Meanwhile Lee’s patience had expired. He instructed Louis Bordeaux “to go in and get Crazy Horse” just as the herald called the war chief to eat. Outside, Bordeaux met Crazy Horse, whose mood had transformed again. Crazy Horse asked the interpreter “to come and breakfast with him” as he ducked through the doorway into Touch the Clouds’s tipi. After advising Lee, the interpreter joined Crazy Horse.14
After breakfast, Crazy Horse stepped outside, where Lee walked through the crowd, his hand outstretched. The two men shook hands. Lee agreed to Crazy Horse’s conditions about the agenda of talks with Bradley and Clark, telling the war chief, “he was no coward and could face the music over there. This remark,” Lee recalled, “seemed to appeal to him and he said he would go.”15
“Hou. Anpetu ki le mitawa” said Crazy Horse, pausing for Bordeaux to interpret (“This day is mine”) before adding that he would accompany Lee presently. The agent indicated the ambulance, but Crazy Horse asked to ride, for the vehicle would make him sick. Lee agreed, and Swift Bear stepped forward, leading two ponies, gifts from his famous herd to seal goodwill. Crazy Horse requested that seven northern Lakotas ride with him, “to see fair play.” Swift Bear and Touch the Clouds ordered Good Voice and Horned Antelope to join the party riding with Crazy Horse, “to take care of him and prevent his escape.” Then they clambered aboard the ambulance with Black Crow and High Bear.17
Crazy Horse continued to talk with friends. As Lee watched anxiously, Bordeaux “asked him if he was now ready to go. Crazy Horse replied that he was,” adding that Lee should start the ambulance and he would follow. Reluctantly, Lee agreed, remarking to Bordeaux, “Let us go and cross Beaver Creek, and if he does not come we will go back here again and wait till Major Burke comes with the scouts.”18 Lee and Bordeaux climbed aboard, and the driver started the team out of the village. A string of Miniconjous rode or walked beside the vehicle, and Touch the Clouds leaned outside to order key followers to ride with Crazy Horse. Seven northern warriors, including the Miniconjou head akicita Charging Eagle, Touch the Clouds’ younger brother Standing Elk, and his son Charging First, fell in line. Turning Bear and Hollow Horn Bear, Brule scouts, also joined the procession.19
The ambulance crossed Beaver Creek and stopped. Bordeaux looked back and saw Crazy Horse riding out of the village. Good Voice and Horned Antelope rode nearby, and then “nine or ten of Touch the Cloud’s men” strung out behind. Satisfied, Lee ordered the driver to start again. Crazy Horse splashed through the creek, his party overtaking the ambulance as it lumbered forward.20
Meanwhile Burke and Spotted Tail had agreed on a strategy to ensure a successful outcome. Beginning about 11:00 A.M., sixty scouts would follow in three stages to reinforce the escort. Finally, about 1:30 P.M., No Flesh’s and No Water’s Oglalas would depart in time to strengthen the escort as it approached Camp Robinson. Fifteen miles out, as Crazy Horse’s party crossed Little Bordeaux Creek, the first group of five or ten scouts overtook the ambulance. Soon another little party caught up, riding easily as if for company. At Chadron Creek, as stock was watered and grazed, a larger party appeared. Over forty scouts now constituted the escort. After the whole party lunched on scout rations, Crazy Horse arose to relieve himself. He thought himself alone, but at a footfall turned to find a scout following him. Realizing the reality of his captivity, he turned back.21
He asked Lee, “Am I a prisoner?” The agent assured his charge that no harm was intended, then ordered the party to mount and start on the second half of the journey22 Beyond Chadron Creek, the party sighted small groups of Lakotas that had left Red Cloud Agency to go on to Spotted Tail. Lee, exhausted after the strain of the past twenty-four hours, let his full stomach lull him into a fitful doze. Bordeaux also fell asleep. Suddenly, both men jerked awake. Scanning the trail ahead, they could see nothing of Crazy Horse. The war chief had “gone on ahead,” explained Swift Bear, and ridden swiftly over the crest of the next rise barely one hundred yards away.23
Lee ordered scouts to bring back Crazy Horse. Galloping over the rise, they found him watering his pony at the next creek, talking to another Lakota party. Their number included his old Miniconjou comrade Big Crow, Black Shield’s son, and in the snatched exchange, the war chief was able to buckle on a holstered revolver beneath the red blanket belted at his waist. The scouts ordered Crazy Horse to return to the ambulance. White Thunder and Good Voice “directed [Crazy Horse] to ride immediately in the rear of my ambulance, and he saw at once he was closely guarded.” Crazy Horse again “seemed nervous and bewildered, and his serious expression seemed to show that he was doubtful of the outcome. I tried to reassure his friends by telling them that I would do exactly as had been promised in presenting his case.”24
