FREE ESSAY ON CRAZY HORSE

CRAZY HORSE

Crazy Horse When I think back of the stories that I have heard about howthe Native
American Indians were driven from their land andforced to live on the reservations one
particular event comes tomy mind. That event is the Battle of the Little Big Horn. It
isone of the few times that the Oglala Sioux made history with thembeing the ones who
left the battlefield as winners. When storiesare told, or when the media dares to tamper
with history, it isusually the American Indians who are looked upon as the bad guys.They
are portrayed as savages who spent their time raiding wagontrains and scalping the white
settlers just for fun. The mediahas lead us to believe that the American government was
forced totake the land from these savage Indians. We should put the blamewhere it
belongs, on the U.S. Government who lied, cheated, andstole from the Oglala forcing Crazy
Horse, the great war chief,and many other leaders to surrender their nation in order to
savethe lives of their people. In the nineteenth century the most dominant nation in
thewestern plains was the Sioux Nation. This nation was divided intoseven tribes:
Oglala's, Brule', Minneconjou, Hunkpapa, No Bow,Two Kettle, and the Blackfoot. Of these
tribes they had differentband. The Hunkpatila was one band of the Oglala's . One of the
greatest war chiefs of all times came from thisband. His name was Crazy Horse. Crazy
Horse was not given this name, on his birth date inthe fall of 1841. He was born of his
father, Crazy Horse anOglala holy man, and his mother a sister of a Brule'
warrior,Spotted Tail. As the boy grew older his hair was wavy so his people gave him the
nickname of Curly . He was togo by Curly until the summer of 1858, after a battle with
theArapaho's. Curly's brave charged against the Arapaho's led hisfather to give Curly the
name Crazy Horse. This was the name ofhis father and of many fathers before him . In the
1850's, the country where the Sioux Nation lived, wasbeing invaded by the white settlers.
This was upsetting for manyof the tribes. They did not understand the ways of the
whites.When the whites tore into the land with plows and hunted thesacred buffalo just
for the hides this went against the moraleand religious beliefs of the Sioux. The white
government began tobuild forts. In 1851, Fort Laramie was built along the NorthPlatte
river in Sioux territory . In 1851, the settlers began complaining of the Indians who
would not allow them to go where they wanted. U.S. Agents drew upa treaty that required
the Indians to give safe passage to thewhite settlers along the Oregon Trail. In return
the governmentpromised yearly supplies of guns, ammunition, flour, sugar,coffee, tobacco,
blankets, and bacon. These supplies were to be provided for fifty-five years. Ten
thousand Sioux gathered at thefort to listen to the words of the white government and to
beshowered with gifts. In addition the treaty wanted the Indians toallow all settlers to
cross their lands. They were to divide theplains into separate territories and each tribe
was not to crossthe border of their territory. The treaty also wanted no wars tobe waged
on other tribes. They wanted each Indian nation tochoose a leader that would speak for
the entire nation. ManyIndians did not like this treaty and only after weeks of
briberydid the whites finally convince a sizable group of leaders to sign. The Oglala's
were among those who refused (Matthiessen 6). This Treaty however did not stop the
trouble between theIndians and the settlers. The Indians however, did not causeviolent
trouble, they would perhaps approach a covered wagon totrade or extract gifts of food.
