Killing Crazy Horse

by Bill O'Reilly

  * * *

  Upon his surrender in 1877, Chief Joseph had hoped his tribe might return to their lands in Oregon’s Wallowa Valley. Instead, they were taken by train to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where they were held as prisoners of war for eight months. The Nez Percé were then relocated to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma, where they remained until 1885. Finally, the tribe is allowed to return to the Pacific Northwest, there to settle on a reservation. Chief Joseph becomes an impassioned spokesman for the Native American cause, visiting Washington to speak to several presidents about the welfare of Indians. Joseph dies on September 21, 1904, at the age of sixty-four. He is buried in Nespelem, Washington.

  * * *

  Between the Creek Wars and the closing of the American frontier, twenty U.S. presidents participated in policy decisions concerning Native Americans. However, the actions of President Ulysses S. Grant stand above all others, both for his failed “peace policy” and his decision to use overwhelming military force as a means of stealing the Black Hills. Grant left office in 1877, shortly before the murder of Crazy Horse and the flight of Chief Joseph. He then undertook a two-and-a-half-year world tour with his wife, Julia. Upon their return, Grant unsuccessfully seeks the Republican nomination for the presidency in 1880. Never good with money, Grant soon finds himself penniless. In 1884, the lifelong smoker complains of a sore throat, which is diagnosed as cancer. As his health fails, U. S. Grant writes his memoirs with the help of author Mark Twain. He dies on July 23, 1885, just days after completing the book. He and Julia Grant are buried in Grant’s Tomb, located in Riverside Park in Upper Manhattan.1

  * * *

  Shortly after the death of General George Armstrong Custer, his widow began a vigorous campaign to clear his name from accusations that he was responsible for the Little Bighorn massacre. Libbie Custer cooperated in the writing of the first Custer biography, then later writes three bestselling books about her own life. Her literary success leads to affluence. She dies in 1933 at the age of ninety, having never remarried.

  General Custer was laid to rest where he fell on the Little Bighorn battlefield, his body wrapped in blankets by a U.S. military burial detail. Animals soon desecrated the grave, scattering his bones. On October 10, 1877, Custer’s remains were reinterred with full military honors at the West Point Cemetery in New York. Upon Mrs. Custer’s death, she is buried alongside her husband.

  * * *

  In 1927, just fifty years after the U.S. government forced the tribes of the Northern Plains to give up the Black Hills, sculptor Gutzon Borglum begins detonating 450,000 tons of granite from the face of a mountainside in that same region. Borglum then begins to carve oversize likenesses of U.S. presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson into the remaining stone. To this day, many Native Americans are offended by what is known as Mount Rushmore, believing it desecrates sacred tribal land while simultaneously honoring the U.S. government, which stole it from the Indians.

  Members of the Sioux nation petition Borglum to also carve the profile of Crazy Horse alongside the presidents on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. The sculptor does not respond to the written request. Not to be denied, the Sioux commission a separate structure devoted solely to Crazy Horse. Work begins in 1948. At this point, construction is incomplete.

  The actual grave site of Crazy Horse remains unclear. The morning after his death in 1877, the war chief’s remains were given over to his parents, who placed them on burial scaffolding open to the elements. One month later, the Oglala Sioux were relocated to a new reservation, and once again Crazy Horse’s parents took responsibility for his remains. This time, they were removed to a hidden location. Popular legend holds that the war chief’s heart and bones are buried at the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre on the Pine Ridge Lakota Reservation in South Dakota.

  * * *

  According to the U.S. Census of 1890, the Native American population numbers 248,253. In 1850, Indians were counted at 400,764. After the census of 1890, the superintendent of the survey, Robert Percival Porter, declares the American frontier officially closed. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, American Indian tribes no longer enjoy their traditional ways of life, almost all confined instead to government-run reservations.

  With Porter’s pronouncement, the “sea to shining sea” mandate first embraced by President James Monroe is complete.

