b'The Story of Crazy Horse said that Crazy Horse himself, still on horseback saw and did pursue at least one of the E Company men, killing the soldier before he reached the Little Big Horn (Sajna, p. 288).One of the warriors would later note that it was all finished by the time a hungry man would finish a big meal. Perhaps not quite as short as that, as the final battle itself, the one that doomed Custer\'s immediate command began roughly at 4 p.m. and ended about 5:30 p.m. that stifling hot and humid Sunday afternoon in Montana. In the end, Custer\'s immediate command had been wiped out. There is no written confirmation of any role Crazy Horse may have played in the besieging of the surviving companies led by Reno and Benteen throughout the night or of his role as Colonel Gibbon\'s command, led by General Terry approached - forcing the tribes to flee back into the Big Horn mountains. There the tribes waited throughout July and into August, hoping against hope that the Army, smarting from and still licking its wounds from Custer\'s debacle, would leave them alone. But it was not meant to be.SLIM BUTTESTerry\'s reconstituted command, bolstered by Crook\'s obviously very tardy command, now included the 5th Cavalry of Colonel Wesley Merritt, Custer\'s Civil War Cavalry contemporary, with its chief scout, one William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody in the lead, and Colonel Nelson Miles\' 5th Infantry regiment. The Sioux, Cheyenne, and their allies once again had to face an army now aroused by the decimation of Custer, and once more dispersed, Sitting Bull leading his tribes north, Crazy Horse turning due east, into the hill country of what is today southwest South Dakota, where in the shadow of Slim Buttes they hoped to find both a good hunting ground and a sanctuary. But there was no let-up even though Terry and his worn-out 7th Cavalry stayed behind and Chief Scout Cody, his assignments completed, went back east to resume acting and a soon-to-be renowned showman career. Crook, smarting from his experience at the hands of Crazy Horse on the Rosebud chose not to wait to be resupplied and led by the hard-faced, determined men who had replaced Cody in scouting duties, Crazy Horse\'s old friend Frank Grouard, Luther "Yellowstone" Kelly, the ex-Confederate Cosgrove and Buffalo Bill\'s faithful - and doomed - sidekick, James "Buffalo Chips" White, moved north, scant of supplies but hot on the trail of Crazy Horse.Things came to a head on the morning of September 9, 1876, when a detachment of Captain Mills\' 3rd Cavalry, led by future Arctic explorer Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, venturing towards nearby Deadwood to seek supplies, stumbled into, then charged the camp of Chief American Horse, a Miniconjou Sioux subordinate of Crazy Horse, followed the rest of Mills\' 150-men force led into the encampment by "Buffalo Chips" White. Mortally wounding American Horse, the small cavalry force soon found themselves outnumbered by an aroused Crazy Horse who learning of the attack at Slim Buttes rode with 250 warriors to the rescue of their fellow Sioux. As at both the Rosebud and the Little Horn, the fighting was extremely desperate, volleys fired which reminded one veteran of the Civil War of the fierce fighting at Spotsylvania with casualties mounting on both sides, including sadly, scores of Sioux women and children. At one point during10% OFFthe fierce fighting "Buffalo Chips" White, crawling towards a ravine to get a better shot at the Sioux briefly rose up, aiming his rifle. Suddenly a shot was fired, "Buffalo Chips" grabbed his chest, crying "Oh, my God, boys" and then fell off the cliff, dead, shot through the heart. But reinforced by Merritt\'s men of the 5th Cavalry, Mills\' men gradually got the upper hand, capturing the dying American Horse (who would die just a day or soANY REGULAR PRICED ITEMlater, kindly treated by the soldiers who respected him and his bravery), they seized, then destroyed the Sioux camp but not until the stained guidons and the torn, bloody uniforms of Custer\'s officers and men found there were removed by the horrified cavalrymen,Excludes Tools & Equipment.finally, through pouring rain, driving Crazy Horse back into the hills, back into the hills, back into the beginnings of an extremely cold and freezing Dakota winter. Mention Arizona Real Country Magazine.An army that had been starving and reduced to eating its horses on what was later called the "Horsemeat March" was now resupplied, reinvigorated and resumed its pursuit. However, it was now the turn of the Sioux and Cheyenne with their numerous refugees of women and children, to starve and freeze. And the worst was about to come. First, with the night raid of Colonel Ranald Slidell Mackenzie\'s 4th Cavalry (up from Texas) in a blizzard on the Cheyenne encampment of Chief Dull Knife, then Crook\'s hammer in the form of Miles\' infantry began to fall on the camps of both Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.THE MANY NIGHTS OF THE FREEZING MOON, A FIGHT AT WOLF MOUNTAIN, THE FINAL MEETING WITH SITTING BULL, AND THE SURRENDER OF CRAZY HORSEWhile the massacre of the innocent Cheyenne at Sand Creek in November 1864 has been referred to in history as the "Night of the Freezing Moon," the nine months between September 1876 and May 1877 were the many nights of freezing moon for Crazy Horse and those who followed him. The thousands of warriors and dependents who wished to keep their freedoms but still wanted to be near their sacred Black Hills and their Happy Hunting grounds were now trying to endure the harshness of a sub-zero Dakota winter. During this time, Crazy Horse had tried to connect and close ranks with Sitting Bull. Messengers were sent off to Sitting Bull, but they found that the conditions in the great Medicine Mans encampment were as destitute as their own. Many warriors and their families, sick of freezing and starving, were now deserting, trying to make peace with the whites - and worse, Crook had now sent off the tenacious Colonel "Bearcoat" Miles and his 5th Infantry out to get both Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.Possessing a drive few other officers in the Old Army had, and marching without letup in the deep snow, Miles met up with and struck Sitting Bull first after failing to come to terms with him. Then, as December 1876 turned into the first week of January 1877, Miles and his nearly 500 continued on page 47ArizonaRealCountry.com April 2023 45'