A Review: Sitting Bull, Lakota Warrior And Defender Of His People

A Review: Sitting Bull, Warrior & Defender

Beautiful Book About Great Leader
By Dakota Wind
Fort Yates, ND (TFS) – In 2015, SD Nelson published his Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of His People, a first-person historical narrative through the eyes of Sitting Bull. His people's struggle to survive manifest destiny in the late nineteenth century is told through historical photos and Great Plains pictography.

Nominally a children’s book, but much more, Nelson beautifully illustrates a carefully researched and composed historical narrative. Each page is a work of art rendered in the historic Plains Indian style on a ledger book background. Every piece of art is lovingly constructed with a contemporary feel without sacrificing style or story.

Nelson acknowledges the oral traditions for Sitting Bull’s childhood name, Jumping Badger, from the direct lineal descendant, the great-grandson of Sitting Bull, Mr. Ernie LaPointe.

Sitting Bull touches on the last greatest conflict in the American West, Little Bighorn. Nelson takes readers on the journey to Fort Walsh in Canada, where Sitting Bull and his people remained in exile for a few years until the overwhelming call to return home pulled the Lakota back to Missouri River country. Nelson thoughtfully reconstructs the “surrender” of Sitting Bull at Fort Buford, which was actually an exchange of one lifestyle, a hunter-gatherer one, for another, an agricultural one. Imprisonment at Fort Randall is mentioned too.

Sitting Bull’s time as part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show is also touched upon, then Sitting Bull’s return to his first and last home on the Grand River, SD. Agent McLaughlin is rendered in a confrontation with Sitting Bull about the Ghost Dance, and Sitting Bull is simply but beautifully rendered as Ikčé (common) in wrapped braids and a robe.

Nelson brings Sitting Bull to a conclusion with the death of the great spiritual leader at the hands of his own people. Nelson illustrates Sitting Bull falling, but not quite on the ground. Two police officers are depicted firing at Sitting Bull in the side and head. The images are suggestive, not graphic in their depiction, truly rendered in the historic Plains Indian style of art.

Nelson’s book is a beautiful tribute to one of the great leaders of the Lakota people. His vibrant use of color enhances a traditional art. This isn’t a typical childhood read, and it shouldn’t be. This is based on a living, breathing first nation man and his struggle in the post-reservation era. If your bookcase has any work by Paul Goble, this one earns its place front and center on that shelf. Get it for yourself and your family if you love art and history.

S.D. Nelson is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. His traditional name is Maȟpíya Kiŋyáŋ (Flying Cloud) He is an award-winning author and illustrator of numerous children’s books. His books have received many accolades, including the American Indian Library Association’s Youth Literature Award, a place on the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List, and the Western Writers of America Spur Award. Nelson lives in Flagstaff, AZ. Follow him online at sdnelson.net.

Nelson, S. D. Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of His People. First ed. New York, NY: Abrams Books For Young Readers, 2015. 64 pp. $19.95. Hardcover. Photos, illustrations, timeline, notes, bibliography, index.

Dakota Wind is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. He is currently a university student working on a degree in History with a focus on American Indian and Western History. He maintains the history website The First Scout.

North Dakota Content Standards
Grades 4 and 8
Resources: 4.1.4; 8.1.2
Timeline: 4.1.5
State Symbols: 4.2.1 (Western Meadowlark, Red Tomahawk)
Concepts of time: 4.2.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.4
People and events: 4.2.5
Colonization: 4.2.9
Expansion: 4.2.10
Physical geography: 4.5.3; 8.5.1
Human geography: 4.5.5, 4.5.6; 8.5.2, 8.5.3
Culture: 4.6.1, 4.6.2; 8.6.2
US History & Imperialism: 8.2.4, 8.2.9, 8.2.10, 8.2.11

Forgotten History At State Park

A Corps of Discovery Bicentennial medallion is on display near the visitor center at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. 

Forgotten History At State Park

Omission Of Prison Camp Narrative

By Dakota Wind

Mandan, ND – On the night of October 21-22, 1804, the Corps of Discovery established camp above the abandoned Mandan Indian Village known today as On-A-Slant, located at present-day Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. Their mission, one of exploration and science, but also one of peace and friendship.

Seventy-three years later, on October 5, 1877, the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) concluded a running battle from their homelands in Idaho to Bear Paw Mountain, MT, heart-breakingly short a few miles to US-Canadian border. Their destination: Fort Walsh, to live amongst Sitting Bull and the Hunkpapa Lakota, whom the Nez Perce thought would assist them. Nearly 800 Nez Perce were captured by Col. Miles. 300 of the Nez Perce were imprisoned at Fort Abraham Lincoln in October, 1877, as they were prepared to be shipped to Indian Territory (OK). Some of them died, as prisoners of war, at Fort Abraham Lincoln.

Among the 300 Nez Perce prisoners of war was Tzi-Kal-Tza, or Daytime Smoke, an elder at seventy-one/two years, who survived the military’s single-minded pursuit of his people, had actually fought to defend his people in the Nez Perce War, and was part of their subsequent capture at the Bear Paw conflict, and their relocation to Indian Territory (OK). Information at the Nez Perce County Historical Museum in Lewiston, ID, says that Daytime Smoke was the son of Captain William Clark.

