CRAZY HORSE

by Kingsley M Bray

  53. Bordeaux, Custer’s Conqueror, 87.

  54. DeBarthe, Frank Grouard, 177; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; He Dog, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 21.

  55. He Dog, Red Feather, and White Calf, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 21, 28, 43; Standing Soldier interview, tablet 9, Ricker Papers; Lemly, “Passing of Crazy Horse,” 319–20.

  56. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 93 (includes quotations); New York Sun, Sept. 14, 1877; Wounded Horse Woman, in Standing Bear, Land of the Spotted Eagle, 182; Charging First affidavit, Oct. 3, 1927, Crazy Horse Biography File.

  57. DeBarthe, Frank Grouard, 177; He Dog, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 21; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 337–38.

  58. Standing Bear interview, July 1910.

  59. Horn Chips interview, tablet 18, Ricker Papers.

  60. Ibid. Such was Horn Chips’ sense of confinement that he believed “the passage led down into the ground.”

  61. Standing Bear interview, July 1910 (includes Turning Bear quotation); Red Feather, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 28; “Billy Hunter’s Account,” Bourke diary, vol. 24, 83 (includes Crazy Horse quotation); J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 337–38; Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912; T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 42; Lemly, “Passing of Crazy Horse,” 320.

  62. Lucy W. Lee account, in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 253; Eagle Hawk, in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 146 (includes quotations); Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912; Plenty Wolves, in Bad Heart Bull and Blish, Pictographic History of the Oglala Sioux, 401–402; Yellow Horse to John Colhoff, in W. K. Powers [and John Colhoff], Winter Count of the Oglala, 33, with additional details from Yellow Horse in John Colhoff to Joseph Balmer, Sept. 6, 1949, transcript in author’s collection; He Dog, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 21; Carrie Slow Bear, in ibid., 41; Chicago Times, Sept. 6, 1877; New York Sun, Sept. 14, 1877; Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877.

  63. Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912; New York Sun, Sept. 14, 1877; Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877; Little Big Man’s words are derived from Yellow Horse to Colhoff in Colhoff to Balmer, Sept. 6, 1949;Yellow Horse, in R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 65.

  64. Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912; T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 42; Lemly, “Passing of Crazy Horse,” 320; Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers (includes quotation); “Billy Hunter’s Account,” 83; Standing Soldier interview, tablet 9, Ricker Papers; Pourier interview, tablet 13, Ricker Papers; Little Big Man, Bourke, On the Border with Crook, 422–23; Red Feather and White Calf, Riley “Oglala Sources,” 28–29, 43; DeBarthe, Frank Grouard, 177–78; Chicago Times, Sept. 6, 1877; New York Sun, Sept. 14, 1877; Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877; Lucy W. Lee account, in Hardorff, op. cit., 253; Sgt. Wm. Kelly account, Crawford Tribune (Nebr.), June 26, 1903.

  65. Chicago Times, Sept. 6, 1877; New York Sun, Sept. 14, 1877; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 337–38; DeBarthe, Frank Grouard, 177–78; Pvt. Geo. W. McAnulty, in Brininstool, Crazy Horse, 86; He Dog, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 21 (includes quotation); American Horse interview, tablet 35, Ricker Papers.

  66. Chicago Times, Sept. 6, 1877; Sgt. Wm. Kelly account, in Crawford Tribune, June 26, 1903; Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910 (first quotation); J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 337–38 (second quotation); Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 93–94; American Horse interview, tablet 35, Ricker Papers.

  67. Yellow Horse to Colhoff in Colhoff to Balmer, Sept. 6, 1949; quotation from Powers, Winter Count of the Oglala, 33; Chicago Times, Sept. 6, 1877; Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877; Private Edwin D. Wood, in New York Times, Sept. 28, 1877; Sgt. Wm. Kelly account, in Crawford Tribune, June 26, 1903; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; “Billy Hunter’s Account,” 83; R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 93–94; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; Bordeaux interview, July 6–7,1910;T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 43;J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 337–38; Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912; Lemly, “Passing of Crazy Horse,” 320; “Dr. [Valentine T.] McGillycuddy’s Story of Crazy Horse,” in Brininstool, “Chief Crazy Horse,” 38; Charles T. Jordan to Doane W. Robinson, June 26, 1902, Robinson Papers; DeBarthe, Frank Grouard, 177–78; Pvt. McAnulty, in Brininstool, Crazy Horse, 86–87; American Horse interview, tablet 35, Ricker Papers; Standing Soldier interview, tablet 9, Ricker Papers; Henry Standing Bear interview, July 1910; He Dog, Red Feather, and White Calf, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 21, 29, 43; Eagle Hawk, in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 146–48; R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 64–65.

