Thus Crook had little of substance to offer the Lakotas. Even the delegation, confidently expected to follow his return to Red Cloud, was indefinitely shelved. Some concession would have to be made to keep Crazy Horse on board the peace process. The idea of an army-monitored buffalo hunt in the north, first floated by Crook to the Miniconjous and Sans Arcs in April, seemed the best solution, although even this would have to be approved up the chain of command.
Nevertheless, the mood was upbeat as the Oglalas and their guests from Spotted Tail prepared to meet the general. So affable was Crazy Horse that he granted his first and only press interview. At Camp Robinson on the afternoon of the twenty-fourth, a Chicago Times correspondent approached Lieutenant Clark to secure an audience with the war chief. Accompanied by interpreter Billy Garnett, Red Dog, and the northern headman Horned Horse, Crazy Horse answered questions, concentrating on the Custer battle. Although he left most of the talking to Horned Horse, Crazy Horse gave his approval to an account of the battle that revealed a surprising amount of the war chief’s strategy. All seemed to bode well for the next day’s diplomatic round.21
Shortly after noon on Friday, May 25, General Crook and his staff assembled outside the main gate at Red Cloud. East of the agency buildings, Lieutenant Clark had drawn up some six hundred mounted warriors. Atop a long rise, hundreds more mounted Indians milled to view the scene. At 12:30 Clark gave an order, and the warriors wheeled their horses. Forming into eighteen platoons, they executed a precise drill to pass in review before Crook “in fine style,” according to a watching correspondent. Throughout the maneuver, Crazy Horse rode at Clark’s side on the right of the line. As they passed Crook, the chiefs wheeled out of line. Crook advanced alone, dressed characteristically in shabby civilian coat and slouch hat. The chiefs dismounted and walked forward to shake hands. In contrast with the general, many chiefs wore sergeant’s jackets and army-issue hats: but no one could match Little Big Man for visual impact when the northern Decider, “conspicuous for his almost complete nudity,” sprang from his pony.22
Even Little Big Man’s exhibitionism was upstaged by Crazy Horse, however. The first chief to dismount, he dropped to one knee in front of Crook before rising and holding out his hand to shake. “Three Stars,” he addressed the general, “I have seen the white man. He is very strong. My heart is good.”23 Crazy Horse stepped back, but his gesture, the accustomed stance of a scout reporting to his chief, was followed by most of the other leaders. It was a startling token of conciliation from the war chief.
After a pause for lunch, the council was convened inside the agency stockade. At 3:00 P.M. Crazy Horse arose to open the proceedings. After shaking hands with Crook and Mackenzie, Crazy Horse sat on the open ground in front of the general. He spoke in anticipation of a rapid solution to the issue of the northern reservation:
You sent tobacco to my camp and invited me to come in. When the tobacco reached me I started out and kept moving till I reached here. I have been waiting ever since arriving for Gen. Crook, and now my heart has been made happy. In coming this way, I picked out a place where I wish to live here after. I put a stake in the ground to mark the spot. There is plenty of game in that country. All of my relatives here approve of my choice. I want them to go back with me and always live there together. 24
Young Man Afraid of His Horse endorsed the northern reservation, stressing the potential of the region for raising stock.25 Red Cloud too expressed “a desire to be moved north,” requesting also the long-promised schools to educate the coming generation of Lakotas. Other speakers, including No Water, echoed the new consensus, while Iron Hawk sounded the note of conciliation: “The time has come by,” announced the northern village herald, “when the Indians will laugh at the words of the Great Father. Hereafter they will take his word as law.”26
Speaking for the northern contingent at Spotted Tail, Sans Arc Decider High Bear reprised the demand for a northern agency: “I want a place somewhere in my own country north where we can get some game, where we can run around and see my people hunt buffalo. We want a large agency so we can be free.” Spotted Tail wound up proceedings with a crowd-pleasing dig, which united Indians and the military against invidious civilian treaty commissions.27
Posing as the man of deeds and few words, Crook stated that he “would do all he had agreed to—no more, no less.” Assuring the Lakotas that he would forward their request for “a reservation in the upper country,” and that he hoped soon to accompany the delegation east, he dismissed the council but accepted an invitation to the Oglala tribal village later in the afternoon. The chiefs left the agency happy with the proceedings.28
When Crook was welcomed to the great council shade in the village, Young Man Afraid of His Horse opened the talk by first echoing Spotted Tail’s criticism of the Black Hills commissioners, angrily rejecting the Indian Territory relocation, then arguing forcefully that the surrenders had been negotiated on the understanding of “an agency in our own country.”29
A northern spokesman, perhaps Little Hawk, contended that for his people, the Great Sioux War had been one of self-defense, and stated that they had “come in” in response to requests from the agency bands to help prevent relocation to Indian Territory. “These scouts told us,” he concluded, “if we came in you would help us to get an Agency in this country.”