The son of Captain William Clark, Daytime Smoke, who was imprisoned at Fort Abraham Lincoln in October, 1877, where his father once stepped. 

The imprisonment of the Nez Perce survives in living memory today, which isn’t so long ago as one would imagine. “My great-grandmother’s sisters, two of them, died there,” shared Mr. Woodrow Star, an enrolled member of the Nez Perce tribe. “I paid a visit to Fort Lincoln to visit my grandmothers’ graves. None of the park rangers, not even the park manager, had ever heard of this.”

After the fort was decommissioned in 1890, all veterans and citizens at rest there – including the POWs, were exhumed and reinterred at St. Mary’s Cemetery. The Nez Perce were buried in a line, their names unrecorded. Their graves in Bismarck lie there still, in unmarked graves. The Nez Perce today, want to change this.

Fort Abraham Lincoln has seen a lot of reconstruction over the years. Blockhouses and the museum/visitor center have been in place in the 1930’s. Earthlodges were originally reconstructed by the CCC in the 1930’s too, then reconstructed as needed. In the late 1980’s the commanding officer’s quarters were reconstructed, built as General Custer would have known it in 1875. Four other buildings followed. The museum/visitor center was renovated to feature the Mandan Indian and military occupations.

The visitor center features an area dedicated to representing the overnight stay of the Corps of Discovery within present-day Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park.

The museum/visitor center displays feature archaeological findings both from the Mandan and military, Sheheke, (White Wolf; White Coyote) a Mandan who was born there, an artistic diorama of the historic Mandan village there, Fort Abraham Lincoln, General Custer, and the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Little Bighorn campaign and battle are also featured, as is the Corps of Discovery.

Guided tours of the commanding officer’s quarters (“The Custer House”) are offered throughout the tourist season. The guides are dressed in period attire and speak in the present tense as though it’s 1875 rather than the modern day. The Custer House features various novelties that once belonged to Lt. Col. G.A. Custer and his wife. These are pointed out to the visitor by way of a prompt, “Take special notice of…”

The fort’s history is summarized in a prologue and conclusion of every tour: it was built in 1873, a cavalry post to protect the Northern Pacific Railway survey crews, the Black Hills Expedition of 1874 (to confirm the discovery of gold) receives a mention, the Little Bighorn Campaign (Centennial Campaign), the plight of Elizabeth “Libby” Custer following the failure of her husband’s command, the decommission of the fort, citizens dismantling the fort for construction materials in their homes, the CCC placing building markers, and the reconstruction of the fort.

Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park's interpretive programming focuses heavily on the military occupation of the site from 1872 to 1890. 

What is entirely missing from the narrative in the interpretive programming and the museum information about the military occupation is the prison camp history. There is no mention either of the 1875 Treaty of Fort Abraham Lincoln, which was a big activity there at the fort. Lt. Col. Custer called on members of the Arikara, Hidatsa, Hunkpapa Lakota, Mandan, and Yanktonai Dakota to end their generations-long intertribal warring.

The interpretive training that seasonal staff at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park receive is based on the practices of Freeman Tilden. There are six principles in this methodology. Tilden’s principles are the basics of all interpretive programming found in the National Parks, state parks, museums, and other institutions across the country. Tilden’s principles are:

Tilden's work began with a focus on state parks before his work on interpretive programming was picked up by the National Park Service. 

1. Any interpretation that does not somehow relate what is being displayed or described to something within the personality or experience of the visitor will be sterile.

2. Information, as such, is not interpretation. Interpretation is revelation based upon information. But they are entirely different things. However, all interpretation includes information.

3. Interpretation is an art, which combines many arts, whether the materials presented are scientific, historical or architectural. Any art is in some degree teachable.

4. The chief aim of Interpretation is not instruction, but provocation.

5. Interpretation should aim to present a whole rather than a part, and must address itself to the whole man rather than any phase.

6. Interpretation addressed to children (say, up to the age of twelve) should not be a dilution of the presentation to adults, but should follow a fundamentally different approach. To be at its best, it will require a separate program.

Artistic licence was used to create this reconstruction of the On-A-Slant Mandan Indian village. The layout is slightly different, and according to the archaeological report, there was no ceremonial lodge. 

The whole history of the park is not addressed, so the whole experience of the visitor is not “wholesome.” This omission has shaped the experience of millions of visitors over the years the park has been active. It isn’t just the interpretation or presentation of this tragic history that this is missing; the prison camp history of Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park receives a half paragraph mention in the ND Parks and Recreation Department’s publication by Arnold O. Goplin, “The Historical Significance of Ft. Lincoln State Park” and then only that the 7th Cavalry escorted the Nez Perce to Bismarck, not Fort Abraham Lincoln. In another publication of the ND Parks and Recreation Department, “100 Years – Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park,” the Nez Perce are missing entirely.

An informal visit to the North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department on Thursday, August, 25, 2016, and message for the director went unanswered. An email to the Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park received a reply on Oct. 15, 2016, but only to say that the park manager would respond “next week.” There has been no further follow-up from the North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department. 

The original post cemetery was located at the top of the bluff near old Fort McKeen. 