  For a close analysis of the nature of Crazy Horse’s wounds, see the detailed footnotes in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 148–49. Although early controversy existed over whether Crazy Horse was killed by one of the guards or by his own knives, deflected in the struggle with Little Big Man, the weight of evidence has always favored the former. For a modern lawyer’s application of courtroom techniques to the evidence, see J. N. Gilbert, “Death of Crazy Horse.” The exact identity of the sentry who killed Crazy Horse is elusive: for excellent analyses of the evidence, see Hardorff’s notes, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 146–48, and Dickson, “Crazy Horse.” Although not definitive, the balance of evidence suggests that Crazy Horse’s killer was Private William Gentles, Company F, Fourteenth Infantry.

  68. Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers (includes first and third quotations); R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 93–94 (second quotation on 94); Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; Horn Chips interview, tablet 18, Ricker Papers; Pvt. McAnulty, in Brininstool, Crazy Horse, 86–87. The identity of Crazy Horse’s uncle is not given in the sources. Since Garnett knew well Oglala relatives such as Little Hawk, it seems most likely that this man was one of the maternal, Miniconjou uncles. From He Dog’s testimony, we know that Spotted Crow was at the White River agencies during summer 1877 and was a key anti-American adviser to Crazy Horse. Moreover, Spotted Crow had been present when No Water shot Crazy Horse in 1870, lending significance to his remarks to Little Big Man.

  69. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 94.

  70. He Dog, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 21; White Calf, ibid., 43; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 94; Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910; Eagle Hawk, in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 146–48.

  71. DeBarthe, Frank Grouard, 178; He Dog, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 21.

  72. Charging First affidavit, Oct. 3, 1927, Crazy Horse Biography File; He Dog, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 21 (first quotation); R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 66 (second quotation); Eagle Hawk, in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 148–50.

  73. Red Feather, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 29.

  74. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 66; Eagle Hawk, in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 150.

  75. “Dr. McGillycuddy’s Story,” in Brininstool, “Chief Crazy Horse,” 38–39;V.T. McGillycuddy to William Garnett, June 24, 1927, in R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 125–26; Chicago Times, Sept. 6, 1877; New York Sun, Sept. 14, 1877; Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877; Lucy W. Lee account, in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 253; T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 43; Lemly, “Passing of Crazy Horse,” 320.

  76. Lemly, “Passing of Crazy Horse,” 320; Bordeaux, Custer’s Conqueror, 88–89.

  77. Lemly, “Passing of Crazy Horse,” 320; T. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 43 (includes quotations); New York Sun, Sept. 14, 1877; Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877.

  78. “Dr. McGillycuddy’s Story,” 38–39; McGillycuddy to William Garnett, June 24, 1927, in R. A. Clark, Ki
lling of Chief Crazy Horse, 125–26; Ibid., 94–95; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers.

  79. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 94–95 (first quotation); ibid., 66 (second quotation); He Dog, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 21–22.

  80. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 94–95. Clark’s pointed absence from the scene during the most turbulent hour of Camp Robinson’s existence did not go entirely unnoticed. Angeline Johnson, wife of Lt. Charles A. Johnson, wrote her sister that a “certain officer. . . took care to keep out of the way of any of them during the fracas” : Twitchell,” Camp Robinson Letters,” 93.

  81. “Dr. McGillycuddy’s Story,” 38–39.

  82. Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 94–95; James H. Cook to Neihardt, Mar. 3, 1920, Neihardt Papers (includes quotation).

  83. “Dr. McGillycuddy’s Story,” 38–39; McGillycuddy to Garnett, June 24, 1927, in R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 125 (includes quotation); Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877.

  84. “Dr. McGillycuddy’s Story,” 38–39.

  85. Ibid.; McGillycuddy, Blood on the Moon, 84; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers (includes quotation); R. A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 94–95.

