by January 31, 1876. Non-compliant bands would be regarded as hostile, and military force would be used on them. It was a foolish order. Getting word to the spread out bands by messengers was not possible especially when winter traveling conditions made it impossible to get back by the assigned time.

Crazy Horse – Warrior Chief

Crazy Horse was now in his thirties and a full fledged chief of several bands who remained aloof from the agencies and staying upon the Great Plains to mainly subsist upon the dwindling herds of buffalo, elk, mountain sheep and deer. The ‘Hostile Declaration,’ angered the hunting bands to such an extent that they elected to defy the order and remain hunting.

Three defiant battles were to be successfully fought by Chief Crazy Horse and his warriors in but a short duration lasting only 4 months - late spring to the early summer of 1876.

The Three Pronged Plan – of the U. S. Army

The Army knew that the Sioux would be in the last great hunting area of the Sioux; the Powder River and the Big Horn River area. Here would be enough game to support such a large concentration of people. The army decided to approach them from three different directions at once.

General Crook would come up from the South, from Ft. Laramie territory. From Montana, Col. Gibbon would come down from Ft. Shaw. From near the present location of Bismarck, North Dakota, General Terry would come down from Ft. Lincoln with Lieutenant Colonel Custer in his command. The Army wanted to find the Indians in the spring or early summer, so that if they had to chase them, they would have the entire summer to do so. General Crook was the first one to set out from Fort Laramie in early March, 1876 with 1400 men. General Crook was going to have his hands full as a result of his early start.

General Crook

When General Crook set out from Ft. Laramie, the weather was bitterly cold, sometimes reaching thirty below zero. After traveling slowly for a couple of weeks, his scouts brought back word of the first sign of Indians on March 16 at Clear Creek, a branch of the Powder River. The village was identified as that of Crazy Horse's and some Cheyenne allies consisting of about a hundred lodges; about six to seven hundred people and, about two hundred warriors. One military group was assigned to run off the horse herd, another group to attack, and a third group to cut off any escape. Crook’s surprise attack at dawn was a complete success.

Crazy Horse’s forces, launched a furious counterattack from the rocks outside the village. Colonel Reynolds, who was commanding the attack, was slowly beaten down. Despite their superior number, Colonel Reynolds and his men were driven several miles back down the valley. The Indians retrieved their scattered herd of ponies that night and rode off shouting taunts at the soldiers. Early history books claim the Indians had bows and arrows mostly. These authors were obviously reluctant to admit that the Army lost a considerable amount of their logistics, namely ammunition and rifles, to the Sioux under Red Cloud who had the better conditioned horses and able riders. Crazy Horse’s mounts were fresh compared to the cavalry horses already two weeks under the bitter cold. If Col. Reynolds was beaten back it was not by bows and arrows.

When General Crook found out how badly his men had been beaten, he was so angry that he had Colonel Reynolds and several other officers court-martialed. Weather was also a factor. An army on the move in early spring could find some desperate conditions; bitter cold and snowed-over grass can fatigue the horses as well as fatiguing the men who have to, at times, do their share of walking to get through heavy snow. Several accounts hold that Crook had to eat his horses to get back to Ft. Laramie out of the severe weather and looking back in fear that Crazy Horse would attack. It was not until late in May that he finally got his column moving again to keep his meeting date in the Powder River country. This time Crook had 1,200 soldiers, 86 Shoshones, and 176 Crows in his group— a total of 1,462 men.

Tongue River

Almost 3 month after his defeat, on June 9, General Crook again ran into Crazy Horse’s forces on the east bank of the Tongue River. A lone Indian appeared with a message from Crazy Horse: ‘Don't cross the Tongue, or we will fight.’ The Tongue River battle is more important than the later Little Big Horn battle because this battle illustrates the prowess of the Sioux fighters. White historians so hung up in their false, Euro-Centric superiority have kept it hidden from the public. The simple reason is because Crazy Horse picked less than half as many warriors to engage General Crooks more than 1400 soldiers and Crow scouts. Crooks was the southern portion of the three pronged Army attempt to defeat the Sioux in the summer of ‘76 in the Big Horn area.