The most daring warrior might make away with a metal pot or pan but nothing violent like
thebooks and movies lead us to believe . The straw that broke the camels back took place
on August17, 1854 when the relations between the Indians and Whites wereshattered. Among
the settlers heading west was a group of Mormonsand as they were passing, a few miles
south of Fort Laramie, anIndian stole a cow. The Mormons reported this to Lieutenant
HughB. Fleming, the commander of the post. Fleming demanded that theoffender, High
Forehead of the Minneconjou, face charges. ChiefConquering Bear suggested that the
Mormons come to his herd of ponies and pick out the best pony he had to replace the
cow,which to the Sioux these ponies were their wealth. This seemed tobe a very gracious
offer. Fleming would not agree and sentLieutenant John L. Grattan to bring back the
warrior. WhenGrattan arrived at Conquering Bears camp, he was given anotheroffer. This
time they could choose five ponies from five herdsamong the tribes. Grattan refused and
began to open fire. This outrageous act of war was not calledfor. The Mormons would have
surely been satisfied with the poniesor the money the ponies would have bought. The
government justdid not want to keep the Indian-White relationship peaceful.Crazy Horse,
then called Curly, was only thirteen when thesoldiers and the Indians fought. The Indians
outnumbered the soldiers and won the battle. Crazy Horse eventually became a leader of
his people. Intoday's society our leaders are given money and gifts but in thetimes of
Crazy Horse it was almost the opposite. He was expectedto live modestly, keep only what
he needed and give away therest. After hunting he would give the needy the choicest meat
andkeep the stringy meat for himself. He did however, have the honorand prestige that
allowed him to make the decisions for the tribe. As well as other Sioux leaders, Crazy
Horse lead his peopleinto the Powder River country. The reason for this move was toleave
behind the ways of the white man and continue living theways of the Sioux. The white man
had brought to their countrysickness, liquor and damaging lifestyles much different from
thelifestyles of the Sioux. In 1865, U.S. officials wanted to obtain land from
theIndians. They offered many different bribes, such as gifts andliquor, to the Indians
who lived around the forts. They were very good at making the sell of land seem temporary
and they convincedmany that what the right thing to do was sell. The land theywanted was
access land into the Powder River country. Thegovernment did not have the luck they
needed in obtaining theland with money or bribes. So in the summer of 1865 they sentmore
than two thousand soldiers from Fort Laramie into the PowderRiver country. In 1866 the
government, knowing that the land they wantedwas worth much more, offered the Sioux
fifteen thousand dollarsannually for access into Powder River country. The Indians
didallow whites to use the Bozeman Trail just as they allowedimmigrants to use the Holy
Road. The U.S. Government had an obligation to protect its citizens but not to provoke a
crisis.They did create a crisis when they established forts in the heartof Oglala
territory. After conquering the confederates the U.S.Army was full of optimism and wanted
desperately to have an allout war to exterminate the Sioux. Although the Indians
wereallowing the whites to use the Bozeman Trail, the government wasnot satisfied. They
wanted the legal right to use the trail. E.B.Taylor, a government agent at one of the
Indian Offices,tricked some of the Indian Leaders into going to Fort Laramie in1866 for a
treaty. He deliberately attempted to deceive them; hesaid nothing about building forts
along the trail, only that theywanted to use the Bozeman Trail. He offered them
guns,ammunition, gifts plus money. The Indians did not sell (Ambrose213-214). In June
1867, the government officials produced a newtreaty. This treaty, like all the ones
before, only promisedlavish gifts to those who would sign. One of the Oglala chiefs,Red
Cloud, wanted more for his nation than the simple giftsoffered. He wanted the troops to
move from the forts; Reno,Philkearny and C.F. Smith. During the summer of 1868 his
requestwas accepted. The troops moved. A civil war hero William TecumsehSherman moved
into the territory as the new commander of the plains. He had plans to get the treaty
signed. His hopes were to,shut up the congressional critics, get the Sioux to agree on
atreaty and maintain the army's morale. After negotiations weremade Red Cloud lead one
hundred-and twenty-five leaders of theSioux nations to sign the treaty of 1868. This
treaty guaranteed absolute and undisturbed use of the Great Sioux Reservation. Noperson
shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon, orreside in territory described in
this article, or withoutconsent of the Indians pass through the same (Matthiessen
7-8).This treaty also stated that the hunting rights on the landbetween the Black Hills
and the Big Horn Mountains as long asthe grass shall grow and the water flows.(Guttmacher
73). Itforced the Indians to be farmers and live in houses. There couldbe no changes made
to the treaty without three fourths of alladult males of the Sioux nation agreeing
(Ambrose 282). The Indians had divided into those who agreed with thetreaty, the friendly
and those who wanted nothing to do withthe treaty, the hostile. The U.S. government did
not recognizethese separate groups. They forbid trade with the Powder RiverIndians until
all Indians moved to the reservation. This was notin the Treaty of 1868, (Guttmacher 76).
Even though the government was getting the best part of thetreaty they were not satisfied
with progress. In 1871 the IndianAppropriation Bill was passed which stated hereafter no
Indiannation or tribe within the United States shall be acknowledgedor recognized as an
independent nation, tribe or power with whomthe U.S. may contract by treaty (Matthiessen
7-8). General Armstrong Custer was appointed as the new commanderof the plains. He led
the Seventh Calvary on a mission to subduea band of hostile Cheyenne. The calvary came
across an Indianvillage and attacked them instead. Black Kettle, the chief of thevillage
and his wife were killed as they rode to surrender. Thiskilling of 100 Cheyenne, mostly
women and children, and 800ponies was advertised as Custer's victory against the
brutalsavages (Guttmacher 81-82). The U.S. Army led an expedition into the Sioux
territory.According to the Treaty of 1868 this expedition was not legal.The expedition
was to survey land for the Northern PacificRailroad. The railroad meant progress.
