Crazy
Horse (1849?-1877)
A
very great vision is needed and the man who has it must
follow it as the eagle seeks the deepest blue of the
sky.
***
Chief
of the Oglala Sioux, known for
his part in the Native American resistance to white expansion
in the western United States.
As
a young man, Crazy Horse fought against United States
troops in Wyoming under the Oglala chief Red Cloud.
Upon his marriage to a Cheyenne woman, he became the
leader of a band of Oglala and Cheyenne
who refused confinement to reservations.
When
gold was discovered in the Black Hills region in 1874
and prospectors swarmed the area, Crazy Horse joined
forces with Sitting Bull,
a chief of the Hunkpapa Sioux, to keep their land free
of occupation by white settlers.
On
June 17, 1876, he repelled a detachment of troops under
General George Crook at the Battle of Rosebud Creek
in what is now Montana. After the battle, Crazy Horse
and his people joined Sitting Bull's encampment on the
Little Bighorn River. On June 25 the camp was attacked
by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the
7th Cavalry. In the ensuing Battle
of the Little Bighorn, Crazy Horse and his warriors
killed Custer and most of his cavalry.
The
United States Army then began a relentless pursuit of
Crazy Horse; he finally surrendered in Nebraska on May
6, 1877. A few months later, while reportedly resisting
confinement, he was killed by a soldier.
A
monument to Crazy Horse is being carved out of a mountain
in the Black Hills of South Dakota just 27 km (17 mi)
from Mount Rushmore. American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski
began carving the monument in the 1940s, and after his
death in 1982 members of his family continued working
on the sculpture. The carved face of Crazy Horse, 27
m (87 ft) high, was finished and dedicated in 1998.
When the entire statue is completed some time in the
21st century, it is expected to be almost 180 m (600
ft) high.
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see also Native Wisdom
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"Crazy
Horse," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2000
http://encarta.msn.com
© 1997-2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
