50 Facts About Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by white American settlers on Native American territory and to preserve the traditional way of life of the Lakota people.

In September 1877, four months after surrendering to US troops under General George Crook, Crazy Horse was fatally wounded by a bayonet-wielding military guard while allegedly resisting imprisonment at Camp Robinson in present-day Nebraska.

Sources differ on the precise year of Crazy Horse's birth, but most agree he was born between 1840 and 1845.

Ptehe Woptuh'a, an Oglala medicine man and spiritual adviser to Crazy Horse, reported that Crazy Horse was born "in the year in which the band to which he belonged, the Oglala, stole One Hundred Horses, and in the fall of the year," a reference to the annual Lakota calendar or winter count.

Crazy Horse was born to parents from two different bands of the Lakota division of the Sioux, his father being an Oglala and his mother a Miniconjou.

Crazy Horse died when Crazy Horse was only four years old.

Crazy Horse saved Crazy Horse's life at least once and was with him when he died.

Crazy Horse was said to be beautiful and a fast runner.

At one point, Crazy Horse persuaded Black Buffalo Woman to run away with him.

When he found her with Crazy Horse, he fired at him, injuring him in the face and leaving a noticeable scar.

Crazy Horse lived in a Lakota camp in present-day Wyoming with his younger half-brother, Little Hawk, son of Iron Between Horns and Waglula.

Crazy Horse wore simple clothing, no face paint, his hair down with just a feather in it, and a small brown stone behind his ear.

Crazy Horse sat between two humps at the top of a hill north and to the east of the lake.

Crazy Horse was brought back and was taken to the West in the direction of the wakiyans.

Crazy Horse was given a medicine bundle to protect him for life.

Crazy Horse was shown his "face paint" for battle, to consist of a yellow lightning bolt down the left side of his face, and white powder.

Crazy Horse put no make-up on his forehead and did not wear a war bonnet.

Black Elk, a contemporary and cousin of Crazy Horse, related the vision in Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, from talks with John G Neihardt:.

Crazy Horse was on his horse in that world, and the horse and himself on it and the trees and the grass and the stones and everything were made of spirit, and nothing was hard, and everything seemed to float.

Crazy Horse's horse was standing still there, and yet it danced around like a horse made only of shadow, and that is how he got his name, which does not mean that his horse was crazy or wild, but that in his vision it danced around in that queer way.

Crazy Horse received a black stone from a medicine man named Horn Chips to protect his horse, a black-and-white pinto he named Inyan.

Crazy Horse was known to have a personality characterized by aloofness, shyness, modesty and lonesomeness.

Crazy Horse was generous to the poor, the elderly, and children.

Crazy Horse's first kill was a Shoshone raider who had murdered a Lakota woman washing buffalo meat along the Powder River.

Crazy Horse fought in numerous battles between the Lakota and their traditional enemies, the Crow, Shoshone, Pawnee, Blackfeet, and Arikara, among Plains tribes.

Crazy Horse was present at the Battle of Platte Bridge and the Battle of Red Buttes in July 1865.

Crazy Horse was the wife of No Water, who had a reputation for drinking too much.

Crazy Horse did so by moving in with relatives or with another man, or by placing the husband's belongings outside their lodge.

When Crazy Horse answered, No Water stuck a pistol into the teepee and aimed for Crazy Horse.

Crazy Horse knocked the pistol upward as No Water fired, deflecting the bullet to Crazy Horse's upper jaw.

Crazy Horse married Black Shawl, a member of the Oglala Lakota and relative of Spotted Tail.

Crazy Horse died in 1927 during the influenza outbreaks of the 1920s.

On June 17,1876, Crazy Horse led a combined group of approximately 1,500 Lakota and Cheyenne in a surprise attack against brevetted Brigadier General George Crook's force of 1,000 cavalry and infantry, and allied 300 Crow and Shoshone warriors in the Battle of the Rosebud.

Crazy Horse rode closest to the soldiers, yelling to his warriors.

On January 8,1877, Crazy Horse's warriors fought their last major battle at Wolf Mountain, against the US Cavalry in the Montana Territory.

Crazy Horse's people struggled through the winter, weakened by hunger and the long cold.

Crazy Horse decided to surrender with his band to protect them, and went to Fort Robinson in Nebraska.

Crazy Horse attended the Sun Dance as the honored guest but did not take part in the dancing.

The attention that Crazy Horse received from the Army drew the jealousy of Red Cloud and Spotted Tail, two Lakota who had long before come to the agencies and adopted the white ways.

Crazy Horse had fled to the nearby Spotted Tail Agency with his wife, who had become ill with tuberculosis.

Bradley had received orders that Crazy Horse was to be arrested and taken under the cover of darkness to Division Headquarters.

Once inside, Crazy Horse struggled with the guard and Little Big Man and attempted to escape.

Just outside the door, Crazy Horse was stabbed with a bayonet by one of the members of the guard.

Crazy Horse was taken to the adjutant's office, where he was tended by the assistant post surgeon at the post, Valentine McGillycuddy, and died late that night.

Little Big Man said that, as Crazy Horse was being escorted to the guardhouse, he suddenly pulled two knives from under his blanket and held one in each hand.

Little Big Man said that in the hours immediately following Crazy Horse's wounding, the camp commander had suggested the story of the guard being responsible to hide Little Big Man's role in the death of Crazy Horse and avoid any inter-clan reprisals.

The author Thomas Powers cites various witnesses who said Crazy Horse was fatally wounded when his back was pierced by a guard's bayonet.

Crazy Horse had left the hostiles but a short time before he was killed and it's more than likely he never had a picture taken of himself.

Crazy Horse is commemorated by the incomplete Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota, near the town of Berne.

In November 2010, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman approved designating US 20 from Hay Springs to Fort Robinson in honor of Crazy Horse, capping a year-long effort by citizens of Chadron.