  SOURCES

  The research process for a Killing book is largely the same for each addition to the series. The first step is a broad investigation of the subject matter. Next comes the addition of detail through archives, documents, and previous historical works specific to the topic. The focus then shifts to sentence-by-sentence details about the story’s finer points, such as the caliber of a weapon or the type of food an individual might eat for breakfast. Facts are checked and crosschecked, searching for historical inconsistencies.

  In the case of Killing Crazy Horse, however, one aspect of research took on a greater significance than ever before: travel. The central thesis of this book is the struggle for land. Visiting these places in person became even more vital than in any of the previous eight Killing books.

  Seeing the landscape is always a critical part of historical research. Walking the grounds where an event of significance took place is a great help in describing the scene while writing. Thankfully, many of the locations in Killing Crazy Horse are not just open to the public but also protected by the National Park Service and are thus unspoiled by development. Forts, monuments, and memorials are scattered all across the United States, there to be discovered, each telling a story of its own unique role in the conflict between Native Americans and white settlers.

  The authors have sought to describe the various historical landscapes in vivid fashion, but words can only go so far. The reader is highly encouraged to undertake their own road trip to see these marvels. Walking the battlefields at Fort Mims, Apache Pass, the site of the Fetterman massacre, or the Battle of the Little Bighorn, to name a few, unveils a whole new level of emotion to the story, thanks to the beauty of the topography and how military strategy can be understood in its light. The sweep of the landscape is breathtaking, and in the particular case of the Fetterman site, the appreciation for Crazy Horse’s daring act of deception becomes much more tangible.

  The areas in between are just as vital. To drive the wide-open spaces of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona offers a much greater appreciation for Comanche horsemanship. The stark plains also offer a glimpse of how isolating life must have felt to members of the U.S. Cavalry posted on the windswept prairies, and a full understanding how a tribal band could leave the reservation and simply disappear into the wilderness.

  In addition to archives, newspapers, and various Native American tribal websites, the authors have leaned on previous scholarship, a sampling of which can be found in the following bibliography.

  Bibliography

  Agonito, Joseph. Brave Hearts: Indian Women of the Plains.

  Ambrose, Stephen E. Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors.

  Babcock, Matthew. Apache Adaptation to Hispanic Rule.

  Bray, Kingsley M. Crazy Horse: A Lakota Life.

  Brown, Dee. The American West.

  ______. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West.

  Caughey, John Walton. McGillivray of the Creeks.

  Confer, Clarissa W. Daily Life During the Indian Wars.

  Connell, Evan S. Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn.

  Custer, Elizabeth Bacon. Boots and Saddles; or, Life in Dakota with General Custer.

  Dixon, Billy. Life and Adventures of “Billy” Dixon, of Adobe Walls, Texas Panhandle.

  Donovan, Jim. Custer and the Little Bighorn: The Man, the Mystery, the Myth.

  Eggleston, George Cary. Red Eagle and the Wars with the Creek Indians of Alabama.

  Eisenhower, John S. D. Agent of Destiny: The Life and Times of General Winfield Scott.


  Exley, Jo Ella Powell. Frontier Blood: The Saga of the Parker Family.

  Fehrenbach, T. R. Comanches: The History of a People.

  Frankel, Glenn. The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend.

  Gaines, George Strother. The Reminiscences of George Strother Gaines: Pioneer and Statesman of Early Alabama and Mississippi, 1805–1843.

  Gray, John S. Centennial Campaign: The Sioux War of 1876.

  ______. Custer’s Last Campaign: Mitch Boyer and the Little Bighorn Reconstructed.

  Gwynne, S. C. Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History.

  Hardoff, Richard G. Washita Memories: Eyewitness Views of Custer’s Attack on Black Kettle’s Village.

  Hatch, Thom. The Last Days of George Armstrong Custer: The True Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

  Hutton, Paul Andrew. The Custer Reader.

  ______. Phil Sheridan and His Army.

  Janin, Hunt, and Ursula Carlson. Trails of Historic New Mexico: Routes Used by Indian, Spanish and American Travelers Through 1886.