  86. Eagle Hawk, in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 150; Chicago Times, Sept. 6, 1877; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 95; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 338; t. Anderson, “Army Episodes and Anecdotes,” 43; Lemly, “Passing of Crazy Horse,” 320.

  87. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 95; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers.

  88. Lucy W. Lee account, in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 253–54; Charging First affidavit, Oct. 3, 1927, Crazy Horse Biography File; He Dog, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 22. Again, Crazy Horse’s uncle is not named: it is likely to be Spotted Crow or one of his Miniconjou brothers.

  89. Red Feather, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 29.

  90. Eagle Hawk, in Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 150.

  91. Lemly, “Passing of Crazy Horse,” 320; Red Feather, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 29; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 338; Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers. Spider, a half-brother of Red Cloud married to a sister of Young Man Afraid of His Horse, was the head akicita of the Payabya band; White Bird, his counterpart in the Spleen band.

  92. Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877; New York Sun, Sept. 14, 1877; “Dr. McGillycuddy’s Story,” 40; McGillycuddy to Garnett, June 24, 1927, in R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 126.

  93. R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 66–67; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 95; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers (includes quotations); Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910.

  94. J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 338; Lee interview, Oct. 27, 1912;V. T. McGillycuddy to William Garnett, May 10, 1926, in R.A. Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 117–18; Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910. I have chosen not to credit the extensive verbatim speeches cited in Lee’s accounts. They ring too clearly of self-absolution, and in any case are too coherent for the dying, delirious Crazy Horse to have spoken.

  95. Bordeaux interview, July 6–7, 1910; Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; McGillycuddy, Blood on the Moon, 85–86.

  96. McGillycuddy, Blood on the Moon, 86.

  97. Bordeaux interview, tablet 11, Ricker Papers; Pourier interview, tablet 13, Ricker Papers; New York Sun, Sept. 14, 1877; Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877.

  98. New York Sun, Sept. 14, 1877.

  99. Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877. Lemly, “Passing of Crazy Horse,” 321–22, printed a version of Worm’s speech and attributed it to Crazy Horse.

  100. Pourier interview, tablet 13, Ricker Papers (includes quotations); New York Sun, Sept. 14, 1877. Although estimates of the time of death vary, most fall between 11:30 and 12:00. Clark, in his official report, gave the time as 11:40 P.M. Clark to CoIA, Sept. 10, 1877, STA, LR, OIA.

  101. Bradley to AG, Dept. of the Platte, Sept. 7, 1877, SW File. For another translation, with army spin, see Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877.

  CHAPTER 30

  1. Events of the morning of September 6 are taken from the following sources: New York Sun, Sept. 14, 1877; Chicago Times, Sept. 7, 1877; Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877; Army and Navy Journal, Sept. 15, 1877; Garnett interview, tablet 2, Ricker Papers; Jesse M. Lee Diary, in Brininstool, Crazy Horse, 38–39; Lucy W. Lee, dispatch to Greencastle (Indiana) Star, datelined Sept. 18, 1877, in ibid., 67; J. M. Lee, “Capture and Death,” 339. In the subsequent account, I have footnoted only quotations.

  2. Chicago Times, Sept. 7, 1877.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Red Feather, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 30.

  5. There is no direct statement that Worm performed the Ghost Owning ceremony in Crazy Horse’s memory. However, an albeit garbled memory of Luther Standing Bear strongly suggests that he did: My People the Sioux, 91, 100. My account of the rite is generalized from J. E. Brown, Sacred Pipe, chap. 2; Densmore, Teton Sioux Music and Culture, 77–84; Dorsey, Study of Siouan Cults, 487–89; Fletcher, “Indian Ceremonies” ; Hassrick, The Sioux, 302–305.

  6. Chicago Times, Sept. 7, 1877.

  7. Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1877. This paragraph also draws on an illustration in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, Oct. 13, 1877, depicting Crazy Horse’s “Funeral Procession Passing through Camp Sheridan.” Although the illustration was drawn in-house in Frank Leslie’s New York office, it was based on an original sketch by J. H. Hamilton.

  8. Burke to Bradley, Sept. 7, 1877; New York Sun, Sept. 23, 1877; Jesse M. Lee Diary, Brininstool, Crazy Horse, 39. Internal evidence indicates that the scaffold was erected early on September 8.

