35. Clark to Burke, Aug. 31, 1877, in J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 328.
36. Bradley to Sheridan, Aug. 31, 1877 (telegram), Sioux War Papers; Army and Navy Journal, Sept. 15, 1877. For a concise overview of these events, see Hedren, Fort Laramie in 1876, 231, with documentation on troop movements.
37. Bradley to Sheridan, Aug. 31, 1877 (telegram), Sioux War Papers; Sheridan to Sec. War, Sept. 1, 1877 (telegram), Sioux War Papers.
38. American Horse, in James Irwin to CoIA, Sept. 1, 1877.
39. Irwin to CoIA, Sept. 1, 1877.
40. Details are fragmentary, but see Bradley to Sheridan, Aug. 31, 1877 (telegram), Sioux War Papers; Sheridan to Sec. War, Sept. 1, 1877 (telegram), Sioux War Papers; also Sheridan to AAG, Dept. of the Platte, Aug. 31, 1877 (telegram); Sheridan to Crook, Aug. 31, 1877 (telegram); Sheridan to Bradley, Aug. 31, 1877 (telegram), Sioux War Papers.
41. Bradley to Sheridan, Aug. 31, 1877, and Sheridan to Sec. War, Sept. 1, 1877, suggest the reconstruction that Crazy Horse issued an order during the evening or night of August 31, “and prevented the scouts from going to join Hart’s command” (Sheridan to Sec. War).
42. Crook to Sheridan, Aug. 31, 1877 (two telegrams); Sheridan to Crook, Aug. 31, 1877 (two telegrams); Sheridan to Bradley, Aug. 31, 1877 (telegram), Sioux War Papers.
43. Bradley to Sheridan, Aug. 31, 1877 (telegram), Sioux War Papers.
44. Crook to Bradley, Sept. 1, 1877 (telegram), Bourke diary, vol. 24, 57–58; Crook to Sheridan, Aug. 31, 1877 (telegram); Sheridan to Crook, Sept. 1, 1877 (telegram); Sheridan to Bradley, Sept. 1, 1877 (telegram); Crook to Sheridan, Sept. 1, 1877 (telegram), Sioux War Papers.
45. “Billy Hunter’s Account,” 80.
CHAPTER 26
1. Such an order is implied in Clark to CoIA, Sept. 10, 1877, STA, LR, OIA. Clark states that by September 4, any unauthorized departure for the “North. . . means war with them.”
2. Bourke diary, vol. 24, 37–38.
3. For a tally of the Fast Bull camp enrolled at Spotted Tail Agency, August 27–September 11, 1877, see “List of Indians transferred from other Agencys [sic],” Spotted Tail Agency 1877 census, 63–65, 71, BIA, NACPR. The August 27 surrenders included Lame Deer’s son No Butcher and his Sans Arc son-in-law Leader Eagle.
4. Fundamental to an understanding of the events of September 1–2 and the northern village split is an interview given by Gen. Crook aboard the Union Pacific westbound from Cheyenne on September 5. It appeared in the Cheyenne Daily Leader of September 6. I consulted a syndicated version of the story, Omaha Daily Bee, Sept. 8, 1877.
5. “List of Indians transferred from other Agencys [sic],” Spotted Tail Agency 1877 census, 64; also Irwin to J. M. Lee, Sept. 1, 1877, Miscellaneous LS, PRA, BIA, NACPR.
6. For July-August composition of Crazy Horse’s village, see chapter 23.
7. J. M. Lee to CoIA, Sept. 30, 1877, LS, STA, NACPR; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 328; Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912, Camp Papers, BYU (includes quotation). Clark’s claim reversed his position of the thirty-first, when he had advised Burke that Crazy Horse had been the bad influence on Touch the Clouds.
8. Lee to CoIA, Sept. 30, 1877; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 328; Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912, Camp Papers, BYU.
9. Bourke diary, vol. 24, 40.
10. Bradley to AG, Dept. of the Platte, Sept. 7, 1877, SW File;; Clark to Crook, Sept. 5, 1877(telegram), in Bourke diary, vol. 24, 66. Some ambiguity remained on the issue of village dispersal, for on September 5 Clark wired Crook with details of Crazy Horse’s arrest, letting slip that, far from being permanently broken up, the northern Oglala village was to be reorganized under more pliable leadership. This hints at private arrangements made between Clark and Little Big Man that Crook did not rule out of court.
