Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse was an Oglala Sioux war chief (potanka) and is considered the greatest American Indian cavalry

tactician who ever lived.

Early Life
The child who was to become Crazy Horse was born near Rapid Creek, Dakota Territory in 1840, the son of an Oglala holy man named Crazy horse (Tashunka Witko) and a woman from the Brule Division of the Sioux nation. During his early years the boy was known as Curly (Pȟehíŋ Yuȟáȟa), but after taking part in a raid on an Omaha village, he was given the name His Horse Looking.

Visions
Crazy Horse lived in a Lakota camp in present-day Wyoming with his younger half-brother, Little Hawk, son of Iron Between Horns and Waglula. Little Hawk was the nephew of his maternal step-grandfather, Long Face, and a cousin, High Horse. In 1854, the camp was entered by Lieutenant John Lawrence Grattan and 29 other U.S. troopers, who intended to arrest a Miniconjou man for having stolen a cow. The cow had wandered into the camp, and after a short time someone butchered it and passed the meat out among the people. When the soldiers fatally shot Chief Conquering Bear, the Lakota returned fire, killing all 30 soldiers and a civilian interpreter in what was later called the Grattan Fight.

After witnessing the death of Conquering Bear at the Grattan massacre, Crazy Horse began to get trance visions. Curly went out on a vision quest to seek guidance but without going through the traditional procedures first. In his vision, a warrior on his horse rode out of a lake and the horse seemed to float and dance throughout the vision. He wore simple clothing, no face paint, his hair down with just a feather in it, and a small brown stone behind his ear. Bullets and arrows flew around him as he charged forward, but neither he nor his horse were hit. A thunderstorm came over the warrior, and his people grabbed hold of his arms trying to hold him back. The warrior broke their hold and then lightning struck him, leaving a lightning symbol on his cheek, and white marks like hailstones appeared on his body. The warrior told Curly that as long he dressed modestly, his tribesmen did not touch him, and he did not take any scalps or war trophies, then he would not be harmed in battle. As the vision ended, he heard a red-tailed hawk shrieking off in the distance. Curly’s father later interpreted the vision and said that the warrior was going to be him. The lightning bolt on his cheek and the hailstones on his body were to become his war paint. Curly was to follow the warrior’s role to dress modestly and to do as the warrior's prophecy said so he would be unharmed in battle. For the most part, the vision was true and Crazy Horse was rarely harmed in battle, except for when he was struck by an arrow after taking two enemy scalps. He was shot in the face by No Water when Little Big Man tried to hold Crazy Horse back to prevent a fight from breaking out, and he was held back by one of his tribesmen—according to some reports, Little Big Man himself—when he was stabbed by a bayonet the night he died.

His father Waglula took him to what today is Sylvan Lake, South Dakota, where they both sat to do a hemblecha or vision quest. A red-tailed hawk led them to their respective spots in the hills; as the trees are tall in the Black Hills, they could not always see where they were going. Crazy Horse sat between two humps at the top of a hill north and to the east of the lake. Waglula sat south of Black Elk Peak but north of his son.

Crazy Horse's vision first took him to the South where, in Lakota spirituality, one goes upon death. He was brought back and was taken to the West in the direction of the wakiyans (thunder beings). He was given a medicine bundle to protect him for life. One of his animal protectors would be the white owl which, according to Lakota spirituality, would give extended life. He was also shown his "face paint" for battle, to consist of a yellow lightning bolt down the left side of his face, and white powder. He would wet this and put marks over his vulnerable areas; when dried, the marks looked like hailstones. His face paint was similar to that of his father, who used a red lightning strike down the right side of his face and three red hailstones on his forehead. Crazy Horse put no make-up on his forehead and did not wear a war bonnet. Lastly, he was given a sacred song that is still sung by the Oglala people today and he was told he would be a protector of his people. One account said that after the son had reached maturity and shown his strength, his father gave him his name and took a new one, Waglúla (Worm).

War Leadership and Death
For most of his adult life, Crazy Horse was in constant warfare with the US Army, He served under Red Cloud (Mock-Peah-lu-tah) from 1865 until the latter signed a peace treaty with the whites in 1868. After this time and until 1876, Crazy Horse was a war leader under the political leadership of Sitting Bull (Tatanka Yatanka). The battles in which Crazy Horse was actively engaged over this overall period 1865-76 are numerous. Crazy horse reached the peak of his career as a war chief in 1876, and on June 25th of that year five companies of the 7th US Cavalry must had heard his rallying cry as the Sioux and Cheyenne swept down on them in the valley of Little Bighorn. After this Indian victory thousands of US troops were drafted into the Dakota Montana area, and after a few minor skirmishes with the military, Crazy Horse came into the Red Cloud Agency in May 1877. At this time Black Shawl was suffering from advanced tuberculosis and in August, Crazy Horse requested permission take her to the Spotted Trail Agency, where medical treatment was available. They refused, so he left the Red Cloud Agency with his wife and safely got her to the Spotted Trail Agency, but was arrested by Indian police and taken to Fort Robinson. On seeing the barred cells at the fort Crazy Horse is reported to have pulled out a knife and was bayoneted by an infantry captain named Kennington while restrained. On September 5, 1877, Crazy Horse died.

Personality
Crazy Horse was known to have a personality characterized by aloofness, shyness, modesty and lonesomeness. He was generous to the poor, the elderly, and children. In Black Elk Speaks, Neihardt relays:

"...he was a queer man and would go about the village without noticing people or saying anything. In his own teepee he would joke, and when he was on the warpath with a small party, he would joke to make his warriors feel good. But around the village he hardly ever noticed anybody, except little children. All the Lakotas like to dance and sing; but he never joined a dance, and they say nobody ever heard him sing. But everybody liked him, and they would do anything he wanted or go anywhere he said."