Mr. Woodrow Star humbly requested any and all information that the North Dakota Parks and Recreation could share with him about his relatives imprisonment. The staff could not respond to Mr. Woodrow, because their information is woefully incomplete. Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park does not employ an actual historian to research and construct their interpretive program. In October of 2015, the park manager referred Mr. Star to me.

Here’s follows a bibliography of non-native primary resources which specifically mention the Nez Perce in Bismarck and at Fort Abraham Lincoln in October of 1877.

Primary Resources:

Fred G., Bond. “Floatboating On The Yellowstone.” 1st Ed. New York, New York: New York Public Library, 1925. 1-22.

Miles, Gen. Nelson Appleton. "The Nez Perce Campaign & The Siege And The Surrender." In Personal Recollections And Observations Of General Nelson A. Miles, 250-280. 1st Printing. New York, New York: Werner Company, 1896.

Zimmer, William F. "Part Two: August 1, 1877 to December 31, 1877." In Frontier Soldier: An Enlisted Man's Journal, Sioux And Nez Perce Campaigns, 1877, edited by Jerome Greene, 89-160. 1st ed. Helena, Montana: Montana Historical Society Press, 1998.

Journals:

Romeyn, Capt. Henry. "The Capture Of Chief Joseph And The Nez Perce Indians." Contributions To The Montana Historical Society, Vol. 2 (1896): 283-91.

Haines, Francis. "Nez Perce Indians." Army And Navy Journal, 1877, 290-91.

Magazines:

Henry Remsen, Remsen (Tilton). "After The Nez Perces." Field And Stream And Rod And Gun, December 1, 1877, 403-04.

"The Surrender Of Joseph." Harper's Weekly, November 17, 1877, 905-906.

Newspapers:

Bismarck Tri-Weekly Tribune, November, 21 & 23, 1877.

Cheyenne Daily Leader, November 25, 1877.

Inter-Ocean, November 23, 1877.

The Nez Perce themselves know their own history. They survived displacement from their homelands, imprisonment, and placement in Indian Territory (Oklahoma).

Goplen, Former Senior Foreman Historian for the National Park Service minimized this tragedy to half a paragraph and displaced the locality to Bismarck, ND. Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park staff have repeatedly ignored calls to address the omission of this history in an effort to preserve the lionized integrity of an egotistical and incompetent military commander. The Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park website focuses only on the Mandan Indian and military occupations and provides a link to Little Bighorn History. There is a pattern of omission of historical fact that is taking place at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. One can only hope that this changes. 

Visit this park. It's still the greatest park in North Dakota. Ask the park manager to develop the interpretive narrative. It doesn't need to be apologetic. It needs to be informed. 

Attacks On Fort Abraham Lincoln

An aerial view of Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, 1963.

Attacks On Fort Abraham Lincoln

Fort Faces Gunfire And Skirmishes

By Dakota Wind
MANDAN, N.D. - The following is an excerpt from the article “Embracing a relation of the history of the state from the earliest times down to the present day, including the biographies of the Builders of the Commonwealth” which was published by the Bismarck Tribune in 1910 in the “History of North Dakota.” This article features the skirmishes surrounding Fort Abraham Lincoln. It should be noted that the Fort Abraham Lincoln military reservation itself was about twenty-three square miles, which is about 15,000 acres. The Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park today encompasses only 1,100 acres.

These were the ominous figures on the northern line of Sioux unceded land through which the Northern Pacific was to pass. The survey had been carried on to the Missouri river without serious interference from the Indians, and it as much menaced until the Hunkpapa leaders had gathered about them a very considerable force, composed of the fiercest and most bitter of the Sioux nation. There is not doubt that up to the summer of 1872 the work of the leaders was directed to getting the spirit of the Indians aroused. And they succeeded in drawing the Cheyennes into their quarrel. August 14, 1872, a column of the Second cavalry was attacked in Montana by Black Moon a the head of a considerable body of Sioux and Cheyennes. Two whites were killed and a number of Indians killed and wounded. The Indians might have pursued the advantage they had, and inflicted more injury on the soldiers, but for a strange policy they pursued of quitting when a battle was well night [sic] won.

WARFARE NEAR BISMARCK

Sitting Bull wears a hat with a monarch butterfly affixed to it.

This affair started the entire hostile element into activity. Twelve days later a war party attacked a detail of the Sixth Infantry from Fort Abraham Lincoln. The soldiers with some ‘Ree scouts were making a reconnoisance [sic] about twelve miles west of Bismarck when attacked. Two of the ‘Rees were killed. The affair indicated that Sitting Bull had influenced his people nearer at home to make trouble close to the settlements and Bismarck was threatened by many alarms. October 2, about four hundred Sioux attacked Fort Lincoln itself, but were repulsed by the troops after they had killed three ‘Rees -- who seem to have born the brunt of the battle in these skirmishes. There was fighting on the White River about the first of October and on the 14th a big party made a demonstration against Fort Lincoln. A company of the Sixth and body of scouts were sent out against the marauders and drove them off, with the loss of two men. The Indians suffered again, losing at least three men. These affairs took place right on the threshold of civilization for by this time the white man had advanced to the Missouri with the determination to stay.

A picture of General Custer, after the Civil War and during his Indian fighting days. He was actually a Lieutenant Colonel at the time of his death, but out of respect for the rank he once held during the Civil War, he was called "General."

