22. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 82–83; Garnett interview, Ricker Papers; R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 62–63: Black Fox’s speech from Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; American Horse’s quotation from R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 83.
23. R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 62–63, 82–83; Garnett interview, Ricker Papers. Black Fox’s quotation from Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers.
24. R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 62–63, 82–83; Garnett interview, Ricker Papers. Black Fox’s quotations synthesized from the two Garnett accounts. For Garnett’s assessment of Black Fox’s leadership (with quotation), see R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 84.
25. Bradley to Crook, Sept. 4, 1877 (telegram); and Clark to Crook, Sept. 4, 1877 (telegram), Bourke diary, vol. 24, 59–60, which indicate that Clark initially ordered both No Flesh and No Water to lead ten-man details in pursuit. Garnett told Ricker that thirty Scouts followed No Flesh and twenty-five followed No Water. On No Flesh’s intent to kill Crazy Horse, see Finerty, War-Path and Bivouac, 222.
26. Clark to Crook, Sept. 4, 1877 (includes quotation); Bradley to Crook, Sept. 4, 1877 (telegram); AAG, Dept. of the Platte to AAG, Div. of the Missouri, Sept. 5, 1877 (telegram); Clark to “Dear Lee” [Sept. 4, 1877], in J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 334. The latter report was received at Spotted Tail Agency about 4:15 P.M. In it Clark states that Crazy Horse’s village “is just [now] going into camp” at Red Cloud Agency, at about 12:15 P.M., four hours (the standard express rate between the agencies) before the note reached Lee.
27. Spotted Tail Agency 1877 census, 1–61, lists all families at the Brule agency in June-July
28. Lee to CoIA, Sept. 30, 1877, LS, STA, NACPR; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 331–32; Lee, interview, Oct. 17, 1912. Lee’s contemporary report states that he arrived at his agency at noon; his reminiscent accounts place it earlier, at 10:00 A.M.
29. Lee to CoIA, Sept. 30, 1877, LS, STA, NACPR; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 331–32; Lee, interview, Oct. 17, 1912 (includes quotation).
30. Lee to CoIA, Sept. 30, 1877, LS, STA, NACPR; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 331–32; Lee, interview, Oct. 17, 1912 (includes quotation); also Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers.
31. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 332 (includes quotation); Lee interview, Oct. 17, 1912.
32. Lee interview, Oct. 17, 1912(includes Black Crow’s quotation); and J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 334 (includes transcript of Clark’s message). The Lee interview states that Black Crow brought word of Crazy Horse’s arrival at about 4:00 P.M., an important chronological crosscheck for the events of the late afternoon.
33. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 334; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers. Garnett claims that the No Flesh party was chased into Camp Sheridan by angry northern Lakotas; Bordeaux denies it, and, unlike Garnett, he was present at Spotted Tail Agency. However, rumor was immediately rife of such an incident. Possibly the No Flesh party scouted the northern village and was chased off.
34. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; Cheyenne Daily Leader, Sept. 18, 1877; Col. Thomas Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 37 (includes quotation). Writing about 1890, Anderson was not an eyewitness, but he interviewed and corresponded with many officers involved in the death of Crazy Horse, including Bradley and Lee. Touch the Clouds was at the agency at noon and ordered back to his village by Lee. He left again early in the afternoon to counsel with Spotted Tail, from where he appeared at Camp Sheridan.
35. T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 37; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers. Merrivale and Tackett, Camp Sheridan post guide and interpreter respectively, had heard of Clark’s reward and gone to scout the northern village.
36. Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; Clark to CoIA, Sept. 10, 1877.
37. Red Feather, in Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 28; Horn Chips interview, tablet 18, Ricker Papers.
38. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 332.
