Chief Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse (Lakota: Thašųka Witko, literally "his-horse is-crazy")[1] (ca. 1840 – 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.
A legendary warrior, Crazy Horse stole horses from the Crow Indians before he was 13 and led his first war party before turning 20. Crazy Horse fought against American settlers in Wyoming in the 1865-68 war led by the Oglala Chief Red Cloud. He also had a major role in destroying William J. Fetterman’s brigade at Fort Phil Kearney in 1867.
Crazy Horse was respected by the Lakota not only for his skill and bravery in battle, but by protecting his tribe's traditions and way of life. He would not permit photographs of himself, and fought to stop the American takeover on Lakota lands. When the War Department ordered all Lakota bands onto their reservations in 1876, Crazy Horse became a resistance leader. His first marriage to a Cheyenne woman permitted an alliance with that tribe, whereupon Crazy Horse led a force of 1,200 Oglala and Cheyenne against General George Crooks on June 17, 1876, as he attempted to advance on Sitting Bull’s Encampment on the Little Bighorn.
After this victory, Crazy Horse joined forces with Sitting Bull and on June 25 led his band in an historic counterattack that destroyed General George Armstrong Custer's Seventh Cavalry, flanking the Americans from the north and west as Hunkpapa warriors led by Chief Gall charged from the south and east. Following the Lakota victory at the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull and Gall retreated to Canada, but Crazy Horse remained to battle General Nelson Miles as he pursued the Lakota and their allies relentlessly throughout the winter of 1876-77.
This constant military harassment and the decline of the buffalo population eventually forced Crazy Horse to surrender on May 6, 1877; except for Gall and Sitting Bull, he was the last important chief to yield. Even in defeat, Crazy Horse remained an independent spirit, and in September 1877, when he left the reservation without authorization, to take his sick wife to her parents, General George Crook ordered him arrested, fearing that he was plotting a return to battle. Crazy Horse did not resist arrest at first, but when he realized that he was being led to a guardhouse, he began to struggle, and while his arms were held by one of the arresting officers, a soldier ran him through with a bayonet.
Early life
Crazy Horse was born in 1840, with sources conflicting as to whether this was in the fall or the spring. His birth name was 'In The Wilderness' or 'Among the Trees' (pronounced as Cha-O-Ha), meaning he was one with nature. His nickname was Curly. He had the same light curly hair of his mother.
Crazy Horse's father, a Lakota who was also named Crazy Horse (b. 1810), passed the name to his son, taking the new name of Waglula (Worm) for himself thereafter. The mother of the younger Crazy Horse was Rattling Blanket Woman (b. 1814), a Lakota as well.
Later, Good Looking Woman, the sister of Rattling Blanket Woman, came to Waglula as a replacement wife for her sister since she could no longer bear children. Waglula, however, turned her down as a wife, but relented in allowing her to raise her sister's son, Crazy Horse. Later, Crazy Horse's other aunt, They Are Afraid of Her, helped in the raising of Crazy Horse. She helped teach him to hunt and take care of himself.
Visions
Crazy Horse lived in the Lakota camp with his younger brother, High Horse (son of Iron Between Horns and Waglula) and his cousin Little Hawk, who he grew up with. (Little Hawk was actually the nephew of his maternal step grandfather, Corn, when it was attacked by Lt. Grattan and 28 other troopers during the Grattan massacre.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
Photograph controversy
There is much debate over the authenticity of the supposed photograph of Crazy Horse (right). It is one of several claimed to be of him. Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy stated very clearly it was not a photograph of Crazy Horse, and that he doubted any photograph had been taken. This is because Crazy Horse resisted being photographed during his life because he had strong beliefs in preserving the culture and ways of the traditional Native Americans. However, it is known that his brother, who was said to resemble him, was photographed. The photo at right is a tintype in the Custer Battlefield Museum collection. A definitive article on its authenticity was published in Whispering Wind Magazine, Vol 34 # 3, "Debating the Crazy Horse Photo" by Jack Heriard. The article lays out the arguments for and against this being the photo of the famous Oglala by showing photos of the period and comparing this man's dress to that of a later period.
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. Purported photos of Crazy Horse can be effectively dismissed for lack of a visible scar in the face.
There is a sketch of Crazy Horse done by William Bordeaux, based on a description of him by both Bordeaux's father, Louis Bordeaux, and Crazy Horse's youngest sister, Julia Clown (aka Iron Cedar). A copy is housed at Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and has been digitized at fairly high resolution for online viewing in the Beinecke Library's Digital Images Online database. 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 will be 641 feet (195 meters) wide and 563 feet (172 meters) high. Some Native American activists, most notably Russell Means, have criticized the project as exploitive of Lakota culture and Crazy Horse's memory.
Notes
- ↑ Bright, William (2004). Native American Place Names in the United States. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, pg. 125
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Sandoz, Mari. Crazy Horse, the Strange Man of the Oglalas, a biography, University of Nebraska Press, 1961. ISBN 978-0803251717
- Ambrose, Stephen E. Crazy Horse and Custer: The epic clash of two great warriors at the Little Bighorn, Pocket Books, 2003. ISBN 978-0743468640
- McMurtry, Larry. Crazy Horse, Puffin Books, 1999. ISBN 0-670-88234-8
- Guttmacher, Peter. Crazy Horse: Sioux War Chief, Chelsea House, 1994. ISBN 0-7910-1712-5
- Goldman, Martin S, Crazy Horse: War Chief of the Oglala Sue, Franlin Watts, 1996. ISBN 978-0531112588
External links
- PBS Biography
- A timeline of his life
- Indian Country Today: Trimble: What did Crazy Horse look like?
- Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript Library of William Bordeaux's Crazy Horse sketch at Yale University
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