Discontented rumblings were quieted by council moderator Red Dog, who called on Crook to speak. The general was affable, stating that his soldiers had only fought the Indians when fired upon. Addressing the time table, he reminded the Oglalas that “a few stragglers [were] out yet” on the hunting grounds. Crook insisted that all must surrender, although he conceded that Sitting Bull’s Canadian exiles were beyond call. Once the surrenders were complete, Crook said, “[we] will go to Washington and there I will help you. I have to ask for help from the President. . . [but] he has a great many things to attend to; so we will go when he has more time.”
Although manifestly a stalling exercise, the speech went down well enough. The general’s arrival had again spelled disaster for the village’s dogs, and women now carried in steaming kettles to honor their guests, as Iron Hawk delivered a ten-minute oration blessing the food. Crook won Oglala affection by wolfing down his canine portion, while to much amusement, the fastidious Clark passed his bowl and a dollar piece to the Lakota seated behind him.
Before the council broke up, some Lakotas pressed the points they felt had been passed over. Crazy Horse and other northern leaders were concerned by the slippage in the diplomatic schedule. The chiefs pressed for assurances and concessions. Crook reviewed the subject of a hunting expedition to the north. He promised that once all stragglers had surrendered and “no hostiles remained on this (South) side of the Yellowstone, he would not object to their having an escort of a Battalion of Cavalry, while they engaged in a Buffalo hunt in the Big Horn Mtns to the West of [Cantonment Reno].”30
This undertaking fell far short of the guaranteed northern reservation Crazy Horse had seized on in April. What it did do was to preserve the schedule projected for the second half of the summer: the ceremonial season would climax with the Sun Dance, and provided all stragglers had surrendered, the northern Lakotas could leave for a lengthy hunt prior to the delegation’s departure. For Little Big Man, identifying a new consensus for pragmatism, this was enough. If Crazy Horse was suspicious, the public mood favored no premature break with the wasicu, and the winter soldiering regime had left mental scars on the war chief: however deep the crisis he perceived as threatening his people, Crazy Horse would not lightly seek to reimpose martial law on them. For now, he would continue to bide his time, perfecting strategies that kept the northern reservation a live issue.
The uniting of the two northern villages was his favored tactic, and Crazy Horse sought to secure transfers and defections from the Brule agency. Iron Crow, an early transfer, was promoted to Decider status by the northern council.31 Northern Oglala leaders used the talks with Crook to raise the topic of t
he Miniconjou and Sans Arc hostages taken by Colonel Miles the previous fall, arguing for their release at Red Cloud and hoping to secure the hostages’ relatives to their circle.32
Although the evidence is unsatisfactory, about fifteen lodges of Oglalas, Brules, Sans Arcs, and Miniconjous seem to have joined Crazy Horse at the end of May without permission. Worm, with four lodges of his Kapozha kindred, successfully appealed to the new Camp Robinson commander for an official transfer from Spotted Tail.33
Three weeks after surrender, despite illness and doubts expressed in continued mood swings, Crazy Horse remained committed to the peace process. “Crazy Horse had come to the Agency with nothing but honorable intentions,” was the considered evaluation of Billy Garnett. For much of May “his frame of mind was tranquil and pacific.”34 The talk with Crook found the war chief at his most conciliatory, most united with the agency hierarchy. But the talk taught him that a successful conclusion to the summer’s diplomatic activity demanded a strong and united Lakota people. Crazy Horse needed to redouble his efforts to unite the two northern villages. He could hope that the impending Sun Dance would instill deeper unity in his people, rechartering the Northern Nation and creating a united hoop that would shape events this summer on White River.