39. Ibid. Lee’s account is obviously derived from eyewitnesses, but he telescopes events, indicating that the northern village began to flee immediately after Crazy Horse’s arrival. The chronology of the afternoon, reconstructible from the sequence of events at Spotted Tail Agency and Camp Sheridan, indicates that Crazy Horse arrived in the village about 3:30 P.M., perhaps forty-five minutes before tipis began to be struck.
40. Ibid.
41. Clark to CoIA, Sept. 10, 1877; Lee to CoIA, Sept. 30, 1877. Clark misidentifies the Brule as Big Crow.
42. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 332–33; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers.
43. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 333; Lee interview, Oct. 17, 1912; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; Bordeaux affidavit statement, Oct. 9, 1912; T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 37.
44. T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 37.
45. Lee to CoIA, Sept. 30, 1877; Lee interview, Oct. 17, 1912. Lee’s report attributes the first quote to the conversation “in the open air” at Camp Sheridan, but comparison of all accounts suggests that it best fits here.
46. Bordeaux affidavit statement, Oct. 9, 1912; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers.
47. Eastman, Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains, 103–104; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers. Eastman includes a lengthy and implausible speech attributed to Crazy Horse. Bordeaux is silent on this confrontation, but by his own account, he had hurried ahead of the ambulance.
48. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 333; Bordeaux affidavit; T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 37.
49. T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 37–38.
50. Ibid., 38; for Spotted Tail’s speech, see J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 333; and cf. Lee, interview, Oct. 17, 1912; Lee to CoIA, Sept. 30, 1877.
51. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 333; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers.
52. T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 38; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 333–34.
53. T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 38; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 333–34. Buffalo Chips’s performance suggests a heyoka attempt to defuse a tense situation through comedy—a rather dangerous one given the language and culture barrier.
54. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 334; Lee interview, Oct. 17, 1912; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; Bordeaux affidavit; Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910, in Liddic and Harbaugh, Custer and Company, 142 ff; T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 38–40. These are key eyewitness sources on the talk in Burke’s quarters and are used throughout this section. Direct quotations will be cited.
55. Horn Chips interview, tablet 18, Ricker Papers (includes quotation “he should like to keep his country” ); Lee, interview, Oct. 17, 1912 (includes second quotation).
56. Bordeaux interview, in Liddic and Harbaugh, Custer and Company, 142 ff
57. Ibid.
58. Ibid.
59. T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 39. Anderson writes that Grouard was present at this talk and that Crazy Horse upbraided him, but he confuses this talk with the September 1 talk at Camp Sheridan with Touch the Clouds.
60. Ibid. The correspondence between Burke and Bradley is important in establishing a chronology for the late afternoon and evening. Bradley’s first letter was written “about 4 O’clock” in the afternoon; his second, in reply to Burke’s note, was datelined “Camp Robinson/ Midnight.” The express courier’s round trip therefore took eight hours, reaching Burke’s quarters at about 8:00 P.M., when the talk with Crazy Horse was already well advanced. Anderson remarks that Burke’s reply “was dispatched to Gen. Bradley a little after sunset.”
61. Bordeaux interview, in Liddic and Harbaugh, Custer and Company, 142 ff
62. T Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 39.
63. Lee interview, Oct. 17, 1912.
64. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 64.
65. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 334; Bordeaux interview, in Liddic and Harbaugh, Custer and Company, 142 ff
66. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; Bordeaux affidavit; Bordeaux interview, in Liddic and Harbaugh, Custer and Company, 142 ff.; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 334; T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 39–40.
67. Standing Bear, My People the Sioux, 83–84.
68. For Crazy Horse’s vigil, see James M. Chase in Morning, in Kadlecek and Kadlecek, To Kill an Eagle, 93. Chase in Morning was born in 1888, the son of Stanley Chase in Morning (born 1860), who was the son of Little Hawk (northern Decider and Crazy Horse’s uncle). Chase in Morning stated that Crazy Horse’s prayer for guidance on Beaver Creek took place two days before his death—a clear mistake for one day.