Indian scouts had reported Crooks northern movement out of Ft. Laramie. Crazy Horse was designated to be leader of the engaging force out of the large Little Big Horn River encampment but he picked less than half the amount of warriors as compared to Crooks. He was chastised by the Hunkpapa Chief, Sitting Bull who urged for him to pick more. Crazy Horse laughed and tried to assure the older chief that he would succeed. He pretended to be astride a horse and exemplified holding a rifle, riding with his knees and hence directing his horse with both hands free which was a Sioux trade mark in cavalry fighting. Both hands offered more accuracy compared to the horse’s mouth bit guidance method which cavalry men were burdened with and which allowed them only one arm for aiming and fighting. He then made a lever cocking gesture of a Winchester and said confidently, “I will beat him. Don’t worry. You shall see,”

This he did at the Tongue in less than a two- day battle. The Army never had the Winchester, despite its invention in 1856, well before the civil war where it saw little action. Dick Cheney’s relatives must have been alive and well back then and employed as lobbyists for the Springfield/Allen single shot musket and later rifle company (45-70) who successfully kept the superior fire power of the Winchester out of the Army. It is not found in today’s small Arms museum at Rock Island Arsenal, Moline Illinois. Yes, I know, you are now finally all learning a bit of REAL Indian history.

On June 17, at the lower end of the Rosebud Valley, he ran into a well-prepared Crazy Horse with an estimated 700 warriors and his Cheyenne Allies. The battle was on and it continued throughout most of the day, the conflict alternating in favor between both sides. Even General Crook had a horse shot out from under him. Fire power, horses used to being fired from (the buffalo hunts) and leadership); I will have to add Spirituality as well, why

the Sioux killed approximately 8 to 1 in their 20 years under Chief Red Cloud in the 50’s and 60’s who never lost a battle. At dark, the battle ended, both sides withdrew, and Crook camped under triple guard right on the battlefield. The next day, Crook was so weakened that he had to turn back again to Ft. Laramie. Thus it was that the southern thrust, a decisive force of the three pronged approach to the Indians was beaten back and would not make its meeting with the other two columns coming down from the north.

Colonel Gibbon had started down from Ft. Shaw, Montana in April in order to meet General Terry and Custer at the spot where the Rosebud Creek flowed into the Yellowstone River. After meeting, they made a simple plan. Colonel Gibbon would march up the Big Horn River (it flows north), and then, if he didn't find the Indians, come back and march up the Little Big Horn. At the same time, Custer would march up the Rosebud Creek. If the Indians tried to run south, General Crook would be there to catch them—they thought. The closing in date was June 26. Custer met his fate on the 25th. Custer's force started out on June 22. Gathered together in the valley of the Little Big Horn, most books say that between 12,000 to 15,000 Indians were there, and about 5,000 of them were seasoned warriors. All were mounted and well-armed.

The fact that they out numbered Custer is the major reason why this particular battle draws more publicity than the Tongue/Rosebud battle. Typical!!! The camp extended for several miles along the west bank of the Little Big Horn. Each band was camped in a circle. On the south end of the camp were the Hunkpapas with Chiefs Sitting Bull, Gall, and Black Moon. On the north end of the camp were the northern Cheyenne's under chiefs Two Moon and White Bull. In between, each in its circle, were Minicoujous under Chief Hump, Sans Arcs under Chief Spotted Eagle, and Oglalas under Chiefs Crazy Horse, Low Dog, and Big Road. Bands of Brule and Blackfoot Sioux were there, along with some Arapahoes. It was toward this huge gathering that Custer was confidently making his way.