The last increment of Brule scouts caught up with the party, reinforcing the escort to some sixty warriors. The straggling column tightened up as the ambulance paused near Ash Creek, fifteen miles from Red Cloud. Lee penned a quick note to Clark, asking whether to take Crazy Horse to the agency or to the post. He also requested that the agency authorities be asked to “keep its Indians off the road, so that we could go in quietly.”25 Lee stressed that “tact and discretion” had been used to secure Crazy Horse, implying that the war chief had not been arrested. Moreover, both he and Burke “had promised [Crazy Horse] that he might state his case, and wished when we reached Red Cloud that arrangements be made accordingly.” Horned Antelope was detailed to deliver the note express to Clark. It was now about 3:45 P.M.26
At Camp Robinson, fevered preparations were under way. That morning, Bradley had wired the telegraph office in Cheyenne to update General Crook on the situation. After dispatches from Burke and Lee, he could report with some relief that “Crazy Horse was captured last night at Spotted Tail.”27 Lieutenant Clark sent a fuller report after the latest news from Burke: the Camp Sheridan commander would bring Crazy Horse to Camp Robinson today. Ignorant of the promises made to Crazy Horse, Clark assured his superior that the war chief “will be put in guard-house on arrival.” Aware of Crook’s switch to the Sheridan solution—incarceration of Crazy Horse in the east—Clark further advised that their prisoner “be started for Fort Laramie to-night,” then hurried to the railroad and “kept going as far as [departmental headquarters in] Omaha, 2 or 3 Sioux going with him so that they can assure people on return that he has not been killed.” Evincing the tortured ambivalences of the chain of command, Clark closed by requesting that Crook wire Bradley with instructions to this effect.28
At noon Crook arrived at the Union Pacific station in Cheyenne. After reading Clark’s message, Crook dictated the required instructions to Bradley. Congratulating Bradley on “the successful termination of your enterprise,” the general diplomatically asked that the instructions be conveyed to Clark “and others concerned. Send ‘Crazy Horse’ with a couple of his own people with him, under a strong escort, via Laramie to Omaha. Make sure that he does not escape.”29
Crook then wired Sheridan about developments, indulging his superior’s prejudices:” I wish you would send him off where he would be out of harm’s way.... The successful breaking up of ‘Crazy Horse’s’ band has removed a heavy weight off my mind and I leave here feeling perfectly easy.”30 Crook hurried to board the westbound train. Soon after it started, Sheridan ordered Crook to have Crazy Horse sent on from Omaha to his Chicago headquarters. These instructions too were wired to Camp Robinson.31
After issuing a general order that upon arrival Crazy Horse be detained in the guardhouse, and posting a double guard around the post, Bradley called into the adjutant’s office Captain Henry W. Wessells. He instructed Wessells to ready his unit, Company H, Third Cavalry, to leave the post at midnight as escort to an ambulance transporting Crazy Horse to Fort Laramie. The prisoner would then be taken by the Deadwood stage to Cheyenne, thence by railroad via Omaha and Chicago to imprisonment in Fort Marion, Florida.32
Bradley left the fine details of Crazy Horse’s reception to Lieutenant Clark, who rode to the agency to as
sure Oglala assistance in the final stage of the operation. Little Big Man, on hand to represent the rump northern village, agreed to accompany Crazy Horse as far as Omaha. No Neck (half-brother to Woman Dress) and Plenty Wolves would also join the escort. Bat Pourier would guide.33
About 4:45 Horned Antelope arrived with Lee’s message for Clark and news that the Crazy Horse party was within an hour’s ride of the agency. Immediately, the chiefs dispatched akicita “to their villages to have it harangued for none of them to approach the party as they were passing the Agency, as it was feared that some young men might become excited, and probably make an attempt to rescue Crazy Horse.”34 Little Wound, Young Man Afraid of His Horse, and Yellow Bear would stay to keep order in the village. To ensure the securing of Crazy Horse in the guardhouse, Red Cloud and American Horse departed to lead the Bad Face and Loafer warriors immediately to Camp Robinson. Key northern scouts, including sergeants Little Big Man and Big Road, and corporal Iron Hawk, also rode to the post. Clark scribbled a note instructing Lee to take Crazy Horse straight to Bradley, handed it to Horned Antelope, and departed for Camp Robinson.35