22
MOON OF MAKING FAT
On Saturday, May 26, the day after the council with Crook, Lieutenant Colonel Luther P. Bradley, Ninth Infantry, assumed command of the post and the District of the Black Hills from the departing Colonel Mackenzie. Bradley was an able and humane officer with long experience of the plains. Like Crook, Bradley opposed top-brass attempts to force the Lakotas to relocate. All things considered, Bradley was a sensitive choice to take control of the district and its Indian affairs.1
“All the principal men among the Indians are here today,” Bradley wrote his wife that evening. Lieutenant Clark was on hand to make introductions to the chiefs. “There are a great many fine looking fellows among the wild Indians who lately came in.” In particular, Bradley continued, “I had an introduction to Crazy Horse, and a handshake.” Like many observers, Bradley was struck by the war chief’s unassuming manner, but he was alert to the potential for command: “He is a young[,] slender and mild mannered fellow but he is evidently the leader of his band.”2
Two days later, 972 Cheyennes left Red Cloud Agency for their new home at the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency in Indian Territory. The Cheyenne removal, and the departure of Mackenzie’s five hundred officers and men, created a subtle change in Crazy Horse’s attitude.3
Some hours after his tribe’s departure, a lone Cheyenne warrior rode out of the northern bluffs. Lieutenant Clark was on hand to debrief him. Crazy Horse sat in, gleaning the first substantive news from the hunting grounds. The Cheyenne declared he came from Lame Deer’s camp. Three weeks earlier, the day after Crazy Horse’s surrender, Miles’s command had surprised the village on a tributary of Rosebud Creek. Lame Deer was killed, and sixty-three tipis, thirty tons of dried meat, and 450 horses were captured. Led by Lame Deer’s son Fast Bull, the people were regrouping near the forks of Powder River, before “all Coming into this agency.”4
The surrender would complete the diplomatic initiative demanded by Crook. Immediately, the war chief detailed three warriors to carry tobacco to Fast Bull. These envoys, Clark advised Crook, will “start at once to ascertain the facts and will exercise the utmost dispatch.”5
The cooperation with Clark marked a deepening of the relationship between the two men. Although too wary to be friends, each recognized a mutual dependence. To the lieutenant, Crazy Horse was a key facilitator of peace. Crazy Horse understood that Clark’s continued support was vital to the northern reservation scheme. As June opened, each cultivated the other. In particular, they discussed in detail the hunting expedition tentatively agreed to by Crook. Crazy Horse seized on the hunt as an essential stage in his diplomatic strategy. Escorted by troops to Cantonment Reno, Crazy Horse could secure approval for his agency location on Beaver Creek, locking in military support before traveling to Washington.
After a month at the agency, Crazy Horse believed he had the measure of the situation. Deepening cooperation with the army, enhancing his status as peace facilitator, was to be matched by forceful reminders of his latent military potential. Crook’s aide Lieutenant Bourke observed that after the Cheyenne departure, “‘Crazy Horse’ daily grew more insolent and intractable, thinking perhaps that he could manage matters better to suit himself.”6 The departure of Mackenzie’s battalion of cavalry reduced Camp Robinson to four hundred men, less than half its springtime strength. Lieutenant Clark would come to believe that Crazy Horse ascribed all kindness to weakness. In reality, the war chief was remaining true to his own concept of loyalty to the northern Lakotas, ensuring that Crook’s promises did not slip from the schedule.
Having offered Clark assistance in inducing Lame Deer’s camp to surrender, Crazy Horse needed to assert his autonomy. After the talk with Crook, the northern village moved to a new location on Little White Clay Creek, six miles northeast of the agency. Moreover, the plans for the Sun Dance were well advanced. In a move calculated to raise the political temperature, the village council decided to hold the ceremony, scheduled for the last week of June, north of White River. Participating bands would depart for the hunt after the ceremony.
