Crazy Horse

The history of U.S. relations with Native Americans is not a happy one.  One is tempted to see it as a series of broken treaties, forced relocations, and cruel wars from which the Native Americans always emerged worse off than they were before.  While there is little for Americans to be proud of in this history, it would be a mistake to see it as a story of victim-hood, in which Native Americans were simply overwhelmed by the lies and brutality of U.S. settlers, soldiers, and government agents.  Native Americans were active participants in their history, and, given the advantages enjoyed by their foes, they waged remarkably effective resistance against the expanding U.S.  Especially strong was the resistance of the Sioux tribes of the northern plains.  When large numbers of white prospectors and settlers arrived in the nineteenth century, they encountered a powerful people who had dominated the region for nearly 150 years.  The wars of the 1860s and 1870s between the Sioux and United States were fierce, and the Sioux won some notable victories.  The most spectacular of these was the Battle of Little Big Horn.  Under the leadership of Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, and Crazy Horse (about whom you read in Chapter 28), a large Sioux force defeated the troops of General George Custer.  After the battle the Sioux were worn down by a harsh winter and the superior numbers and technology of the U.S. army.  Even so, their ultimate defeat should be seen not as the end of their history, but as a moment in a history that continues to unfold today.  Use the links below to learn more about Crazy Horse and the world of the Sioux.

1. Human History in the Black Hills offers a brief early history of the Sioux.  Note the  pattern of migration, conquest, and settlement that you have encountered before.  To see the Sioux in the larger context of American and Native American history, examine this chronology.
2. For a contemporary Native American perspective on the battle and its history, take a look at Tribute to Oglala Lakota Sioux history.  Give special attention to "History and Leaders Part 1" which includes additional information about Crazy Horse.  Examine as well the excerpts from original documents pertaining to U.S. Indian policy and the battle.
3. The Battle of the Little Big Horn provided a subject for many artists.  Take a look at two renditions of "Custer's Last Stand" by Edgar Paxon and Cassily Adams and Otto Becker. 
4. After the death of Crazy Horse and the end of Sioux military resistance, the Sioux people continued to find ways to preserve their unique culture.  One of these was the Ghost Dance, a religious ritual that emerged in the 1890s with disastrous results.  To learn more about the ritual and its history, read Ghost Dance.  For a nineteenth-century reaction to the ritual, read this 1890 newspaper account, "The Indian Craze".  Finally, return to Black Elk's World: read "The Butchering at Wounded Knee."