An attempt was made to negotiate another treaty with the Indians to open the way for the surveyors, but it was ineffective and while it was going on, in the spring of 1873, three distincts attacks were made on Fort Lincoln. Lt. Col. Carlin was in command and he drove the Indians off on each occasion with some loss, but the eyes of the authority were opened to the reality of the menace of these attacks and Lt. Col. Geo. A. Custer, with the Seventh Cavalry, was sent to establish headquarters at Fort Lincoln and clear the hostiles out of the country, which marked the beginning of the end of Custer and the dashing organization he brought with him. The coming of Custer assembled in North Dakota and the adjacent territory the elements which entered into the playing out of the tragedy of the Indian and the breaking of the power of the Sioux nation.

It was the perspective of the Hunkpapa Lakota that Forts Rice and Lincoln represented the arrival of the US military and signaled that settlers were here to stay. The Ihanktowana (Yanktonai) were already pushed west across the Missouri after the punitive campaigns of Generals Sibley and Sully after the Dakota Conflict in Minnesota of 1862. The Cheyenne at one time dwelled on the west bank of the Missouri River, and viewed the river as a boundary line themselves. It was easy for the Hunkpapa Lakota to pique the Cheyenne by rousing their need for self-preservation.

The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 stated the boundaries of the Great Sioux Nation, and that no surveyors, minors, nor settlers could enter those lands. The Hunkpapa had every right to believe they were defending their lands, especially after Fort McKeen and Fort Abraham Lincoln were built at the convergence of the Heart and Missouri Rivers, one of the boundary markers of the Great Sioux Nation, and the site of the Battle of Heart River in 1803 that determined Lakota territory.

The Treaty of Fort Abraham Lincoln, or The Treaty of 1875

Soldiers practice on the parade ground of Fort Abraham Lincoln. The Commissary sits in the background (left) and Captain Tom Custer's bachelor officer's quarters (background, right).

The Treaty of Fort Abraham Lincoln

The Treaty of 1875

By Dakota Wind

FORT ABRAHAM LINCOLN, D.T. (MANDAN, N.D.) - In May, 1875, Fort Abraham Lincoln served a purpose much the same as the United States serves in the Middle East in recent times, that of intermediary between two warring nations. It worked then about as much as it works today.

Fort Abraham Lincoln was built partly on the remains of the Mandan Indian village site, On-A-Slant, located on the west bank of the Missouri River, across from Bismarck, Dakota Territory. Fort Abraham Lincoln is also built at the convergence of the Heart River and Missouri River, where in 1803, a battle between the Ihanktowana Dakota and the previous claimants to this locale was fought, it ended in victory for the Dakota and the contested land became part of “Sioux” territory.

After the treaty was signed, a great celebration at Fort Abraham Lincoln ensued lasting several days. There was feasting and dancing, but after the parties returned to their respective agencies, conflict resumed.

The Indian Scout standing on the porch wearing a military blanket is often misidentied as Bloody Knife, an Arikara Indian and General Custer's favorite scout. Bloody Knife stood about 5'7". The Indian in this picture is most probably the Hunkpapa Lakota Indian Scout Long Soldier who stood at 7' (observe his height in relation to the front door). Long Soldier served at Fort Abraham Lincoln. A leader of his band of Hunkpapa, he signed the treaty of Fort Abraham Lincoln.

Fort Abraham Lincoln served as host to the Hunkpapa Lakota, the Sihasapa Lakota, the Ihanktowana Dakota (Yanktonai), the Sahnish (Arikara), the Hidatsa (Gros Ventres), and the Nu’Eta (Mandan). Here follows the text of the Treaty of Fort Abraham Lincoln:

TREATY BETWEEN THE YANKTONAI, HUNKPAPA, AND BLACKFOOT SIOUX AND THE ARIKARA, HIDATSA, AND MANDAN

May 29, 1875

Whereas war has prevailed for many years between the Sioux Indians on one side and the Arickaree, Mandan, and Gros Ventres on the other, and whereas, it is now the desire of the Yanctonnais, Uncpapa and Blackfeet bands of the Sioux Nations and of the Arickaree, Mandan and Gros Ventres to put an end to such hostilities forever:--

We, the undersigned chiefs and headmen of the tribes and people above named do solemnly and in good faith promise—

First

That we the undersigned chiefs and headmen of the Sioux Nations and the people we here represent will from this day forward live in peace and friendship with the chiefs and headmen of the Arickaree, Mandan and Gros Ventres and the people they here represent, and that we will exert all our power and influence over our people to prevent them or any of them from committing any unfriendly or hostile acts against the Arickaree, Mandan and Gros Ventres.

Second

That we the understood chiefs and headmen of the Arickaree, Mandan and Gros Ventres tribes of Indians and the people we here represent will from this day forward live in peace and friendship with the chiefs and headmen of the Yanctonnais, Uncpapa and Blackfeet bands of the Sioux Nation and the people they here represent, and that we will exert all our power and influence over our people to prevent them or any of them from committing unfriendly or hostile against the people of individuals of the tribe of Sioux represented in this council.