11. He Dog, in Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 20, 22, most clearly presents an Oglala perspective on Crook’s arrival at Camp Robinson on September 2. He Dog states that “orders came for everybody to go over and camp beside the White [Crawford] Butte,” located “a couple of miles east of Fort Robinson.” The Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers, locates the new village site as some two miles southeast of Red Cloud Agency. Spotted Tail was at Red Cloud Agency by the afternoon of September 3, holding confidential talks with Clark.
12. Ibid.; Omaha Daily Bee, Sept. 13, 1877 (includes quotations); Clark to CoIA, Sept. 10, 1877. On No Water’s vow, see Red Feather, in Riley “Oglala Sources,” 26.
13. Direct knowledge of the embassy to the Crazy Horse village is confined to He Dog, in Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 22–24. Crook’s Sept. 5 interview, Omaha Daily Bee, Sept. 8, 1877, indicates the council’s outcome in the breakup of the village.
14. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 330; Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912, Camp Papers, BYU (includes quotation).
15. Crazy Horse’s absence from the council is evident from He Dog’s recollection. For Nellie Larrabee’s continued advice to her husband, see Bordeaux, Custer’s Conqueror, 70–71,74–75.
16. He Dog, in Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 22–24. I have also used details from the account of He Dog set down by his son, Rev. Eagle Hawk, in R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 60–61.
17. He Dog, interpreter John Colhoff, and Eleanor Hinman struggled over the identities of the two officers. Hinman equated He Dog’s “soldier chief from Fort Laramie” with Bradley. Although Bradley had been stationed at Fort Laramie earlier in the year, he had been commanding at Camp Robinson since late May, and both Crazy Horse and He Dog would have had no trouble recognizing him. The second officer He Dog identified by his Lakota name, and Colhoff tentatively identified him as “D. H. Russell” —possibly Captain Gerald Russell, Third Cavalry.
18. Crazy Horse’s absence from the village, a common enough occurrence, is implied by his nonappearance at the council with the Oglala envoys.
19. He Dog, in Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 22.
20. Ibid., 22–24.
21. Ibid.; also, details from R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 60–61.
22. This outcome of the council is indicated in Crook’s interview (Cheyenne Daily Leader, Sept. 6, 1877; syndicated in Omaha Daily Bee, Sept. 8, 1877). Big Road and Iron Crow (a. k. a. Jumping Shield) were named among the Lakota leaders who assisted in attempting Crazy Horse’s arrest on September 4 (see Clark to CoIA, Sept. 10, 1877; also Bradley to AG, Dept. of the Platte, Sept. 7, 1877). Little Hawk was not so named, and thus probably remained with Crazy Horse, September 2–4.
23. Crook interview, Omaha Daily Bee, Sept. 8, 1877.
24. As rounded approximations, 115 northern Oglala lodges, and 100 lodges of Miniconjous, Brules, and Sans Arcs composed Crazy Horse’s village from late August through September 2. Very roughly, the Oglalas broke down as fifteen Hunkpatila lodges; thirty Bad Face lodges; sixty Oyuhpe lodges; and ten lodges of agency bands. Most of the Hunkpatila and perhaps twenty more lodges, chiefly Oyuhpe, remained loyal to the war chief. The line dividing Oyuhpe from Miniconjou is very blurred. Kicking Bear and his brother Black Fox, key aides to Crazy Horse, belonged to a leading family of the Wakan tiyospaye, an Oyuhpe subband with sister lineages among the Miniconjou, Sans Arc, and Hunkpapa tribal divisions.
25. Bourke diary, vol. 24, 40–41. See also Bradley to AG, Dept. of the Platte, Sept. 7, 1877; Crook interview, Omaha Daily Bee, Sept. 8, 1877; Bradley private journal, Sept. 2, 1877.
26. Bourke diary, vol. 24, 43.
27. He Dog, in Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 24.
28. Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912, Camp Papers, BYU; Lucy W. Lee, dispatch to the Greencastle, Indiana, Star, Sept. 18, 1877, reprinted in Brininstool, Crazy Horse, 70 (includes quotation).
CHAPTER 27
1. On the mood in the northern village, see Gen. Crook interview, Omaha Daily Bee, Sept. 8, 1877.
2. Bourke diary, vol. 24, 43.
3. Red Feather, in Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 26.
4. The most important eyewitness statements on Woman Dress’s interventio
n with Crook are by Billy Garnett. This account synthesizes details from the Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 77–78; and “Billy Hunter’s Account,” Bourke diary, vol. 24, 80–81. See also Bourke diary, vol. 24, 43–44, and Bourke, On the Border with Crook, 420.
