Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse

   

Crazy Horse (1849?-1877), chief of the Oglala Sioux, known for his part in the Native American resistance to white expansion in the western United States. As a young man, Crazy Horse fought against United States troops in Wyoming under the Oglala chief Red Cloud. Upon his marriage to a Cheyenne woman, he became the leader of a band of Oglala and Cheyenne who refused confinement to reservations.

When gold was discovered in the Black Hills region in 1874 and prospectors swarmed the area, Crazy Horse joined forces with Sitting Bull, a chief of the Hunkpapa Sioux, to keep their land free of occupation by white settlers. On June 17, 1876, he repelled a detachment of troops under General George Crook at the Battle of Rosebud Creek in what is now Montana. After the battle, Crazy Horse and his people joined Sitting Bull's encampment on the Little Bighorn River. On June 25 the camp was attacked by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry. In the ensuing Battle of the Little Bighorn, Crazy Horse and his warriors killed Custer and most of his cavalry. The United States Army then began a relentless pursuit of Crazy Horse; he finally surrendered in Nebraska on May 6, 1877. A few months later, while reportedly resisting confinement, he was killed by a soldier.

A monument to Crazy Horse is being carved out of a mountain in the Black Hills of South Dakota just 27 km (17 mi) from Mount Rushmore. American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski began carving the monument in the 1940s, and after his death in 1982 members of his family continued working on the sculpture. The carved face of Crazy Horse, 27 m (87 ft) high, was finished and dedicated in 1998. When the entire statue is completed some time in the 21st century, it is expected to be almost 180 m (600 ft) high.