Third

That we the chiefs and headmen of the Yanctonnais, Uncpapa and Blackfeet tribes of Sioux will use all our power and influence toward preventing Sioux of the Cheyenne River Agency from committing hostile or unfriendly acts against the Arickaree, Mandan and Gros Ventres.

Fourth

That we the undersigned chiefs and headmen of the Arickaree, Mandan and Gros Ventres of Indians will use all our power and influence towards preventing hostile or unfriendly acts on the parts of the people we represent against the Sioux of the Cheyenne River Agency.

Five

That if any of the chiefs and headmen who have signed this treaty shall learn that their young men are engaged in organizing expeditions or war parties intended to or likely to violate this treaty, they will forthwith inform their Agents in order that he may take such measure as will prevent any violation of the treaty made and entered into this day.

Done at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory, this 29^th day of May, A.D. 1875, in presence of

                                                                        W.P. Carlin

                                                                        Lieut. Colonel 17^th Infantry

                                                                        Commdg Fort A. Lincoln D.T.

L.B. Sperry                                                      John Burke

U.S. Indian Agent for the Arickarees,      U.S. Indian Agent for the Sioux Tribes

Gros Ventres, and Mandan Indians.

Arickaree      Son of the Stars        [x]        Lower             Two Bears                  [x]

                        White Shield              [x]        Yanctonnais  Mad Bear                  [x]

Gros Ventres Crow Breast              [x]                                Bulls Ghost                 [x]

                        Lean Wolf                  [x]        Uncpapa       Running Antelope   [x]

Mandans       Bad Gun                    [x]                                Thunder Hawk          [x]

                        Flag Lance                [x]                                Bear’s Rib                  [x]

                                                                                                Slave                          [x]

                                                                                                Long Soldier              [x]

                                                                                                Bears Eye                   [x]

                                                                        Blackfeet       The Grass                   [x]

                                                                                                Fire Heart                   [x]

                                                                                                Sitting Crow              [x]

                                                                        Upper             Wolf Necklace         [x]

                                                                        Yanctonnais  Black Eye                   [x]

Signed in Quadruplicate

one copy given to Sioux Agent John Burke

one copy given to Ree, Mandan and Gros Ventres Agent L.B. Sperry

one copy forwarded to Headqrs, Dept. Of Dakota

one copy retained at Post headquarters

                                                                        James Calhoun

                                                                        1^st Lieut 7^th Cavalry

                                                                        Adjutant

Horned Horse's Account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn

A depiction of the Battle of The Little Bighorn by Kicking Bear.

Horned Horse's Account
The Battle of the Little Bighorn

By Dakota Wind
BISMARCK, D.T. (N.D.) - In Chapter 2 of Warpath and Bivouac, or Conquest of the Sioux, by John Finerty, Finerty compares the Battle of the Little Bighorn to the Battle of Thermopylae in ancient Greece over two thousand years ago. Finerty also compares General Custer to the biblical hero Samson, “both were invincible while their locks remained unshorn.”

In Jessie Reil’s article, Custer’s Stand Mattered for Victory, which appears on the website http://www.custerwest.org, Reil compares General Custer’s passing, also, to that of Samson’s death.  Both “pulled the house down” on their enemies and lost their lives for it. 

Here follows an excerpt from Finerty’s book, chapter XIV. 

Horned Horse, an old Sioux chief, whose son was killed early on in the fight, stated to the late Capt. [William] Philo Clark, after the surrender of the hostiles, that he went up on a hill overlooking the field to mourn for the dead, as he was too weak to fight, after the Indian fashion.  He had a full view of all that took place almost from the beginning.  The Little Bighorn is a stream filled with dangerous quicksand, and cuts off the edges of the northern bluffs sharply near the point where Custer perished.  The Indians saw the troops on the bluffs early in the morning, but, owing to the abruptness and height of the river banks, Custer could not get down to the edge of the stream.  The valley of the Little Big Horn is from half a mile to a mile and a half wide, and along it, for a distance of fully fifty miles, the mighty Indian village stretched.  Most of the immense pony herd was out grazing when the savages took the alarm at the appearance of troops on the heights.  The warriors ran at once for their arms, but by the time they had taken up their guns and ammunition belts, the soldiers had disappeared.  The Indians thought they had been frightened off by the evident strength of the village, but again, after what seemed quite a long interval, the head of Custer’s column showed itself coming down a dry water course, which formed a narrow ravine, toward the river’s edge.  He made a dash to get across, but was met by such a tremendous fire from the repeating rifles of the savages that the head of his command reeled back toward the bluffs, after losing several men, who tumbled into the water, which was there but eighteen inches deep, and were swallowed up in the quicksand.  This is considered an explanation of the disappearance of Lieutenant Harrington and several men whose bodies were not found on the field of battle.  They were not made prisoners by the Indians, nor did any of them succeed in breaking through the thick array of the infuriated savages. 