  9. Bradley to AG, Dept. of the Platte, Sept. 7, 1877, SW File; “List of Indians transferred from other Agencys [sic],” Spotted Tail Agency 1877 Census, 63–71, NACPR.

  10. The political situation is detailed in K. M. Bray, “‘We Belong to the North.’”

  11. Jesse M. Lee diary, Brininstool, Crazy Horse, 39–40; L. W. Lee, “Recollections.”

  12. Jesse M. Lee diary, Brininstool, Crazy Horse, 39.

  13. New York Sun, Sept. 23, 1877.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Sidney Telegraph, Sept. 15, 1877; Red Feather, Riley, “Oglala Sources,” 30.

  16. The delegation and the agency departures are covered in K. M. Bray, “‘We Belong to the North.’”

  17. Clark to Secretary of the Interior, Nov. 7, 1877, STA, LR, OIA.

  18. On Worm’s journey, see Victoria Conroy (Standing Bear), in Hardorff, Oglala Lakota Crazy Horse, 30; Black Elk, in DeMallie, Sixth Grandfather, 204; Joseph Eagle Hawk, in John Colhoff to Joseph Balmer, Apr. 25, 1951 (transcript in author’s collection); Horn Chips interview, tablet 18, Ricker Papers. Clark to Secretary of the Interior, Nov. 7, 1877, asserts Worm’s continued presence with the Red Cloud column as of that date.

  19. The statements on the later burial(s) of Crazy Horse are confused and confusing. As far as the second, or November 1877, burial is concerned, the clearest statement is in Walter M. Camp’s interview with Horn Chips, ca. July 11, 1910, Camp Papers, BYU. A participant in the burial, Horn Chips stated that he “and Old Man Crazy Horse [Worm] carried [the body] to above the head of Wounded Knee (not on the creek), and buried it in the ground in a box.” A contemporary newspaper notice in the Omaha Daily Bee, December 3, 1877, reported that Crazy Horse was buried near the mouth of Big White Clay Creek, during the agency removal. The location probably reflects the point at which Worm’s party departed the Red Cloud column.

  This second burial was not the last for Crazy Horse’s restless remains. During the fall 1878 relocations to the present Pine Ridge and Rosebud agencies (probably immediately after the conclusion of the year-long Ghost Owning ceremony), Horn Chips reinterred the body in another place
. Although confusion and hearsay continue to confound the record, this interment may have been in a cliff along White Horse Creek (a west tributary of Wounded Knee), about four miles southwest of the modern reservation community of Manderson. Horn Chips seems to have overseen a final reinterment, before the end of the nineteenth century, to an unknown point on Wounded Knee Creek.

  20. The final Spotted Tail Agency removal to the present site at Rosebud is detailed in Hyde, Sioux Chronicle, chap. 1; and idem, Spotted Tail’s Folk, 288–94.

  21. Breakouts for Canada through January 1878 are detailed in K. M. Bray, “‘We Belong to the North.’” For the September 1878 defections, see Captain H. M. Wessells to AAG, Dept. of Dakota, Sept. 27, 1878, Sioux War Papers. Red Eagle was a Miniconjou who married into the Brules, ancestor to today’s prominent Leader Charge family at Rosebud. Bad Mustang was a Wazhazha headman considered a trusty by Captain Wessells.

  22. The Canadian exile is detailed in Utley, Lance and the Shield, chaps. 15–18; and at length in Manzione, “I Am Looking to the North for My Life.”

  23. Although Black Shawl is unnamed in the contemporary census record, she was almost certainly one of the two women in the Red Doe Elk (Woman) family, officially taken up at the new Pine Ridge Agency, fall 1878. The family was subsequently registered with the Oglala Spleen band.

  24. On Worm’s sojourn at Rosebud, see Hardorff, Surrender and Death of Crazy Horse, 128. Standing Bear, My People the Sioux, 100, indicates that the Ghost Owning ceremony was held very soon after the arrival at Rosebud. My account of the ceremony is based on J. E. Brown, Sacred Pipe, chap. 2; Densmore, Teton Sioux Music and Culture, 77–84; Dorsey, Study of Siouan Cults, 487–89; Fletcher, “Indian Ceremonies” ; Hassrick, The Sioux, 302–305.

  25. Standing Bear, My People the Sioux, 100.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  ARCHIVAL MATERIAL