Crazy Horse (1840-5 September 1877) was a Lakota war leader who resisted the United States as they attempted to expand into the Black Hills.
Biography[]
Crazy Horse was born in 1840, and his birth name was either "Light Hair" or "Curly Hair". His second cousin Chief Black Elk said that he received his adult name when he had a vision of a horse strangely dancing about like a shadow, and "Crazy Horse" believed that he had immortality in battle as a result of this vision. He survived many battles over the years, resisting the United States in Red Cloud's War and fighting against encroaching white settlers during the 1870s. In 1876, the white immigration that came with the Gold Rush led to more conflict, and Crazy Horse defeated the US 7th Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, slaughtering George Armstrong Custer's command. He would be forced to surrender in May 1877 due to food supplies running out, and he was relocated to the Red Cloud Agency reservation, where he continued to be active against the Americans. However, a statement saying that Indians would fight until all of the Nez Perce were killed would be mistranslated by a half-Tahitian scout, who believed that he wanted to kill all of the white people, and that he intended to kill General George Crook. Crook had Crazy Horse arrested, and he allegedly resisted arrest while being led to the stockade at Fort Robinson. Crazy Horse was bayonetted in a scuffle with the US Army soldiers, and he died of his wounds.