Horned Horse did not recognize Custer, but supposed he as the officer who led the column that attempted to cross the stream.  Custer then sought to lead his men up to the bluffs by a diagonal movement, all of them having dismounted, and firing, whenever they did, over the backs of their horses at the Indians, who by that time crossed the river in thousands, mostly on foot, and had taken the General in flank and rear, while others annoyed him by a galling fire from across the river.  Hemmed in on all sides, the troops fought steadily, but the fire of the enemy so close and rapid that they melted like snow before it, and fell dead among their horses in heaps.  He could not tell how long the fight lasted, but it took considerable time to kill all the soldiers.  The firing was continuous until the last man of Custer’s command was dead.  Several other bodies besides that of Custer remain unscalped, because the warriors had grown weary of the slaughter.  The water-course, in which most of the soldiers died, ran with blood.  He had seen many massacres, but nothing equal to that.  If the troops had not been encumbered by their horses, which plunged, reared and kicked under the appalling fire of the Sioux, they might have done better.  As it was, a great number of Indians fell, the soldiers using their revolvers at close range with deadly effect.  More Indians died by the pistol than by the carbine.  The latter weapon was always faulty.  It “leaded” easily and the cartridge shells stuck in the breech the moment it became heated, owing to some defect in the ejector.  It is not improbable that many of Custer’s cavalrymen were practically disarmed, because of the deficiency of that disgracefully faulty weapon.  If they had been furnished with good Winchesters, or some other style of repeating arm, the result of the battle of the Little Big Horn might have been different. 

What happened to Custer, after he disappeared down the north bank of the river, has already been told in the words of Curly and Horned Horse.  Not an officer or enlisted man of the five troops under Custer survived to tell the tale.  The male members of the Custer family, George A., Colonel Tom and Boston, were annihilated.  Autie Reed, a young relative of the General, who, like Boston Custer, accompanied the command as sightseer, was also killed.  Mark Kellogg, of the St. Paul and Bismarck Press, the only correspondent who accompanied the Custer column, nearly succeeded in making his escape.  The mule he rode was too slow, however, and he was finally overtaken and shot down.  Had he succeeded in getting away, his fame would have rivaled that of the explorer, Stanley. 

Reno crossed the Little Big Horn, accompanied by some of the scouts, and charged down the valley a considerable distance.  He finally halted in the timber and was, as he subsequently claimed, attacked by superior numbers.  He remained in position but a short time, when he thought it advisable to retreat across the river and take up a position on the bluffs.  This movement was awkwardly executed, and, in scaling the bluffs, several officers and enlisted men were killed and wounded.  The Indians, as is always when white troops retreat before them, became very bold, and succeeded in dragging more than one soldier from the saddle.  Captain De Rudio, an Italian officer, exiled from his country for political reasons, and a scout, unable to keep up with Reno’s main body, concealed themselves in the brush, and the Indians passed and repassed so close to them that they could have touched the savages by merely putting out their hands.  They were fortunate in remaining undiscovered, and joined Reno on the 27^th, after the arrival of Terry and Gibbon. 

Col. F. W. Benteen, new retired and residing at Atlanta, GA., has, at the request of the author, given the following statement relative to the movements of his battalion after parting from the main command:

There was to have been no connection between Reno, McDougall and myself in Custer’s order.  I was sent off to the left several miles from where Custer was killed to actually hunt up some more Indians.  I set out with my battalion of three troops, bent on such purpose, leaving the remainder of the regiment, nine troops, at a halt and dismounted.  I soon saw, after carrying out the order that had been given me by Custer, and two other orders which were sent to me by him, through the sergeant-major of the regiment and the chief trumpeter, at different times, that the Indians had too much “horse sense” to travel over the kind of country I had been sent to explore, unless forced to; and concluded that my battalion would have plenty of work ahead with the others.  Thus, having learned all that Custer could expect, I obliqued to the right to strike the trail of the main column, and got into it just ahead of McDougall and his pack train. 

I watered the horses of my battalion at the morass near the side of the road, and the advance of McDougall’s “packs” got into it just as I was “pulling out” from it.  I left McDougall to get his train out in the best manner he could, and went briskly on, having a presentiment that I’d find hot work very soon.  Well, en route, I met two orderlies with messages – one for the commanding officer of the “packs” and one for myself.  The messages read: “Come on.  Be quick” and “Bring packs;” written and signed by Lieutenant Cook, adjutant of the regiment.  Now, knowing that there were no Indians between the packs and the main column, I did not think it necessary to go back for them – some seven or eight miles – nor did I think it worth while waiting for them where the orders found me, so I pushed to the front at a trot and got there in time to save Reno’s “outfit.”  The rest you know.

Reno, Benteen and McDougall, having effected a junction, fortified themselves on the bluffs and “stood off” the whole Indian outfit, which laid close siege to them, until the 27^th.  Several desperate charges of the savages on the position were handsomely repulsed.  The troops, especially the wounded, suffered terribly from thirst, and during the night a few daring soldiers succeeded in getting some water out of the river in their camp kettles, at the peril of their lives.  One of those brave men was Mr. Theodore Golden, then of the 7^th Cavalry, and now a resident of Janesville, Wisconsin. 