CHAPTER 29
1. T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 40, Coe Papers; Bordeaux, Custer’s Conqueror, 78, and Conquering the Mighty Sioux, 92.
2. T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 40.
3. Ibid.; Clark to Crook, Sept. 5, 1877(telegram), in Bourke diary, vol. 24, 61. Burke’s original intention seems to have been to escort Crazy Horse personally to Camp Robinson. As the morning progressed, this task devolved on Lee alone.
4. Wounded Horse Woman (Jennie Fast Thunder, a. k. a. Cane), in Standing Bear, Land of the Spotted Eagle, 181–82; also Jessie Eagle Heart, in Kadlecek and Kadlecek, To Kill an Eagle, 51–52, 98–100.
5. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910, in Liddic and Harbaugh, Custer and Company, 145; Bordeaux affidavit, Oct. 9, 1912; T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 41; Bordeaux, Custer’s Conqueror, 81.
6. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910, in Liddic and Harbaugh, Custer and Company, 145; Bordeaux affidavit, Oct. 9, 1912; T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 41; Bordeaux, Custer’s Conqueror, 81.
7. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910, in Liddic and Harbaugh, Custer and Company, 145; Bordeaux affidavit, Oct. 9, 1912; T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 41; Bordeaux, Custer’s Conqueror, 81.; also J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 334–35; Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912, folder 116, Camp Field Notes, Camp Papers, BYU (includes quotation).
8. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910, in Liddic and Harbaugh, Custer and Company, 145; Bordeaux affidavit, Oct. 9, 1912; T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 41; Bordeaux, Custer’s Conqueror, 81; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 334–35 (quotations on 335); Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912.
9. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers.
10. Bordeaux affidavit, Oct. 9, 1912.
11. T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 41.
12. New York Sun, Sept. 14, 1877. This invaluable newspaper account includes “Whirlwind” among the named Lakotas who prevailed on Crazy Horse to go to Camp Robinson. No leading Brule or Oglala of this name is known at this time, but Whirlwind Soldier’s prominence as sergeant in Touch the Clouds s scout Company E, suggests that the reference is to this Brule leader. See also Standing Soldier, interview by Eli S. Ricker, tablet 9, Ricker Papers.
13. Henry Standing Bear, interview by Walter M. Camp, July 1910, in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 114–15. Turning Bear belonged to Two Strike’s band.
14. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers.
15. Ibid.; also Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912 (includes quotation).
16. Bordeaux, Conquering the Mighty Sioux, 92.
17. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 335 (includes quotations); Lucy W. Lee account, in Greencastle (Indiana) Star, reprinted in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 252.
18. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers.
19. Ibid.; Amos Charging First affidavit before Ziebach Co., Oct. 3, 1927, Crazy Horse Biography File; Lucille Runs After statement to the author, Feb. 2, 2004. Charging Eagle was the son of Miniconjou leader Roman Nose. Sixteen-year-old Charging First was enlisted as a scout in Company D, under his nickname Across the Room.
20. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers.
21. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 335; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910; Bordeaux affidavit, Oct. 9, 1912;T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 41; McGillycuddy, Blood on the Moon, 82. Spotted Tail obviously arranged a staggered departure for the various parties of scouts. The last to leave, the Oglalas, caught up with the escort just short of Red Cloud Agency: see Standing Soldier interview, tablet 9, Ricker Papers; and cf. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers.
22. T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 41.
23. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 335; Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers (includes quotation).
24. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 335; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers.
25. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 336; Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912 (includes quotation); Bordeaux, Custer’s Conqueror, 82–83.
26. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 336; Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912; Bordeaux, Custer’s Conqueror, 83.
27. Bradley to Maj. Gillies, Sept. 5, 1877 (telegram), in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 178.
28. Clark to Crook, Sept. 5, 1877 (telegram), Bourke diary, vol. 24, 61.
29. Crook to Bradley, Sept. 5, 1877 (telegram), Bourke diary, vol. 24, 61 (includes quotations); also, for Crook’s schedule, see Chicago Times, Sept. 6, 1877.
