He is famous as the bane of General George A. Custer, and is known for uniting the Lakota people against the United States Federal Government. He fought for the rights of his people, to protect their land that the government was encroaching upon and seizing without mercy.
In 1876, he helped orchestrate a massacre against General Custer’s Seventh Cavalry. Known as the Battle of Little Big Horn, 647 federal troops met their end at the hands of Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and anywhere between 900-2,500 Native American warriors, depending on the accounts. It was the most catastrophic loss for the United States Army in their long, embattled conflict with Native American tribes.
But it was a year later when one of the most iconic, rebellious, and strong figure in Native American history met a sudden and unworthy end. His struggle against the United States went to the very end. In 1877, while he was a prisoner at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, Crazy Horse was involved in a scuffle with a guard who was trying to detain him in a cell. The altercation resulted in the guard bayoneting Crazy Horse, who then died in the night from his wounds.
His legacy, however, has continued after his death. After all, he stood up against the oppressor and opposed the “white man” for crimes committed against not only the Lakota people, but of all Native Americans during a time rife with conflict and bloodshed. In his biography of the great Native American leader, Chris Hedges describes Crazy Horse as being such a pure figure in American history, that “there are few resistance figures in American history as noble as Crazy Horse.”
In the Black Hills of South Dakota, the same hills where Mt. Rushmore forever captures the strength and resolute determination of presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln, there is a memorial to Crazy Horse’s bravery. It’s style is simple (and crude in shaping), but that is to be expected when it hasn’t been funded by any federal monies. But it’s still an iconic image, and perhaps in its stark profile it captures the essence of Crazy Horse perfectly.