The situation of the closely beleagured troops was growing desperate, when the infantry and light artillery column of General Gibbon, which was accompanied by General Terry, came in sight on the morning of the 27^th.  The soldiers of Reno, at this inspiriting vision, swarmed out over the rough and ready breastworks, cheering the heroes of Fort Fisher and Petersburg vociferously.  Many wept for joy and the chivalrous Terry and the gallant Gibbon did everything in their power to cheer up the wearied soldiers in their hour of misfortune.  The Indians did not attempt any further attack after the rescuing party arrived.  They, too, were tired out, and had expended a vast quantity of ammunition.  They drew off toward the mountains, first burning such irremovable impedimenta as remained in their village.  A part of their teepees had been burned in the fight with Custer.  General Gibbon, after a brief rest, set out to see what had become of that officer.  Reno’s men felt certain that something dreadful had happened to their comrades, because during the afternoon of the 25^th and the morning of the 26^th they had recognized the guidons of the 7^th Cavalry, which the savages were waving in ecstasy of triumph.  General Gibbon had to march several miles before he came upon the field of blood.  The sight that met his eyes was a shocking one.  The bluffs were covered with the dead bodies of Custer’s men, all stripped naked, and mostly mutilated in the usual revolting manner.  The General’s corpse was found near the summit of the bluff, surrounded by the bodies of his brothers and most of the officers of his command.  The Indians, had recognized his person, and who respected his superb courage, forbore from insulting his honored clay by the process of mutilation.  The 7^th Infantry, General Gibbon’s regiment, buried the gallant dead where they fell, marking the graves of all that could be identified.  Custer’s remains, and those of his relatives, together with those of most of the officers, have been removed.  The brave General is buried at West Point, from which he graduated, and on which his glorious career and heroic death have reflected immortal luster. 

General Custer’s body was mutilated, not nearly to the extent as his brother Tom’s body was – who was mutilated beyond recognition; a tattoo was the only thing that identified Tom Custer’s body at all.  In fact, several, out of the 206 other soldiers were not mutilated, and two soldiers, it would seem, out of respect were not mutilated at all.  One of General Custer’s legs was slashed, an arrow was forced up his manhood, and his ears were perforated – possibly with arrows or awls. 

Crazy Horse's Last Year

Ambrose does a wonderful comparative analysis of Crazy Horse and General Custer. Two historical figures, both legends in American history. Get yourself a copy of this book.
Crazy Horse's Last Year
Life After The Battle Of The Little Bighorn
By Dakota Wind
FORT ROBINSON, N.E. - Ambrose was one of the greatest American historians, always able to relate the past to the contemporary reader – in his book, he draws parallels between two of the most remembered figures of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Marshall takes a measure of primary source documents, generally Anglo accounts, and weighs it against oral traditions of Crazy Horse as the Lakota knew him. Bray’s book, while beautifully rendered and polished, is more of a perspective narrative on Lakota society than it is about Crazy Horse, though Crazy Horse is touched on.

A great companion to Ambrose's Crazy Horse and Custer is Joseph Marshall's The Journey of Crazy Horse. If any book about Crazy Horse should grace your library its this one. 

In Ambrose’s book, he mentions that Crazy Horse enlisted in the US Army as an Indian Scout. Ambrose tries to put the reader in Crazy Horse’s moccasins, as it were, about how the Oglala Lakota warrior must have felt deeply conflicted. My interested was piqued, and I paid a visit to the State Historical Society of North Dakota, the State Historical Society of South Dakota, Fort Robinson, Nebraska, and Fort Laramie, Wyoming. It is my thought that if you want a stronger oral tradition about Crazy Horse, and I believe that oral tradition can be accurate, contrary to some of the reviews of Marshall’s book on Amazon, I would encourage you, reader, to pick up a copy or purchase a copy of Marshall’s book.

Written as a narrative, more novel than history text, Powers' book is a wonderful example of telling the story through as many perspectives as possible, almost bogging his book down in detail, but as complete a story as has been put together thus far on the tragic death of Crazy Horse. Check this onw out of your local library before deciding to add it to your collection.  

Thomas Powers’ The Killing of Crazy Horse is a very heavy scholarly piece of work detailing the year following the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Powers breaks down the reasons for the Indian Wars, treaties, and is written as a narrative, which “takes the reader there.”
For an account of the life of Crazy Horse, there are several books from which to choose at your local library, but I would personally recommend: The Journey of Crazy Horse: A Lakota History by Joseph Marshall III, Crazy Horse: Strange Man of the Oglalas, A Biography by Mari Sandoz, and Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors by Stephen Ambrose.

Tasunka Witko (Crazy Horse) was a phenomenal and charismatic war leader in his time. This is the story of his last days, when life on the Northern Plains was as confusing and uncertain as it was turbulent and violent.

Sitting Bull, after the Little Bighorn conflict, pictured here.

In May, 1877, nearly a full year following the last great victory of the Great Sioux Nation against General Custer and the 7th Cavalry, many Lakota made the journey to Indian agencies across the plains. Others fled north to Canada with Sitting Bull, and nearly all the great Lakota leaders had exchanged their nomadic way of living for a sedentary lifestyle. Some were tired of running. Others tired of being hungry. Still more were weary with heartbreak of watching loved ones die. 

Crazy Horse came to the conclusion that there was no possible way for the Lakota to ever be rid of the Americans, the Sacred Black Hills were lost, and the bison were nearly gone. Author Joseph Marshall III says that the only reassurances the Lakota people had was that they would be alive when they turned themselves in to the agencies.

Camp Robinson, this is the earliest known photo of the camp where Crazy Horse's journey was brought to a sudden end.