  Johnson, Robert Underwood, and Clarence Clough Buel. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. 3: The Tide Shifts.

  Journal of the Military Service Institution of the United States, vol. 49 (July–Dec. 1911).

  Jung, Patrick J. The Black Hawk War of 1832.

  Kazanjian, Howard, and Chris Enss. None Wounded, None Missing, All Dead: The Story of Elizabeth Bacon Custer.

  La Vere, David. The Texas Indians.

  Lubetkin, M. John. Jay Cooke’s Gamble: The Northern Pacific Railroad, the Sioux, and the Panic of 1873.

  Monnett, John H. Where a Hundred Soldiers Were Killed: The Struggle for the Powder River Country and the Making of the Fetterman Myth.

  Mort, Terry. Thieves’ Road: The Black Hills Betrayal and Custer’s Path to Little Bighorn.

  Parker, Watson. Deadwood: The Golden Years.

  Parton, James. Life of Andrew Jackson.

  Perdue, Theda, and Michael D. Green. The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears.

  Philbrick, Nathaniel. The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

  Rosa, Joseph G. They Called Him Wild Bill: The Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok.

  Ross, Jeffrey Ian, ed. American Indians at Risk.

  Smith, Shannon D. Give Me Eighty Men: Women and the Myth of the Fetterman Fight.

  Stiles, T. J. Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America.

  Sweeney, Edwin R. Cochise: Chiricahua Apache Chief.

  ______. From Cochise to Geronimo: The Chiricahua Apaches, 1874–1886.

  ______. Mangas Coloradas: Chief of the Chiricahua Apaches.

  Trask, Kerry A. Blackhawk: The Battle for the Heart of America.

  Turner, Thadd. Wild Bill Hickok: Deadwood City—End of Trail.

  Utley, Robert M. The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull.

  Vaughn, J. W. Indian Fights: New Facts on Seven Encounters.

  Wagner, Frederic C., III. Participants in the Battle of the Little Bighorn: A Biographical Dictionary of Sioux, Cheyenne and United States Military Personnel.

  Walker, Paul D. The Cavalry Battle That Saved the Union: Custer vs. Stuart at Gettysburg.

  Wallace, Ernest, and E. Adamson Hoebel. The Comanches: Lords of the South Plains.

  Williams, Albert E. Black Warriors: Unique Units and Individuals.

  Young, John Russell. Around the World with General Grant, vol. 2: A Narrative of the Visit of General U. S. Grant.

  Illustration Credits

  Here: Maps by Gene Thorp and Kate Thorp

  Here: Peter Newark American Pictures/Bridgeman Images

  Here: Everett Collection Historical/Alamy Stock Photo

  Here: Ken Welsh/Newscom

  Here: GRANGER

  Here: Copyright © North Wind Picture Archives. All rights reserved.

  Here: Science Source

  Here: Universal History Archive/UIG/Bridgeman Images

  Here: ARCHIVIO/A3/CONTRASTO/Redux

  Here: Picture History/Newscom

  Here: Copyright © Nancy Carter/North Wind Picture Archives. All rights reserved.

  Here: Courtesy Library of Congress, Reproduction Number LC-USZC4-8937

  Here: Josef Muench/Three Lions/Getty Images

  Here: akg-images/Universal Images Group/Universal History Archive

  Here: The Reading Room/Alamy Stock Photo

  Here: GRANGER

  Here: National Geographic Image Collection/Bridgeman Images

  Here: Courtesy Library of Congress, Reproduction Number LC-DIG-ppmsca-35236

  Here: Tango Images/Alamy Stock Photo

  Here: Martin Dugard

  Here: Copyright © North Wind Picture Archives. All rights reserved.