30. Crook to Sheridan, Sept. 5, 1877 (telegram), Bourke diary, vol. 24, 63–64.
31. Sheridan to Gillies, Sept. 5, 1877 (telegram), Bourke diary, vol. 24, 64.
32. Lemly, “Passing of Crazy Horse,” 321; Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912. From Bradley’s verbal orders, Wessells and Lt. Lemly, Company E, Third Cavalry, understood that Crazy Horse’s ultimate destination was incarceration in Florida. Journalists briefed by Sheridan’s Chicago office also reported that, subject to Washington approval, Crazy Horse was to be imprisoned with Kiowa, Comanche, and southern Cheyenne war leaders in Florida. See Chicago Times, Sept. 7, 1877. These latter prisoners were held in Fort Marion, at St. Augustine. Although secondary works commonly identify the intended place of Crazy Horse’s incarceration as the Dry Tortugas, that island’s military post, Fort Jefferson, had been closed in 1874.
33. Red Feather, in, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 28; Pourier interview, tablet 13, Ricker Papers. Following the discharge of Crazy Horse, Little Big Man was promoted to first sergeant of Company C, both changes back dated to August 31.
34. Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877.
35. For Scout and Bad Face–Loafer dispositions, see He Dog, in, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 21;White Calf, ibid., 43.
36. Standing Soldier interview, tablet 9, Ricker Papers; Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910.
37. Charging First affidavit, Oct. 3, 1927, Crazy Horse Biography File; Bordeaux affidavit; Horn Chips interview, tablet 18, Ricker Papers; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 336; Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877.
38. Irwin to CoIA, Sept. 5, 1877 (telegram) RCA, LR, OIA.
39. He Dog, in Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 20–21; Joseph Eagle Hawk, in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 144.
40. Charging First affidavit, Oct. 3, 1927, Crazy Horse Biography File; Red Feather, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 28.
41. Lemly, “Passing of Crazy Horse,” 319; He Dog, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 21. “‘Crazy Horse’ reached here at 6 o’-clock,” Clark to Crook, Sept. 5, 1877 (telegram), Bourke diary, vol. 24, 64. No source openly criticizes B
radley or Clark, but their noninvolvement in a situation demanding hands-on authority seems culpable.
42. He Dog, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 21;White Calf, ibid., 43. Eagle Hawk, in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 144.
43. He Dog quotations synthesized from Eagle Hawk, in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 144, and R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 65; He Dog, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 21.
44. Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 336; Lemly, “Passing of Crazy Horse,” 319; New York Sun, Sept. 14, 1877; Eagle Hawk, in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 146.
45. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 336; Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912 (first quotation); T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 42; Lemly, “Passing of Crazy Horse,” 319; “Billy Hunter’s Account,” Bourke diary, vol. 24, 82 (second quotation); Chicago Times, Sept. 6, 1877.
46. Red Feather, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 28.
47. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 336–37 (includes quotation); Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912; T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 42.
48. Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910. This statement reveals the extent to which Lee, no less than Agent Irwin, Bradley, and Clark, washed his hands of Crazy Horse. Lee’s own accounts, tortured by conscience, and Louis Bordeaux’s other statements, do not mention this crucial exchange.
49. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 337; Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912 (includes quotation).
50. Red Feather, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 28. Red Feather identifies the officer as Clark, but Kennington and Adjutant Calhoun were the only officers present.
51. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; Bordeaux- interview, July 6–7, 1910; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 337; Chicago Times, Sept. 6, 1877.
52. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910 (includes quotations); Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; Horn Chips interview, tablet 18, Ricker Papers; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 337; Lemly, “Passing of Crazy Horse,” 319–20; Chicago Times, Sept. 6, 1877; New York Sun, Sept. 14, 1877.
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