(Guttmacher 81). Since the civil war the American economy was booming.Railroad stocks led
the way. On, September 18 1873, bankingcrashed. Farm prices plummeted, grasshopper
plaques ruined crops,yellow fever struck in the Mississippi Valley, and unemploymentwent
sky high. The government figured that it's role was to pourmoney into the economy. The
gold supply was insufficient.President Grants solution to the economy was to open
newterritory for exploration. So in the spring of 1874 troops weresent to open a fort in
the Black Hills. The government,exaggerated at the best or lied at the worst, said the
Indianswere not keeping up their part of the treaty. Custer was incharge of this
expedition. During this expedition Custer claimedthat there was gold in the Black Hills.
Grant looked at this asan opportunity to show the country he could pull them from
thedepression and he opened the Black Hills for prospecting. Thisbroke the treaty of 1868
again (Ambrose 343-346). The Black Hillswas a sacred place to the Sioux. It was a place
where spiritsdwelled, a holy place called Pa Sapa by the Sioux. The whites hadonly the
crudest concept of what the hills meant to the Indians.By 1876 ten thousand whites lived
in Custer City, the frontiertown of the southern Black Hills. Agency Indians were not
livingvery well on the reservations. Government agents were corrupt.They would accept
diseased cattle, rotten flour and wormy corn.They would get a kickback on the profits.
The Indians wereundernourished and even starving. The agents also claimed theIndians
exaggerated in their numbers just to receive morerations. However, in a census conducted
by the government tryingto prove this, they found that the Indians were actually
claimingless (Ambrose 359). In 1876, the agencies were taken from the churches and
givento the army to control. This was petitioned to Washington with statements that
soldiers were obnoxious and their dislike forIndians was very obvious. Also the army was
corrupting theIndians by introducing and encouraging alcohol and gambling. Thepetition
also stated that all the agency troubles had been causeddirectly or indirectly by the
soldiers. No change in policy wasdone on behalf of these petitions (Kadlecek 33).
Unwilling to pay for the Black Hills and unable to defeatthe Sioux in war, on August, 15,
1876 Congress passed the SiouxAppropriation Bill. This bill stated that further
provisionswould not be given to the Sioux until the hostiles gave up theBlack Hills,
Powder River country and Bighorn country. They wouldalso have to move to the Missouri
River in Central Dakota or toOklahoma. Upset because of there defeat the Government
demandedunconditional surrender of the Sioux or they would starve thosein the agencies.
Red Cloud and the other chiefs were told to signa treaty or their people would starve.
Crazy horse and SittingBull continued to fight for land that was stolen from them in
amisleading treaty (Ambrose 417-418). The Treaty of 1876 was notsigned by at least three
fourths of the male members of the Sioux nation as the Treaty of 1868 had stipulated. So
they cheated bycalling the treaty an Agreement instead of a treaty. The government had
changed or disturbed nearly every part ofthe Indians lives. They had taken their horses
(their wealth),taken their land, taken the buffalo and taken their tipis. Theystill had
their religion. They had seven ceremonial rites ofwhich two were the most beneficial; the
Vision Quest and the SunDance. The Vision quest was an individual dance and the Sun
Dancea community affair. In June 1877 the biggest Sun Dance seen onthe reservation,
twenty thousand strong, was held to honor CrazyHorse. This was the last big Sun Dance
(Kadlecek 37-42). Crazy Horse was finally persuaded to bring his people in tolive on the
reservation. Crazy horse was lied to when agovernment official told him that he was
needed at a conference.He realized this was a trap when he saw bars on the windows.
Hedrew his knife and attempted to break loose. A white soldier,William Gentiles, lunged
at Crazy Horse with a fixed bayonet thatpunctured his kidney. Crazy Horse died September,
5 1877. The Sioux Indians had lost nearly everything that made thema strong nation. In
1881 the government prohibited allreservations from allowing the Sun Dance. The
government went against the First Amendment and took away the Sioux's greatestreligious
ceremony. General Sherman, never known as an Indianlover, said a reservation was a parcel
of land inhabited byIndians and surrounded by thieves (Matthiessen 17). This type
ofharassment did not stop. In 1887 the General Allotment Act (theDawes Act) was passed.
This Act was designed to assist the Indians to mainstream into America. Each male Indian
was given160 acres of land from the reservation. Of course the excess landwas taken by
the government and sold to the whites. The Indianswere not accustom to dealing with
thieves and the majorityof them lost their land through shady dealings. The U.S.
Government used many deceptions to obtain the landthe Indians once owned. The Sioux
Indians were not treated withthe most respect to say the least. They must be commended
forstaying strong and still being a big part of the United Statestoday.
Bibliography
Debo, Angie.History of the Indians of the US. Norman, OK. Oklahoma Press, 1970