b'The Story of Crazy HorsePART 5 By Alan RockmanC olonel Anson Mills, everencampment, then forcing him to make that desperate restless and enterprising,movement that culminated in his annihilation on Last made an informalStand Hill. To these historians Crazy Horse\'s role was a bit reconnaissance from (Crook\'s)more ambiguous. He had, according to Indian accounts, camp on the afternoon ofspent much of the morning and early afternoon of the Sunday, June 25th. He went up25th in his lodge, preparing himself for battle and who, some distance in the foothillswhen apprised of the Reno fight then unfolding nearby, with a small party, and returning to camp, reported aemerged wearing just a breech cloth and moccasins, dense smoke towards the northwest, at a great distance.cool, even joking, according to one of his confederate He called the attention of several to it and all agreedShort Bull (Ambrose, Crazy Horse and Custer, p.438). that it must be a prairie fire or something of that kind.Then his decisive nature took hold. Claiming that the It was a prairie fire, sure enough, but it was kindled, asbig fight would be "over the hill," he then changed his we knew afterward, by the deadly, far-reaching musketryscant clothes for a white buckskin shirt and leggings to of the vengeful savages who annihilated Custer and hisprevent scratches and cuts from the brushes. Crazy Horse, devoted band on the banks of the Little Big Horn. Evenhis warriors having stopped and repulsed Reno, then while we gazed, perhaps, the tragedy was consummated,mounted his horse, leading his 1,000-2,000 mixed force and the American Marat had fought his last battleof Sioux and Cheyenne up from the southwest north to (Correspondent John Finerty, who was with Crook\'s force,block and bluntly confront Custer\'s now desperate force, quoted in Nightengale, Robert, Little Big Horn, Far Westcovered with dust and sweating in the 100 degree humid Publishing, Edina, Minnesota,1996, p.55). heat of the early Montana summer fighting for their lives. With Gall closing down from the north and the OgalalaColonel Anson Mills(Writer\'s note and clarification - Prior to starting the storywar chief\'s force apparently moving up from the south, of Crazy Horse, this writer was unaware of his actual Lakotatogether they proceeded to surround, decimate and name. While history knew him as Crazy Horse, his Siouxdestroy Custer\'s immediate command of 212.name was Tasunke Witco and since he is better known to theshooting at him, but he was never hit" (Mark Lee Gardner, world as Crazy Horse, this writer will continue to referenceAs he and his men descended down upon Custer\'s The Earth is All That Lasts, p. 17). When he, on horseback, him by that name, but will occasionally refer to him, by hismen, Tasunke Witco shouted out, "Hoka-Hey! It is a led that final charge against Custer\'s men on Last Stand given Lakota name). good day to fight. It is a good day to die! Young hearts,Hill, it was a well-thought-out decisive charge led by a brave hearts, to the front. Weak hearts and cowards to courageous, experienced warrior who knew no fear.CRAZY HORSE AT THE LITTLE BIG HORN the rear (Ibid., p. 440). Having fought Crook to a standstill, leaving his whiteAs Gardner noted as the fight headed towards the climax all adversary in control of the battlefield but not much elseThe question has been asked numerous times.Did Crazyknew would happen: "Crazy Horse saw a dip or depression and unable and/or unwilling to move north, Crazy HorseHorse mount a decisive charge to annihilate Custer\'sin the ridge above him. If he were to ride through this, he and his estimated 1,500 warriors wheeled around andcommand? The answer ishe did not. could possibly split the troopers into two groups, and if rode the distance, less than 50 miles, from the Rosebudhe could get most of them to fire all at once, his warriors northwards to Sitting Bull\'s main encampment on theIt was not a Hollywood movie of a mounted chargemight have an opportunity to charge in while the troopers Little Big Horn. Whether or not Crazy Horse knew ofsweeping across Custer\'s companies, overwhelming andwere reloading, a favorite Indian tactic when fighting the the movements of Custer and Gibbon is not certain, butannihilating them - at least not until the very end. RatherLong Knives. This dangerous feat was known to the Lakota what was indeed certain, insofar as the Indian leadershipit was the mounted warriors hanging back and letting goas a "bravery run," and Crazy Horse was its undisputed was concerned, was that the threat of Crook was not theof their deadly arrows as those on foot steadily movedmaster. Crazy Horse believed his medicine to