Crazy Horse

You’ll soon discover that as a young man, Crazy Horse as a young man who stole horses, even before the age of thirteen, from the Crow Indians.  Before turning twenty, he led his first war party. He fought in the war of 1865-1868 against the Americans settling in Wyoming, and played a key role in destroying William J. Fettermans brigade in 1873.

The fierce fighter earned his reputation among the Lakota tribes through his skill and determination to preserve his people’s traditions.  He fought General Custer’s surveying party that was entering Lakota lands, in 1873

When the war department ordered all Lakota tribes onto reservations, in 1876, Crazy Horse became a leader of the resistance.  Allied to the Cheyenne through his first marriage, he mustered 1,200 Ogala and Cheyenne warriors and stopped General George at Rosebud Creek near Sitting Bull’s camp on the Little Bighorn.  After this victory, he joined with Sitting Bull, and led a counter attack that destroyed Custer’s Seventh Cavalry.

Sitting Bull then retreated to Canada, but Crazy Horse stayed to battle General Nelson Miles.  But, the continued attacks by general Miles forced Crazy Horse to surrender on May 6, 1877.  When Crazy Horse left the reservation to bring his ill wife to her family, general George Crook had him arrested, fearing that he was going to return to battle.  When being led to a guardhouse, he struggled, and was stabbed with a bayonet.

Joe Gorman Little Bighorn 02 Plains Indians Project Bibliography