  Here: Science Source

  Here: Ronald J. Beckwith/Arizona Historical Society

  Here: Peter Newark American Pictures/Bridgeman Images

  Here: The New York Times/Redux

  Here: Science Source

  Here: akg-images/Fototeca Gilardi

  Here: Sergio Pitamitz/National Geographic Image Collection/Bridgeman Images

  Here: Courtesy Library of Congress, Reproduction Number LC-USZ62-130184

  Here: GRANGER

  Here: Gates Frontiers Fund Wyoming Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction Number LC-DIG-highsm-35206

  Here: GRANGER

  Here: Science Source

  Here: Courtesy Library of Congress, Reproduction Number LC-DIG-pga-03459

  Here: Illustrated History/Alamy Stock Photo

  Here: GRANGER

  Here: Bridgeman Images

  Here: Historica Graphica Collection Heritage Images/Newscom

  Here: Copyright © Nancy Carter/North Wind Picture Archives. All rights reserved.

  Here: Peter Newark American Pictures/Bridgeman Images

  Index

  The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

  Act to Regulate Trade and Intercourse with the Indian Tribes, and to Preserve Peace on the Frontiers (1834)

  Adams, John

  Adams, John Quincy

  Adams-Onis Treaty

  Adobe Walls, Texas

  Allison, William B.

  amendments to U.S. Constitution

  American Horse (Oglala Sioux leader)

  Amos Bad Heart Bull (Oglala Lakota artist)

  Apache Pass, Battle of

  Apache Pass, New Mexico Territory

  Civil War and

  Cochise and

  kidnapping of Felix Telles and

  Apache people. See also Chiricahua Apache band

  Bascom affair and

  Civil War and

  Comanche and

  Geronimo

  Mangas Coloradas

  Mexican War and

  Mexico and

  Prescott, Arizona, and

  reservation of

  Texas and

  Arapaho people

  Arizona Territory

  Armitage, Harry

  Athabascan tribes

  Austin, Stephen F.

  Bacon, Libbie. See Custer, Libbie

  Bad Axe, Battle of

  Bailey, Richard Dixon

  Bailey, Elizabeth

  Bailey, James

  Bailey, Ralph

  barbed wire

  Bascom, George N.

  Bascom affair

  Bear Coat. See Miles, Nelson

  Beasley, Daniel

  Benteen, Frederick

  Little Bighorn and

  Benton, Jesse

  Benton, Thomas Hart

  Bernard, Reuben F.

  bigamy

  Big In
dian Creek attack

  Big Nose (Sioux warrior)

  Bismarck Tribune

  Black Buffalo Woman (Sioux)

  Blackhawk (Sauk leader)

  Blackhawk’s War

  Black Hills

  Crazy Horse and

  Deadwood and

  gold and

  signing over to U.S. government

  Sitting Bull and

  Black Hills Expedition (Dakota Territory)

  Black Kettle (Cheyenne chief)

  Black Shawl (Sioux)

  Bloody Knife (Hunkpapa Sioux)

  Blount, Willie

  Board of Indian Commissioners

  Bond, Brick

  Borglum, Gutzon

  bounties

  Boyer, Mitch

  Bozeman Trail

  Brown, Frederick Hallam

  Brunner, Frank

  Buckskin Charley (Ute leader)

  buffalo

  Buffalo Bill. See Cody, William

  Bull Run, Battle of

  Buminu Indians

  Bureau of Indian Affairs

  Burnett, John G.

  Burnett, Peter Hardeman

  Burnt Corn, Battle of

  Butterfield Overland Mail Route

  Caballeria de las Fronteras

  Caddo tribe

  Calamity Jane

  Calhoun, James

  California

  Call, Richard K.

  Campbell, Sarah

  Canada Alamosa, New Mexico

  Carrington, H. B.

  Catch-the-Bean (Sioux chief)

  cavalry

  Central Pacific Railroad

  Chase, Salmon P.

  Cheis (Chokonen warrior). See also Cochise

  Cherokee people

  Civil War and

  removal of from Georgia

  Cheyenne people

  Dull Knife and

  Fort Phil Kearny and

  Wounded Knee and

  Chiricahua Apache band. See also Cochise

  Apache Pass and

  Bascom affair and

  Civil War and

  Geronimo

  Mexico and

  negotiating with Ulysses S. Grant

  Taza

  Chiricahua Mountains (Arizona)