be strong, only threat the Sioux and Cheyenne were to face. Sittingforward, firing and counting coup upon the dwindlingbut if Wakan Tanka willed his death, then he would die Bull and the other chiefs knew that the army was comingnumbers of those cavalrymen still alive. brave and free. The Oglala war leader leaned forward in his and that they were coming in force. Crook may have beensaddle; spoke to his pony, then slapped his heels against its blunted to be sure, but the chiefs knew that his was notWatching from a ravine just below Lieutenant Calhoun\'ssides. The animal lurched ahead and broke into a gallop, its the only movement they had to fear. While the Indiandoomed "L" company,Crazy Horse urged his warriorshooves kicking up dirt and small rocks. Crazy Horse slipped Scouts apparently did not know exactly of the movementsforward as they destroyed Calhoun\'s little company thendown onto the animal\'s side and clung there, his Winchester of Custer and Gibbon, they knew that Gibbon had beenproceeded to do the same to Captain Myles Keogh\'s "I"leveled across the pony\'s mane.moving east out of Fort Ellis with a combined force ofcompany just north of Calhoun\'s ravine. At some point as infantry plus the 2nd Cavalry since March. They didn\'tthe battle came down to desperate hand-to-hand fighting,Lakota and Cheyenne cheered as they watched him know the exact direction of Custer\'s movements since MayCrazy Horse\'s friend and subordinate White Bull rode upguide his pony toward the ridgetop. Streaks of flame and but they had a clue when Major Reno, on the orders ofto him, urging an all-out attack to finish off Custer.Crazygun smoke erupted from carbine and revolver muzzles General Terry, made his scout of the region, just prior toHorse at first did agree to the attack, but to the surprise andas Crazy Horse neared the gap, the gunfire stopping for the final conference of Terry, Custer, and Gibbon on thechagrin of White Bull, he almost immediately demurred,only a second or two as he passed between both groups steamboat "Far West" only days before Custer\'s final marchdeciding instead to wear down, and then destroy theof soldiers. Then, as suddenly as his ride had begun, to Valhalla. doomed soldiers (Sajna, p. 265; O\' Reilly, Bill and Dugard,Crazy Horse was through the gauntlet, disappearing from Martin, Killing Crazy Horse, Henry Holt, New York, 2020,view on the other side of the ridge. Now came a rush of Crazy Horse and his tired but flushed with victoryp. 253).Crazy Horse, now a man in his mid-thirties,warriors. The soldiers, all semblance of discipline lost, (battling Crook to a stalemate was considered a victoryhad experienced much in the ways of battle and was wisebegan to run - again like buffalo, scared and sensing by the Sioux as the former could no longer advanceenough to know that the inexperienced, eager youngdeath" (Ibid., p.17). northwards) warriors reached the Little Big Hornwarriors would be mowed down in making such a hell-bent encampment with just days to spare, to rest and tofor leather charge. His decision not to launch the all-outNow emerging from the northern end of Last Stand Hill, recuperate before "Yellow Hair" Custer came-a-calling. attack until almost the very end, but to wear down CusterCrazy Horse, his Oglala and Cheyenne following smashed reflected upon his own wisdom and life experiences. into what was left of Custer\'s command, about 120 soldiers It is not necessary to fully regurgitate the Battle of thehuddled around their commander on that immortal hill. Little Big Horn and some recent history suggests thatThroughout the melee, the swirling fight, this clash ofOne by one they went down, Custer, his brother Tom, Chief Gall may have played an even more prominent rolewarriors white and red, Crazy Horse demonstratedAdjutant Cooke, Yates, and the rest. A small group of men in crushing Custer than Crazy Horse, in first reaching thethe extreme personal courage that he was known for. from Custer\'s E-Company led by Lieutenant Algernon Medicine Trail Coulee crossing in time to blunt Custer\'sOne of the Arapaho warriors fighting alongside theSmith, including the Scout Mitch Bouyer, possibly Custer\'s movement toward the Indian Camp, then leading anpredominantly Sioux and Cheyenne recalled that "Crazyyoungest brother Boston and nephew Autie Reed tried estimated 2,000 warriors down upon the latter, forcingHorse was the bravest man I ever saw. He rode closest toto escape to the river but were cut off in a ravine by the Custer to abandon plans of surging down into thethe soldiers, yelling to his warriors. All the soldiers werevictorious warriors and slaughtered to the last man. It is 44 April 2023'