nPostednon September 5, 2013
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| In the foreground is the planned carving of the Crazy Horse Memorial. You can see in the background how much |
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nThenhistory of the interactions between Native Americans / Indians andnwhite colonists, settlers, pioneers, and armies, is long and complex,nwith plenty of horrifying stories of massacres and broken promisesnand diseases (sometimes deliberately inflicted) and battles.
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nPeoplenon both sides did terrible things!
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nBut of course we all knew whichnside was decimated, which way of life was pretty much obliterated.
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nTodaynwe contemplate the story of just one Indian dying – but he was anleader and hero to many.
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nCrazynHorse was a leader of the Oglala Lakota people. He took up armsnagainst the U.S. government to fight against—well, so many things!nI have read that Crazy Horse was fighting against the theft of thenlands of his people. I have read that he was fighting against thenthreats to his people’s way of life. But I also read that he wasnfighting against the U.S. because of a very specific massacre ofnCheyenne and Arapaho Indians. These groups were allies of the LakotanOglala and also the Minneconjou, and all four groups of NativenAmericans banded together to fight their common enemy.
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| Little Big Horn |
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nHavenyou heard of the Battle of Platte Bridge or the Battle of Red Buttes?nHow about the Battle of the Hundred in the Hand, or the Wagon BoxnFight? Here’s a battle you might have heard of: the Battle of LittlenBig Horn. Crazy Horse helped to defeat George Custer at that famousnbattle.
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nDespitenhis victories, Crazy Horse was fighting a losing war. And he decidednto stop that war in order to protect his people. He went to FortnRobinson in Nebraska to surrender.
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nTherenare different accounts of Crazy Horse’s death, so we are not surenabout exactly what happened. It seems clear that there were somenmistranslations and misunderstandings about what Crazy Horse had saidnat various times. Whether the mistranslations were deliberate or not,nI couldn’t say; however, the bad communications apprarently made somenof the white army officials and guards suspicious and fearful ofnCrazy Horse. It may be that their suspicious, fearful treatment ofnhim made Crazy Horse fight back. Even though he had just turnednhimself in, he may have been trying to escape, resisting arrest, ornat least resisting mistreatment. One Indian named Little Big Mannclaims that Crazy Horse brandished two knives against the guards, andnthat he ended up stabbing himself! In the back. With a deep-thrustnwound. n
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nYeah,nthat doesn’t sound very likely to me, either. Anyway, 16 otherneye-witnesses all claim that a guard stabbed Crazy Horse in the backnwith a bayonet. Historians aren’t sure of the name of the guard—justnas they aren’t sure about much concerning this sad event.
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Thisnsummer I visited Fort Robinson, in Nebraska, and I saw the simplenmemorial erected to Crazy Horse in the place where he was stabbed,nand the write-up about him in the little cabin where he died.
Thisnsummer I visited Fort Robinson, in Nebraska, and I saw the simplenmemorial erected to Crazy Horse in the place where he was stabbed,nand the write-up about him in the little cabin where he died.n
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nInalso saw the Crazy Huge memorial that is being carved out of anmountain in South Dakota, near Mount Rushmore. The monument will shownCrazy Horse on his horse, pointing out over the lands that oncenbelonged to the Lakota Oglala. There is a story that a white man oncensarcastically asked Crazy Horse where all his lands were, now thatnwhites had taken them, and that Crazy Horse pointed out over hisnancestral lands and replied,n“Mynlands arenwhere my deadnlie buried.”
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ThenCrazy Horse memorial is so interesting! It was begun in 1948 by anPolish-American sculptor named Korczak Ziolkowski, at the request ofna Lakota elder named Henry Standing Bear. Ziolkowski started thenenormous project alone, but he ended up having ten kids, many of whomnhelped out on the project—and today, with Ziolkowski gone, sevennout of the ten are still hard at work on the project their dadnstarted 65 years ago!
ThenCrazy Horse memorial is so interesting! It was begun in 1948 by anPolish-American sculptor named Korczak Ziolkowski, at the request ofna Lakota elder named Henry Standing Bear. Ziolkowski started thenenormous project alone, but he ended up having ten kids, many of whomnhelped out on the project—and today, with Ziolkowski gone, sevennout of the ten are still hard at work on the project their dadnstarted 65 years ago!n
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| The Crazy Horse Memorial is large! Huge! If it ever gets done, it will no doubt be the biggest sculpture on Earth! The nose alone is 27 feet long! |
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nAlsonon this date:
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nAnniversary of the opening of the world’s longest tunnel
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nAnniversarynof a tax on beards
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nPlannAhead!
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nChecknout my Pinterest pages on Septembernholidays, Septembernbirthdays,nand historicalnanniversaries in September.
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest pages on Octobernholidays, Octobernbirthdays,nand historicalnanniversaries in October.