On May 6, 1877, Crazy Horse came in to exchange one lifestyle for another for the good of his people. On a flat a few miles north of Camp Robinson, Nebraska, Crazy Horse met with Lt. William Philo Clark. Upon meeting the lieutenant, Crazy Horse extended his left hand and reportedly said to Clark, “Friend, I shake with this hand because my heart is on this side; the right hand does all manner of wickedness; I want this peace to last forever.”

While at Camp Robinson, several officers and the Indian Agent James Irwin tried to convince Crazy Horse to make a journey to Washington DC and meet the Great Father. They were nearly successful. The purpose of that journey was for Crazy Horse to meet the president and receive authorization to establish his own agency, either in Beaver Creek country (near present-day Gillette, Wyoming) or close to the Bighorn Mountains (near present-day Sheridan, Wyoming).

Red Cloud pictured here. He too enlisted as a sergeant in the US Indian Scouts.

Contenders for authority of the Oglala Lakota (Red Cloud and Spotted Tail) immediately worked to convince Crazy Horse that going to Washington was not in the best interest of his people, and were rewarded when Crazy Horse suddenly decided not to go.

Crazy Horse's enlistment as Sergeant in the Ogallala Detachment of US Indian Scouts.

In addition to being harassed by officers to go and distracters to stay, news came from the northwest that Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce were fighting and winning a running battle against Colonel Nelson Miles, and they were planning to join Sitting Bull and the Hunkpapa Lakota across the Canadian border. Lt. Clark quickly enlisted as many Oglala Lakota as possible to assist against the Nez Perce. Crazy Horse is reported to have said to Clark: “I came here for peace. No matter that if my own relatives pointed a gun at my head and ordered me to change that word I would not change it.”

Lieutenant WP Clark stands next to Little Hawk. Clark later went on to publish his Indian Sign Language, which was required reading at West Point Military Academy at one time.

Clark devoted himself to pestering Crazy Horse without ceasing or relenting and eventually wore down the Oglala Lakota warrior. Crazy Horse enlisted as Sergeant Red Cloud and Sergeant Spotted Tail had done, with the rank of sergeant and the Oglala Lakota Detachment of US Indian Scouts were formed. 

A beleaguered Crazy Horse, worn from harassing officers, distracters, and talk of the Nez Perce campaign, went to Clark and in the presence of two interpreters (Grouard and Louie Bordeaux) and reportedly said: “We came in for peace. We are tired of war and talking of war. From back when Conquering Bear was still with us we have been lied to and fooled by the whites, and here it is the same, but still we want to do what is asked of us and if the Great Father wants us to fight we will go north and fight until not a Nez Perce is left.”

The Lakota word for Nez Perce is Pohgehdoka (Poh-GAYH-doh-kah; glottal sound on the second "h"). The Lakota word for Anglos or Europeans is Wasicu (Wah-SHEE-Chu).

One of the interpreters misinterpreted Crazy Horse’s words, saying instead that Crazy Horse would fight until there were no more white people left. Rumors grew and swirled as rumors do, about Crazy Horse’s supposed intention to kill every white person.

General Crook, pictured here, became known for his part in the wars with the Apache.

On September 2, 1877, General Crook came to Camp Robinson to pick up his detachment of scouts. Crook left on September 4, 1877, exasperated with the rumblings that Crazy Horse wanted him dead or that Crazy Horse would start another war. Crazy Horse didn’t go with Crook on campaign to bring in the Nez Perce, neither did the Oglala Lakota Detachment of Indian Scouts (Crook instead picked up the Cheyenne Detachment of US Indian Scouts on route west and north), for Crazy Horse had urged the Oglala Lakota Detachment not to go.

According to the post surgeon’s report, at Camp Robinson, Crazy Horse had his fill of strawberries and cream on September 3, 1877, and was incapacitated with a sour gut which effectively removed himself from Crook’s command whether or not he wanted to go on campaign.

General Crook ordered Crazy Horse arrested, but Crazy Horse fled north to Spotted Tail Agency. Crook left on the Nez Perce campaign. On September 6, 1877, Crazy Horse was escorted back to Camp Robinson. Once there, he was taken to the Adjutant’s office where one of Red Cloud’s warriors shouted loudly enough for all to hear that Crazy Horse was supposed to have been a brave man but was now a coward. Crazy Horse lunged after the anonymous warrior but Little Big Man grabbed him by the arms and held him back.

Little Big Man was known for being crafty but also for being a trouble maker.

When they reached Colonel Bradley’s office, the colonel ordered Crazy Horse bound and taken to the guard house. What happened next is a tragedy. It is also a mess of confusion. There is the claim that a soldier killed Crazy Horse with a bayonet thrust, but years later a story by Little Big Man tells us that is was he who plunged his knife into Crazy Horse, twice. Some say they saw a hawk circling above which cried out, perhaps in honor of the mortally wounded Oglala Lakota warrior.

Crazy Horse’s last words are reported to be, “Let me go, my friends. You have hurt me enough.” The soldiers carried Crazy Horse back to the guard house, but Touch-The Clouds intervened and reportedly said, “He was a great chief. And he cannot be put into a prison,” and picked him up and carried Crazy Horse instead to Colonel Bradley’s bed where he later died.