Custer

Custer had about 600 soldiers, 44 Indian scouts—mostly Crows, and 20 or more packers, guides, and civilians. On June 24, the scouts reported the tracks of a large Indian group moving west toward the Little Big Horn valley. Custer rested awhile and decided to follow the trail at night in order to be as close as possible to the Indians at dawn. At daybreak on June 25, the smoke from many Indian lodges could be seen in the Little Big Horn Valley. Custer itched for action. Most recent historians, hold a commonly accepted version of why Custer attacked so foolishly and didn't wait another day and attack as planned with Colonel Gibbon. Custer was fundamentally a "glory hound" and wanted to grab all the credit for himself. They critically point out that he didn't even bother to scout ahead of time to find out just how many Indians he was about to engage. Custer was also a Fetterman. He errantly thought he could ride through a thousand Indians if chance could ever place that many in his way. And like Fetterman, Fate granted him that chance! Evan Connel, Son of the Morning Star, suggested that Custer had dreams of becoming president and that his ‘victory’ was all he needed.

All-Night March

After an all-night march. Custer divided his tired men (600 soldiers) into three fighting groups, one under Major Reno, another under Captain Benteen, and his group. Custer was about 12 miles from the huge Indian camp. As he moved westward toward the camp, he split his forces, sending Captain Benteen's group south to make a scout in that direction. When Custer and Reno came within about two miles of the Little Big Horn, they could see part of the huge village across the river. Custer ordered Reno and his 140 men to continue moving straight ahead, across the river, and to attack the village. Custer himself decided to swing north and catch the village at one end. In this way, he apparently hoped that, by starting at one end of the village, he could drive everyone who ran, right into the hands of Reno and Benteen.

Reno attacked the southern end of the camp but withering opposing fire sent him retreating back across the river, initially losing about one third of his men. Reno’s forces made it to higher bluffs where they dug in for their lives. The supply animals reached them allowing sufficient ammunition to hold their attackers at bay. Reno had 40 men left, 3 officers, and a few civilians. He was later joined by Benteen and with plenty of ammunition, made a successful defense that lasted into the next day. They critically point out that he didn't even bother to scout ahead of time to find out just how many Indians he was about to engage. Custer was also a Fetterman. He errantly thought he could ride through a thousand Indians if chance could ever place that many in his way. And like Fetterman, Fate granted him that chance!

Evan Connel, Son of the Morning Star, suggested that Custer had dreams of becoming president and that his ‘victory’ was all he needed. All-Night March After an all-night march. Custer divided his tired men (600 soldiers) into three fighting groups, one under Major Reno, another under Captain Benteen, and his group. Custer was about 12 miles from the huge Indian camp. As he moved westward toward the camp, he split his forces, sending Captain Benteen's group south to make a scout in that direction. When Custer and Reno came within about two miles of the Little Big Horn, they could see part of the huge village across the river. Custer ordered Reno and his 140 men to continue moving straight ahead, across the river, and to attack the village. Custer himself decided to swing north and catch the village at one end. In this way, he apparently hoped that, by starting at one end of the village, he could drive everyone who ran, right into the hands of Reno and Benteen. Reno attacked the southern end of the camp but withering opposing fire sent him retreating back across the river, initially losing about one third of his men. Reno’s forces made it to higher bluffs where they dug in for their lives. The supply animals reached them allowing sufficient ammunition to hold their attackers at bay. Reno had 40 men left, 3 officers, and a few civilians. He was later joined by Benteen and with plenty of ammunition, made a successful defense that lasted into the next Day.

Custer’s Final Hour

As Reno crossed the river to attack the part of the village that he could see, Custer swung north to catch the village at its northern end. Custer was to get the surprise of his life. As soon as he was sighted by the Indians, they came boiling after him. Custer had about 225 men, and the number of Indian warriors then present is an estimated 5,000. From the first contact, all the bands merged together and, like a huge, never ending wave, they moved in on Custer. Custer's men were spread out over a battle line of about three-quarters of a mile on the first major ridge back to the river. At Reno’s attack, Crazy Horse had quickly saddled his war horse and was starting with his young men for the south end of the camp when a fresh alarm came from the opposite direction. Looking up, he saw Custer's force upon the top of the bluff directly across the river. He took in the situation -- the enemy had planned to attack the camp at both ends at once. Knowing that Custer could not ford the river at that point, he instantly led his men north to the ford to cut him off. The Cheyennes followed closely. Custer must have seen that wonderful dash up the sage-bush plain and one wonders whether he realized its meaning. In a very few minutes, this wild Sioux general of the plains had outwitted one of the most brilliant leaders of the Civil War and ended at once his military career and his life. In this dashing charge, Crazy Horse snatched his most famous victory out of what must have seemed frightful peril for the Sioux, who could not know how many were behind Custer. Custer was caught in his own trap. To the soldiers it must have seemed as if the Indians rose up from the earth to overwhelm them. They closed in from three sides and fought until not a white man was left alive.

