Crazy Horse: The Last Warrior Standing, Defending the Old Way of Life

On September 5, 1877, Crazy Horse (Tashunca-uitco) was killed while resisting his captivity in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska. During a struggle, a U.S. soldier stabbed Crazy Horse with a bayonet. Many things are still debated about that day, including the name of the soldier and how Crazy Horse resisted.  But it was the end of the great military leader of the Oglala Lakota.

Crazy Horse was one of the Sioux leaders who defeated George Armstrong Custer’s Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana Territory in 1876. After the infamous battle, U.S. soldiers had pursued Crazy Horse and his followers until the Native Americans, suffering cold and starvation, surrendered in May 1877.

Crazy Horse Photo
Disputed photo that some claim is of Crazy Horse.

In 2005, singer-songwriter Marty Stuart released Badlands: Ballads Of The Lakota. The concept album recounts Native American history and struggle. Stuart brought his outstanding musical and storytelling skills to the music.  He has created other wonderful concept albums too, including his excellent The Pilgrim (1999).

On the epic song “Three Chiefs” on Badlands, Stuart sings from the point of view of Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse. He recounts what they might have said after their deaths when they went to another world.

In the segment in the song about Crazy Horse, the song recounts his death: “In a jailhouse in Nebraska, it was on September 5,/ Crazy Horse was fighting hard to keep himself alive.” After his death, he meets God, who asks what Crazy Horse has to say. Crazy Horse responds:

“Upon suffering. Beyond suffering. The Red Nation shall rise again.
And it shall be a blessing for a sick world.
A world filled with broken promises. Selfishness and separations.
A world longing for light again.”

Crazy Horse foretells that the Native Americans will bring healing to the land of suffering.

“I see a time of seven generations when all of the colors of mankind
Will gather under the sacred tree of life.
And the whole earth will become one circle again.
And that day, there will be those among The Lakota,
Who will carry knowledge and understanding of unity among all living things.
And the young white ones will come to those of my people and ask for this wisdom.”

After Crazy Horse’s death, his body was placed on a burial scaffold, and later his parents took his remains to an undisclosed location. Experts suspect the remains are in an area around Wounded Knee, South Dakota, but no one is sure of the exact location.

As Stuart sings, “Touch the Clouds took his body, back home to his family,/ Nobody knows where they laid him down, to set his spirit free.” In the video below, two of Crazy Horse’s great grandsons talk about Crazy horse’s death and burial.

Photo via public domain. Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Little Big Horn and “Little Big Man”

    Little Big Horn

    On June 25, 1876, Sioux, Arapahoe, and Cheyenne warriors led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse wiped out Lt. Colonel George Custer and a large part of his 7th Cavalry at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Almost 100 years later, the event would provide a key moment in a great American film.

    Custer’s Last Stand

    In 1876, the 7th Calvary was scouting on behalf of two columns of U.S. soldiers.  The soldiers were trying to force the Native Americans onto reservations.  Another column had already lost a battle, unbeknownst to the other two groups.

    Custer’s scouts warned him about a large Native American village nearby.  But Custer thought the numbers were exaggerated and forged ahead instead of waiting for reinforcements.

    Custer divided his regiment and proceeded with around 215 men.  They were soon cut off by thousands of braves. All of the soldiers, including Custer, were killed at Little Big Horn in what became known as “Custer’s Last Stand.”

    “Little Big Man”

    My favorite movie with a fictionalized account of the incident is Little Big Man (1970).  The movie has a 96% critics rating and 86% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

    The movie is based on a revisionist comic Western novel by Thomas Berger.  In the film, Dustin Hoffman gives one of his greatest performances as Jack Crabb.

    The film follows Crabb, who recounts his life of adventure.  He was raised by Native Americans, and he later served as a scout for an inept and somewhat crazy Custer, played brilliantly by Richard Mulligan.

    This scene from the film captures Crabb simultaneously warning and daring Custer about what awaits.

    Arthur Penn directed Little Big Man, which also starred Faye Dunaway, Martin Balsam, and Chief Dan George. The movie is fictional satire that has moments of great humor.  But it also realistically reflects the victory and the tragedy of Little Big Horn and the plight of the Native Americans. If you have never seen the movie, you should.

    Although the Native Americans won the day, “Little Big Horn” became a rallying cry for the whites as more soldiers came to eventually track down Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and the other Native Americans. In less than fifteen years in 1889, the area around Little Big Horn became part of the new state of Montana.

    “The Custer Fight” painting by Charles Marion Russell via public domain.
    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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