SEPT 5: Crazy Horse is Killed
On Sept. 5, 1877, Crazy Horse, a Lakota war leader of the Oglala band at Battle of the Little Bighorn, is fatally wounded by a bayonet-wielding military guard while allegedly resisting imprisonment at Fort Robinson in present-day Nebraska.
An illustration showing Crazy Horse and his followers on their way to surrender to General George Crook at the Red Cloud Agency in May 1877. (Credit: Library of Congress)
He was believed to have been born in the Black Hills of current-day South Dakota sometime between 1840-1845. His parents came from two different bands of the Lakota division of the Sioux; his father Tȟašúŋke Witkó (Crazy Horse) was born in 1810 and was Oglala, while his mother Tȟašína Ȟlaȟlá Wiŋ (Rattling Blanket Woman, born 1814), was a Miniconjou. Crazy Horse was named Čháŋ Óhaŋ (Among the Trees) at birth, meaning he was one with nature. His mother died when Crazy Horse was four years old.
Crazy Horse played a key role in luring Captain William Fetterman and his troops into a deadly ambush at the Fetterman Fight on December 21, 1866. He, along with other Lakota and Cheyenne warriors, acted as decoys, drawing Fetterman's 81 soldiers out from Fort Phil Kearny, near present-day Sheridan, Wyoming, and over a ridge, where they were surrounded by more than one thousand warriors and killed in minutes.
According to the National Park Service, on June 17, 1876, Crazy Horse, along with more than 1,200 warriors, helped defeat General George Crook at the Battle of the Rosebud. Eight days later he helped defeat the 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. There, he led warriors in pushing back the initial attack by Major Marcus Reno and members of the 7th. Later, Crazy Horse led a war party that flanked Lt. Col. George Custer and his troops, sealing their fate.
Following the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the bands of Lakota and Cheyenne present at the battle began to scatter. The U.S. Army continued to track the dispersed bands, attempting to drive them back to the Great Sioux Reservation. Crazy Horse, who refused to go on a reservation or flee to Canada as others were doing, set up winter camp on the Tongue River in south-central Montana Territory. He attacked Colonel Nelson Miles' force on January 8, 1877, but was defeated. The relentless pursuit by the military, combined with the defeat at the Battle of Wolf Mountain, convinced Crazy Horse that surrender was inevitable. On May 7, 1877, Crazy Horse led 1,100 followers into Fort Robinson to surrender.
At Fort Robinson and the Red Cloud Agency, old rivalries and misunderstandings between military officers and various Lakota Sioux personalities, and Crazy Horse erupted into open animosity. Crazy Horse was arrested to prevent continued disruption, and in the ensuing scuffle, Crazy Horse was stabbed and mortally wounded. He died on the evening of September 5, 1877.
There are no known photographs of Crazy Horse. It’s been claimed he believed a photograph would take part of his soul and shorten his life.
