History: Crazy Horse (Tashunka Witko) Great Sioux Leader

(Vannoy photo, taken at the Crazy Horse Memorial)

Crazy Horse, Tasunke Witco was member of the Oglala Lakota tribe. He was born in 1840, not far from Thunderhead Mt. (now Crazy Horse Mountain) in present day South Dakota. When Crazy Horse was a young man, he saw the traditional Native ways were being threatened by the encroachment of the Europeans who were pushing west. Crazy Horse became a leader, who was noted for putting the needs of his people above his own, leading them in many engagements against the white soldiers. He was killed at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, by a soldier around midnight on September 5, 1877.

This story from the Jackson’s Hole Courier, June 29, 1922 about Crazy Horse.

Crazy Horse Foiled Three American Generals – Crazy Horse (Tashunka Witko) chief of the Ogallala Sioux, was a fighter. As his name implied, his was a personality wild, untamed and something of a berserker. In going into battle no warrior was ever allowed to precede him. He was not a hereditary chief; he won his title by sheer ability. By the time the Sioux had begun to war on the white man, they looked upon Crazy Horse as one of their most promising warleaders.

When Red Cloud laid siege to Fort Phil Kearney in 1866, Crazy Horse was chosen to lead the attack on the woodchoppers, to draw out the soldiers. The strategy was successful. Lieutenant Colonel Fetterman marched out with 80 men, was lured into a trap and overwhelmed. It was Crazy Horse’s first victory over the whites.

He was also there at the Wagon Box Fight a few months after the Fetterman Battle.

His second came In the campaign of 1876. In March Gen. J. J. Reynolds attacked Crazy Horse’s camp on the Powder river. He captured It, but the Ogallala forced him to retire hastily.

Next he fought Gen. George Crook to a standstill at the famous battle of the Rosebud, June 17. Eight days later Gen. George A. Custer rode into the valley of the Little Big Horn with the Seventh cavalry and divided his force to attack the big Indian camp. Crazy Horse instantly saw the mistake that Custer had made and led his warriors to cut off the chance to retreat. Within an hour Custer and his men were dead.

It was the Ogallala’s greatest victory. Fetterman, Reynolds, Crook and Custer — Crazy Horse had met and defeated them all, and two of them were rated the greatest Indian fighters in the army. But the Ogallala met his muster in General Nelson A. Miles, who defeated the chief decisively at the Battle of Wolf Mountain although the Indians withdrew in good order.

The next summer Crazy Horse surrendered. His enemies circulated the report that he was planning another outbreak and he came to Fort Robinson to deny it.. The army officers decided to arrest him. As they led him, unsuspecting treachery, toward the guardhouse his friend, Touch the Cloud exclaimed “Cousin, they will put you in prison” “Another while man’s trick! Let me go! Let me die fighting. shouted Crazy Horse, as an officer and Little Big Man, and Ogallala chief, seized his arms. The chief drew his hunting knife, his only weapon. As they struggled to disarm him he received a fatal wound – whether from the knife or a soldiers bayonet is unknown.

Cheyenne Daily Leader, May 22, 1877 – Crazy Horse’s Report of the Rosebud Fight. The Denver Tribune has the following: Mr. Strahorn’s verbal description of the late surrender of Crazy Horse is quite interesting. Crazy Horse is now in camp, and has surrendered everything that he was required to give up, but he is quite sullen, and refuses to talk except as he may occasionally feel inclined. He, however, never has anything to say in the Indian councils. It is not known whether his reserve to occasioned by the humiliation he feels or his pure stubbornness.

Mr. Strahorn says that all the Indians look upon him as the great Indian leader, and would do any thing he might command. He has been an inveterate enemy of the whites, and had not, until his recent surrender, been seen about any of the forts or agencies for the last twelve years. During that time he has roamed through the northern mountains and over the northern plains, subsisting independent of all aid from the government, and ready to strike down a pale face wherever he might be found. He is chiefly distinguished for his terrible bravery, which is something to be admired.

The Indians say that bravery and not skill is what they require of a chief. Crazy Horse is not considered very “long-headed “but he always leads the foremost in the fight. When he gives an order the Indians are as docile and obedient as a whipped dog. He is a very small man and has been so cut up by wounds that he is very ugly. One of the few men to whom he will talk to is Frank Grouard the widely known scout. He gave Grouard, some information, a few days since, which is of considerable interest, as it goes far towards vindicating General Crook against charges made against him for lack of bravery in the Rosebud fight.

It will be remembered that he attacked about two thousand Indians under Crazy Horse with eight hundred men. After fighting several hours, the Indians retreated into a deep canyon. Crook was following them in hot pursuit riding at the head of his column. Mr. Strahorn was riding by his side when they entered the canon. The command was coming forward at full speed. Upon a sudden the commander reigned up his horse, studied about two seconds and ordered the pursuit to cease. It was for that he was criticized. It was thought that the two thousand warriors whom he had met composed his whole force. But it seems that it was a mistake. Crazy Horse told Grouard, that he had two thousand more posted along behind the crags of the canyon, which, had Crook ever entered, would have swooped down upon him aid another terrible massacre would have been the inevitable result. He says he would have made another Custer affair of it. Thus it will be seen that Crook acted the part of the wiseman, and saved his whole force. This Information has never before been made public, and is interesting as news as well as a vindication of General Crook.