In Lakota political geography, the course of White River demarked the independent domains of northern and agency bands. In effect, Crazy Horse was reclaiming the village primacy he had yielded to Red Cloud during the march to surrender. While agency leaders pondered a response, Crazy Horse’s willingness to force the issue of northern autonomy was leading to tension within his village. A significant section favored a more accommodating manner. By late May, the moderate faction had found a forceful spokesman in Little Big Man. Though initially less influential than his fellow Decider Little Hawk, Little Big Man had begun to carve out an independent constituency. He would repeatedly polarize the village throughout the summer, challenging Crazy Horse as its key decision maker. At a date probably late in May, the two men quarrelled violently, recalled an infantry noncom at Camp Robinson. “I don’t know what it was about, but at all events the two were deadly enemies from that time forward.”7
Horn Chips did know “what it was about,” and he revealed, “Crazy Horse in camp one time had forbidden L[ittle] B[ig] M[an] to sleep with one of the squaws. They got into a fight over it and were never friends after that.”8 After a campground altercation, Little Big Man “gathered his followers together and separating from Crazy Horse, established his camp at a point two miles up” Little White Clay Creek, nearer the agency.9
No further demonstrations followed until the next ration day. About to issue cattle to Crazy Horse, military agent Johnson was interrupted by the interpreter telling him that Little Big Man “had asked that his cattle be issued separately.” Johnson asked the interpreter for advice, acutely aware that he must offend someone. Assured that he should accede to Little Big Man, the agent compounded his offense by serving the Decider ahead of Crazy Horse. The war chief “flew into a fury, refusing to accept his share, and [rode] back to camp, followed by his people.”10
As the Moon When Ponies Shed closed, Crazy Horse was in no mood to smooth matters with either Little Big Man or the agent. He was strengthening his village, not just in raw numbers but in spiritual power. On May 29 the Spotted Tail agent authorized the transfer of Worm and four lodges to Red Cloud. Their number included the revered elder Human Finger and a Sans Arc Sun Dance priest, Foolish Heart, invited by Crazy Horse to coordinate the coming ceremony. During the first week of June, the northern village crossed White River to a new campsite three miles north of the agency. The responses to the Sun Dance–hunt invitations reveal much about Oglala politics a month after surrender. Of the five agency camps, two sent positive responses. Young Man Afraid of His Horse, of the Payabyas, and Yellow Bear, for the Spleen band, sent presents to the northern village, indicating that their ban
ds wished to accompany the hunt.11
Young Man Afraid of His Horse represented a strand of the agency leadership that wished to reintegrate Crazy Horse’s people into tribal life. By contrast, Red Cloud sought to marginalize the war chief and reduce his influence with the wasicu. Red Cloud seized on Crazy Horse’s camp move as the justification he needed. Also disenchanted with the war chief was American Horse. Evidence from censuses suggests that Red Cloud and American Horse instructed their akicita to forbid all movements to Crazy Horse’s village.12
On this note of unresolved tension began the second week of June. Beef issue was scheduled for June 9. While Crazy Horse continued to cooperate closely with Lieutenant Clark, he remained unprepared to conciliate the agency hierarchy. Butcher Ben Tibbetts had received a particularly good batch of beef cattle, weighing well above average. Tibbetts selected twenty-nine head for distribution to the northern village. Herders drove the cattle out of the corral, and northern akicita circled the herd to drive them homeward. Just then, Crazy Horse rode up, and in conversation with the warriors, objected that the village was used to receiving thirty-one head. Turning to Johnson and Tibbetts, Crazy Horse “refused to take the cattle, and ordered his braves to drive them back into the corrall [sic], which they accordingly did. In the meantime, a steer had escaped from another corrall. Crazy [Horse] saw it, and ordered it captured. He then ordered the twenty-nine turned out, and with the thirty head, he started homeward.” Although Johnson “said he would take the extra steer out on the next beef day,” he had been comprehensively outmaneuvered by the war chief.13
Lieutenant Clark was on hand but chose not to press the point directly with Crazy Horse. Clark was aware of the threat. “Some of the young bucks here are a little restless,” he acknowledged to departmental headquarters, “and I also think the moral influence which was exercised by the great number of troops which were here is lacking to suppress the growth of any insubordinate feeling.” Crazy Horse’s cultivation of Clark evinced a rare degree of psychological acumen: indeed, Clark’s low opinion of Johnson suggests that the war chief was astutely playing off the two officers.14
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