The Red Cloud Agency buildings came in sight of Crazy Horse’s escort, with over seven hundred Oglala tipis standing just south of the trail. Twenty Oglala scouts fell in line with the escort—the No Flesh and No Water party that had left Spotted Tail early in the afternoon. A messenger from Agent Irwin rode up to ask that the escort stop at the agency, so that Irwin could speak to Crazy Horse and “have him left there.” The Brule scouts refused to stop.36 Instead, the sergeants ordered all firearms loaded. Despite the orders of their chiefs, “great excitement” was visible in the Oglala camps. Some Oglala scouts held cocked rifles ready to shoot Crazy Horse, still riding behind the ambulance. Touch the Clouds leaned out of the ambulance to instruct his men to form a cordon on either side of the vehicle. Remember “the man,” he ordered, “who first drew a gun among the Oglalas.”37
The commotion brought Agent Irwin to view the procession. Satisfied that his Oglalas were “all Quiet,” he returned to his office and penned a telegram reporting that Crazy Horse was “taken.”38
Many Oglalas hurried after the escort. He Dog sent a messenger with orders to the escort “to bring Crazy Horse into my tipi. I meant to give him a good talking-to.” This time the scouts did not even bother concocting a response. He Dog stripped his leggings and shirt, fastened his wotawe charm to his scalp lock, and clapped on his warbonnet. Stowing a shotgun under his red blanket, he did not pause to saddle his pony but rode bareback up the trail to Camp Robinson.39
Just at sunset, the party clattered over the bridge spanning White River. Among the escort flanking the ambulance, Charging First looked ahead up the slope and made out the post buildings and lines of soldiers drawn up for the evening parade. Turning in his saddle, he saw large numbers of mounted Oglalas catching up with the escort just as it approached the post. As they overtook the procession, spilling to the left and right around the buildings, Brule scouts harangued them, “telling the Oglalas they didn’t want Crazy Horse and his people on their reservation [sic].”40
The post commander ordered officer of the day Captain James Kennington to the adjutant’s office where Crazy Horse was to be turned over. Lieutenant Henry R. Lemly was to post his Company E, Third Cavalry, around the guardhouse, where the prisoner was to be held. Bradley then retired into his private quarters. At the far end of the parade ground, Lieutenant Clark did likewise. In an amazing abdication of personal responsibility, the two key officers on the ground chose to absent themselves at Camp Robinson’s most troubled hour. Just then the ambulance appeared between Bradley’s quarters and the infantry barracks, flanked by the escort and scores more Oglalas. Turning left, it cut across the parade ground and halted outside the adjutant’s office. Crazy Horse reined in his pony and scanned with misgiving the thronging parade ground. It was 6:00 P.M.41
Already the parade was filling with excited Oglalas. Red Cloud stood with a line of Bad Face warriors extending from the adjutant’s office across the parade ground, preventing Indians from infiltrating past the building toward the guardhouse some sixty-six feet beyond. At the rear of the adjutant’s office, American Horse had formed his Loafer warriors into a matching line to prevent infiltration from behind the buildings. Some soldiers were already falling out of barracks to assume positions around the guardhouse. As Crazy Horse observed this, He Dog rode up on his left. Defying Brule scouts who ordered him to keep back, He Dog leaned forward and shook hands with his old friend. “I saw that he did not look right,” He Dog recalled.42
He Dog reproved Crazy Horse, “You should have listened to me and we could have gone to Washington. . . instead you listened to your people lie.” At a loss for advice, He Dog concluded, “Look out—watch your step—you are going into a dangerous place.”43
From the ambulance, the passengers alighted. As Crazy Horse dismounted at Bordeaux’s instruction, a short figure in a red shirt bustled through the crowd. Little Big Man assumed “a rather superior manner. . . as though he was running the business,” observed Bordeaux. Seizing Crazy Horse by the sleeve, he snapped, “Come on you coward!” Crazy Horse seemed astonished but said nothing as Little Big Man pulled on his sleeve.44