A few days later, Crazy Horse was one of the Indian leaders at the Custer battle. This in The Sheridan Post, October 23, 1921 – Retreat of the Indians. After the defeat of Custer, and the successful retreat of the Sioux and Cheyennes from the Little Big Horn, the government hurried reinforcements into the field, and ordered Crook and Terry to press the pursuit of the Indians with the greatest vigor. It was not, however, until nearly a year after the disaster on the Little Big Horn that the Sioux war was concluded, and it was not until the Indians had met with several crushing defeats and had been pursued until they were utterly exhausted that peace was finally concluded.

Decisive Defeat. The decisive blow, however, came during the winter of that year. After having met the Indians in several engagements General Crook gave over the pursuit, and returned to of the state of Wyoming, for the purpose of preparing for a winter campaign. Leaving there on November 14, 1876, the expedition moved northward into the Indian country. On the twentieth scouts brought in a young Cheyenne, who said that the main body of Indians were encamped far to the north in Montana, but two days later the principal Cheyenne village was located m the canyon from which flowed Crazy Woman creek, some twenty-five miles south of the present city of Buffalo.

Fight on Crazy Woman. Accordingly General R. S. Mackenzie, with some 1400 soldiers and Pawnees, was dispatched to destroy the village of the Indians. Mackenzie’s men, by a forced night march, were able to surround it, and on the morning of the 2Gth of November, advanced from all sides, throwing the Indians into a panic. A few gained the mountains to the west of the village, and attempted a defense, but the village was totally destroyed. Those who escaped spent the winter on Lower Powder River, and in he spring of 1877, surrendered.

Defeat of Crazy Horse. In the meantime, General Miles had defeated the Indians under Sitting Bull who had remained in the Yellowstone valley, and in December of 1876, turned his attention to the warriors of Crazy Horse, who were occupying the Tongue River Valley. Accordingly his troops came m touch with the Indians early in January of 1877. There were one or two sharp skirmishes, and the Indians endeavored to follow the Tongue River back into the Big Horn mountains. General Miles pressed them closely and on the 8th of January moved to the attack. Crazy Horse’s warriors numbered about nine hundred, and were posted on the cliffs surrounding a valley in the Wolf mountains, a spur the Big Horns. After spirited fighting, Miles succeeded in dislodging the Indians and in annihilating capturing the greater portion of them. This broke the backbone of the Indian power, and was the last of the savage battles which had been waged intermittently for a period of twelve years. Thereafter the settlers enjoyed greater security and shortly afterwards all Indian fighting troops were withdrawn.

All Near Sheridan. The conflicts described in this article should be especially interesting to residents of the Sheridan country, for the reason that all took place within a comparatively short distance of Sheridan. All are in easy riding distance of this city, and each year are becoming more and more visited by residents of the country, as well as vacationists sojourning on the “dude ranches.”

This story is from The Sheridan Enterprise, August 22, 1920 – Man Who Fought Against Crazy Horse Is Here To Find Landmarks Three miles south of Ranchester. On January 8, 1901 in what is said to have be his last battle in Northern Wyoming, occurred between General Miles and the Indian chief Crazy Horse. One of the survivors of the battle, L. Barker is now in Sheridan visiting with his son H.M. Barker, an engineer and blacksmith of the city. Mr. Barker is now living at Clay City, Kansas, where he owns a farm and has come to this country for the purpose of renewing acquaintances with the landmarks made familiar by his campaigning through Wyoming with General Miles.

According to the story he tells the battle with Crazy Horse was brought on by the capture of several Indians by Liver-eating Johnson, a famous scout of that period, who brought the Indians into camp with him. In the fight that followed near Ranchester there were 350 scouts under General Miles opposed to nearly 1,000 warriors under their chief. The result was what is described as a sanguinary engagement, with the scouts winning most of the laurels. Mr. Barker says that he is able to keep in touch with many of the old fighters through his membership in the Indian War Veterans association, and states that members of the organization have contributed material to the writing of the Bozeman Trail.

A trip to the scene of the fight with Crazy Horse will be made Sunday by Mr. Barker, and it probable that representations of societies in this city will accompany him for the purpose of securing historical data with a view to eventually marking the scenes.

One interesting thing about Crazy Horse is the fact that, unlike many other Indian leaders, he never allowed himself to be photographed, feeling they would take a piece of his soul. But, he was one of the more notable of the Sioux leaders during the turbulent times of the late 1800s in Wyoming and Montana.

Vannoy photo

There is a Memorial between Custer and Hill City, South Dakota to honor Crazy Horse. There is work being done a carving of him on Crazy Horse Mountain. There are several museums, including one honoring the Native American’s, in a complex at the base of the mountain.