5. In later years, both Little Wolf and Lone Bear would deny circulating such reports. Garnett and Pourier, who retained an interest in events not redounding to their credit, placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of Woman Dress (see Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers). This is probably simplistic scapegoating: as Clark’s spies, Little Wolf, Lone Bear, Long Chin, Woman Dress, and Frank Grouard were all involved in reporting on Crazy Horse.
6. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 77–78; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers.
7. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 77–78.
8. “Billy Hunter’s Account” ; Bourke diary, vol. 24, 81; Bourke, On the Border with Crook, 420.
9. Our fullest accounts of Crook’s talk with the Oglala chiefs are by Billy Garnett (Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 77–78). Details are also derived from Bourke’s diary and published account (Bourke diary, vol. 24, 43–44, and Bourke, On the Border with Crook, 420).
10. Bourke, On the Border with Crook, 420. In his diary Bourke records that the chiefs’ proposal to kill Crazy Horse was “agreed to by the others” present but was overruled by Crook. (vol. 24, 81).
11. Apart from approving Bradley’s change of plan later that evening, Crook seems to have played no further direct role in the plan to arrest Crazy Horse. He may have been preoccupied with incoming intelligence on the Nez Perce campaign prior to his departure, before daylight of September 4, for the Union Pacific at Cheyenne.
12. Garnett, an eyewitness, recalled the figure of three hundred dollars: R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 79–80. Red Feather, not present, gave a figure of one hundred dollars: Red Feather, in Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 27–28.
13. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 61.
14. Red Feather, in Riley “Oglala Sources,” 32; He Dog, ibid., 24. For details on Garnett’s later questioning of Little Wolf and Woman Dress, see Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; and R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 96–99.
15. Bourke, On the Border with Crook, 420.
16. Red Feather, in Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 32.
17. Eagle Elk, in John Colhoff to Joseph Balmer, May 3, 1950 (transcript in author’s collection). Eagle Elk’s account of the abduction of Nellie Larrabee has no dating, but the fragmentary accounts of Crazy Horse’s second marriage indicate that she was with him up to the eve of his flight to Spotted Tail Agency. The chronology seems to fit September 3 when, as the Oglala chiefs candidly revealed to Gen. Crook, elements of the agency bands were ready to force a crisis in the depleted northern village and to assassinate Crazy Horse.
18. Ibid.
19. Quotations from Gen. Crook interview, Omaha Daily Bee, Sept. 8, 1877.
20. Billy Garnett’s accounts are once again the fullest source. See Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 80–81. Billy inflates his own role, indicating that Bradley had no inkling of the afternoon’s talk between Crook and the Oglalas. Bradley was possibly trying to assess Clark’s off-the-record discussions.
21. In his official report on the attempted arrest and killing of Crazy Horse, Bradley states that his final dispositions were made on Crook’s orders. See Bradley to AG, Dept. of the Platte, Sept. 7, 1877, SW File.
22. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 331; Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912.
23. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 80–81.
24. Ibid. See also Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers.
25. Red Feather, in Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 28. To fight armed with only a knife was a heyoka practice.
CHAPTER 28
1. Red Feather, in Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 24.
2. It is difficult to quantify precisely the breakup of Crazy Horse’s village during the night and morning of September 3–4. The critical facts are that on September 3, it counted one hundred lodges, but by noon of the 4th, after the arrest operation, Lt. Col. Bradley stated that “about half of the village (40) odd lodges” were present: Bradley to Crook, Sept. 4, 1877 (telegram; transcript at Fort Robinson Museum). Thus, at least fifty lodges had left. Clark stated that “Quite a number of lodges of Crazy Horse’s band left here last night” (i.e., left Red Cloud for Spotted Tail), and the “rest commenced moving early this morning before we started” (at 9:00), a process continuing until Crazy Horse’s own departure about 10:00 A.M., “some going to camps here and quite a number to Spotted Tail” : Clark to Crook, Sept. 4, 1877 (telegram), Bourke diary, vol. 24, 59–60. Bourke’s diary account (vol. 24, 47), assembled a year later, asserts that seventy-three lodges were still in the village on the morning of the 4th, and that over fifty were captured by noon, the remainder escaping to Spotted Tail. I suggest that about thirty lodges joined the agency Oglalas, and at least twenty headed toward Spotted Tail. Of the latter, several were brought in by Oglala scouts and volunteers during the night of September 4–5: AAG, Dept. of the Platte, to AAG, Div. of the Missouri, Sept. 5, 1877 (telegram; copy in Fort Robinson Museum). Newspaper accounts also assign “about 50 lodges” to the village by September 5, (New York Times, Sept. 19, 1877).
3. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 61–62.
4. Ibid.
5. Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers, states that on September 4, agency and northern Oglalas formed a single village just south of the agency compound. These moves were clearly planned during the night council. Little Big Man’s mission is indicated by the fact he is not named among the chiefs and headmen directly participating in the arresting party (see Army and Navy Journal, Sept. 15, 1877; AAG, Dept. of the Platte to AAG, Div. of the Missouri, Sept. 5, 1877, [telegram]; Bradley to AG, Dept. of the Platte, Sept. 7, 1877,SW File; Clark to CoIA, Sept. 10, 1877, STA, LR, OIA.)); instead, Garnett shows him riding between the northern village and the column, apprising the latter of developments.
6. On “Bad Miniconjous,” see Twitchell, “Camp Robinson Letters,” 94. For quotations, see New York Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877.
7. The most precise account of the formation of the arresting party is in Army and Navy Journal, Sept. 15, 1877. Bradley estimated “about 350 friendly Indians” (Lakotas only?) participated: AAG, Dept. of the Platte, to AAG, Div. of the Missouri, Sept. 5, 1877 (telegram). Garnett stated to Ricker that all the Oglala leaders who had spoken to Crook on the third participated: reports indicate the involvement of Red Cloud, Little Wound, Young Man Afraid of His Horse, American Horse, and Yellow Bear (Oglala chiefs); Three Bears, No Flesh, and No Water (Oglala war leaders);Big Road and Iron Crow (northern village chiefs); Sharp Nose and Black Coal (Arapahos). See Bradley to AG, Dept. of the Platte, Sept. 7, 1877; also Clark to CoIA, Sept. 10, 1877.
8. Army and Navy Journal, Sept. 15, 1877.
9. Quotation from ibid. Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers, is the most important source for Oglala dispositions on the march from Camp Robinson. Garnett states that the Kiyuksa warriors rode on the north bank, although the band chief, Little Wound, was evidently with the line of Deciders heading the right-wing column. Eagle Hawk’s account assigns to Three Bears the leadership of the scouts but confuses the wing assignments: R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 62. No Water was one of the key akicita riding with the right wing.
10. Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 62 (with corrections to wing assignments).
11. Army and Navy Journal, Sept. 15, 1877. On Crazy Bear, of the Siksicela band, see R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 62.
12. Bradley stated that “when the command got out to the [camp]ground, there were but few lodges to be seen and those making fo
r the bluffs” : Bradley to Crook, Sept. 4, 1877 (telegram).
13. Clark to Crook, Sept. 4, 1877 (telegram). Red Feather stated that: “When the soldiers were coming I went out to meet them,” indicating his status as messenger. Red Feather, in Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 24.
14. Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers, shows that Crazy Horse and Black Shawl left with Kicking Bear and Shell Boy minutes ahead of the troops and scouts, who probably approached the village soon after 10:00 A.M. On Black Shawl’s family at Spotted Tail, see Red Feather, in Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 24.
15. On the surrender of Shedding Bear and Low Dog, see J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 330–31; Lee interview, Oct. 17, 1912. “List of Indians transferred from other Agencys [sic],” Spotted Tail Agency 1877 census, 63–64, tallies the group, naming all heads of families and adult males.
16. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 81.
17. Ibid., 81–82. Looking Horse belonged to the Cheyenne River Agency, according to Garnett. Not enumerated in the roll of Lakotas surrendering at Red Cloud, he perhaps surrendered with the Miniconjous at Spotted Tail Agency. Nevertheless, he was one of the scouts first enrolled with Crazy Horse on May 12. He may have been the Looking Horse living as one of five unmarried men in Roman Nose’s Miniconjou lodge at the time of the June-July census (see Spotted Tail Agency 1877 census, 46) and thus one of Roman Nose’s “sons.”
18. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 62–63, 82, identifies Buffalo Dance, rather than Woman Dress, as the shooter of Looking Horse’s mount. White Cow Killer (born 1831) belonged to the Oglala Spleen band and was keeper of the band’s winter count.
19. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 82.
20. Ibid.; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; Army and Navy Journal, Sept. 15, 1877.
21. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 82–83; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 62–63, identifies the youth. As “Crawfish,” he appears among the Sans Arcs on the roll of Lakotas “[s]tampeded from Red Cloud Agency” in the aftermath of Crazy Horse’s death: Spotted Tail Agency 1877 census, 70.
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