The two men walked to the office doorway, where Lee was talking to the adjutant, Lieutenant Fred Calhoun. The commanding officer, Calhoun explained, had left orders that Crazy Horse be turned over to the officer of the day. “Not yet,” replied Lee, and asked if Crazy Horse might not speak with the commander. Calhoun stiffly referred Lee to Bradley at his private quarters. Turning, Lee asked Bordeaux to tell Crazy Horse to go into the office and sit down. “[T]his is not General Bradley’s quarters,” Crazy Horse observed, but with Little Big Man at his side, he entered the building, followed by Swift Bear, Touch the Clouds, High Bear, Black Crow, and Good Voice. Lee detailed a scout to wait at the door with orders to admit no one until his return.45 Other Brules formed a line of guards outside the building, haranguing that none of Crazy Horse’s followers should “go around there.”46
Lee hurried across the parade ground to Bradley’s quarters. The commander congratulated Lee on securing Crazy Horse but flatly refused to meet with the war chief, reiterating his order that the prisoner be turned over to the officer of the day. Lee pointed out the exceptional circumstances, but Bradley would not budge. Outlining his own orders from Sheridan, he insisted they permitted no latitude. Bradley grew angry as Lee importuned for clemency, snapping that it was too late to hold a talk. He ordered Crazy Horse turned over to the officer of the day. Lee could assure him that “not a hair of his head should be harmed!” Lee retraced his steps across the parade ground.47
Lee entered the adjutant’s office and told Bordeaux that any hopes of a transfer for Crazy Horse had fallen through. Coaching Bordeaux to talk with the war chief, Lee insisted, “Do not tell him about this.” Fearing trouble if Crazy Horse was put in the guardhouse, Lee advised, “Let us keep out of the squabble. We have brought him over here and done our duty to the government and done all we could for him.” Lee concluded, “so let[’]s not say anything that will stir up trouble.”48
Lee explained to Crazy Horse that night was drawing on and that Bradley thought it too late for talks. “[I am] only a little chief and [I] cannot get you a hearing now, but the commanding officer says that if you will go with this man,” pointing to Captain Kennington, “not a hair of your head will be injured.” Crazy Horse and the other chiefs said “hou.” Still wary, Crazy Horse scanned his friends’ faces for reassurance. His own features brightened, and he shook Kennington’s hand warmly49
Outside, Red Feather and his friend White Calf had slipped the cordon of Brule scouts and sneaked around the back of the building. Peeking through the window, they eavesdropped as Kennington sought to explain that Crazy Horse “should go in the next house and stay there all day and after they got through supper they would take him to Washington.” Little Big Man stood beside Crazy Horse, advising him that t
hese orders came from Lieutenant Clark: “We’ll do whatever White Hat says,” he assured the war chief and the officer of the day50
The transfer of authority complete, Lee called Swift Bear out of the office. “I have done all I can for Crazy Horse,” he insisted. Swift Bear affirmed he had heard. Before departing, Lee told Bordeaux to summon Touch the Clouds and High Bear. The two northern chiefs, together with Big Road and Crazy Horse’s kinsman Standing Bear, joined the little party. Lee repeated what he had told Swift Bear, adding that Crazy Horse would have an opportunity to talk with the officers at Camp Robinson in the morning. The chiefs indicated their approval. Bordeaux announced that Crazy Horse would not be harmed but would now be put in the guardhouse, in the charge of the soldiers.51
The group dispersed onto the parade ground. Bordeaux briefly stepped back into the office. He observed Captain Kennington take Crazy Horse by the right hand, saying, “Come with me,” as he motioned his prisoner up with his free hand. Briefly Crazy Horse held back, but as the officer pulled, he stood and stepped toward the door. Little Big Man followed and took hold of Crazy Horse’s left arm, repeating, “Come on you coward.” Walking between the two men, Crazy Horse stepped out of the office and onto the parade ground. His captors turned sharply left, still holding Crazy Horse’s arms. As they walked, Little Big Man constantly told Crazy Horse he would stay by his side wherever they went. At sight of the officer of the day, two guards on the parade snapped smartly to attention and fell in behind the three men, bayoneted rifles held at their shoulders.52
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