At what point Custer was killed, no one knows. Later on, Custer's body was found and, although it was stripped of its clothing as were most of the bodies of the soldiers, he had not been scalped nor mutilated. He had been struck twice by bullets, neither one of which could have been fatal. Although perhaps reckless, this much must be said about Custer: he was, unlike Fetterman in this respect, he did not kill himself when he saw that his end was near. He went down fighting. Together, Reno and Benteen’s men made up a force of about 340. They had dug in well during the night and had all the ammunition from the pack train. The battle continued at dawn and into the afternoon, but from their strong defense position, the soldiers were able to hold. It was about the middle of the afternoon that the Indians began to withdraw, leaving only a small force to keep up occasional firing to force the soldiers to remain in their place. Word from scouts reported the approach of another army, compelling the Sioux to start a prairie fire, break camp and scatter from the concealing smoke in different directions. In just the short time, a few hours at most, they were gone. Before darkness set in, not an Indian was in sight. This fact indicates how well mounted the entire camp was. The enormous amount of captured Army horses dating back to Red Cloud’s wars, (6 years of fighting) are never admitted by historians, let alone captured weapons and ammunition. It was the 26th, and Colonel Gibbon was coming south along the Little Big Horn, right on time, and yet, too late.

Most of the scattering bands went right back to their fall schedules, gathering lodge poles here, hunting there, and occasionally brushing with the military. Scattered as they were, the army could not bring about effective strikes, but they were a bother to the Indians. Some, on encountering the army, quietly gave up and went back to their reservations, while others kept dodging the soldiers and remained free for another year or two. Sitting Bull sought refuge in Canada for a period of years. Many of his followers became permanent Canadian Sioux. Crazy Horse, after dodging around in the north country and finding his people starving due to the absence of game and buffalo, was finally compelled to come into the reservation in just over a year. The last great resistance was over, and life on the reservation was about to begin.

Coming In

In July, 1877, Chief Crazy Horse was finally prevailed upon to come in to Fort Robinson, Nebraska, with his band. Most say less than a thousand. General Crook had now proclaimed Spotted Tail, who had rendered service to the army, ‘Head Chief of the Sioux’, which was resented by many, and of course Chief Red Cloud. Crazy Horse’s wife was critically ill at the time, and he decided to take her to her parents at Spotted Tail Agency. After he had left the sick woman with her people he went to call on Captain Lee, the agent for the Brules, accompanied by warriors of the Minicoujou band. Captain Lee urged him to report at army headquarters at Fort Robinson and furnished him with a wagon and escort. When he reached the military camp, Little Big Man walked arm-in-arm with him, and his cousin and friend, Touch-the-Cloud, walked ahead. After they passed the Army sentinel, an officer approached them and walked on his other side. He was unarmed but for the knife which was commonly carried for ordinary use by women as well as men. Unsuspectingly he walked toward the guardhouse; when Touch-the-Cloud suddenly turned back exclaiming: “Cousin, they will put you in prison!” “Another white man's trick! Let me go! Let me die fighting!” cried Crazy Horse. He stopped and tried to free himself and draw his knife, but both arms were held fast by Little Big Man and the officer. While he struggled thus, a soldier thrust him through with his bayonet from behind. The wound was mortal, and he died that night, his old father singing the death song over him and afterward carrying away the body, which they said must not be further polluted by the touch of a white man. It is claimed they hid it somewhere in the Bad Lands, his resting place to this day.

“My lands are where my dead lie buried”

Chief Crazy Horse- Oglala/Mnicoujou, Teton Lakota

By Ed McGaa (Eagle Man)