Friday, October 18, 2013


 CRAZY HORSE 

       by: Griffin Peek    


              Crazy horse was considered to be a huge impact to the Indian way of life in the 1800’s. His real name, Tasunke Witko, was born in the black hills of South Dakota. At the age of thirteen he was already stealing horses from the crow Indians and was then given the name crazy horse. He was considered to be a shy man but who was a son, pupil to red cloud, a brother but most people knew him to be a leader.
            His conflict with the settlers first started when the settlers wanted to build the Bozeman trail when they first realized that there was gold in the Black hills of South Dakota. The Bozeman trail was to be built right through the buffalo hunting fields of the Lakota people also known as the Sioux nation. He was not happy about this because tribe life had already begun to change in the 1850’s and it started to change rapidly. For the white man to take away the buffalo hunting that was the same as killing the people, because that was there main source of food and recourses. The Lakota people decided that they were going to move farther in to the “hills” to live away from the settlers.
Crazy Horse 
            Crazy horse was known for many things he was known for his leadership and grit, but for someone to have those qualities you need something else that come with it. That is courage; crazy horse was known to be one of the bravest warriors that ever lived. He would charge into battle 40 yards in front of the other warriors that shows how much the tribe looked up to him and how he had a “mystical ability to avoid injury or death on the battle field.”(BIO) He fought in many war and battles such as the battle of bull run and many more. After the death of Red cloud, Crazy horse was promoted to the tribes “shirt wearer” he was now the leader of the Lakota people and tribe loved him. But when he was caught trying to steal another man’s wife he was removed from shirt wearer but the people of the tribe still loved and praised him the same.
            Crazy horse was one of the best warriors that the Sioux people had and him most famous battle was know all around the United States as the Fetterman massacre. In the early 1870’s the government was trying to put all of the Indians in Oklahoma known as Indian Territory. They were put on reservations. Crazy horse was not okay with the idea that he would be moved from his land. The fetterman massacre was the attempt by the government to control the Indians in the black hills of South Dakota. Eighty men under the command of Fetterman marched into the hills trying to force Crazy horse to the reservation.  Crazy horse and his men killed all eighty of fettermans men and before they could get to fetterman he committed suicide and the massacre was over. This was heard all around the United States and was for ever known as a huge embarrassment to the government. After the massacre the government ended the Bozeman trail in 1867 and that was the end.

Hunting Buffalo 
          Ten years later the Government chased Cary horse out of the black hill as crazy horse retreated to Montana to meet up at the main Sioux encampment where the leader Sitting Bull. AS sitting bull retreated Crazy horse decided to fight eventually surrendering to the reservation. The final years of Crazy Horse’s life he was nearly starving but losing his rebellious attitude. In a final attempt to get his third stick nearly dead wife to his parents he was caught and was accused of running off the reservation. As they took him in saw the jail and as he tried to get free and was stabbed in the kidney with a bayonet and he died on 
        September 5, 1877 with his father by his side. He was a great warrior and he did not want to do what the white government also known as the “white man” wanted them to do. he was a rebel and he knew what was right. The settlers wanted to take their land from them and they believed that the white man should pay. He was fighting for a good cause and all he wanted was for his people to have the land they deserve and to make them happy.



Sources:
PBS.crazyhorse
After Columbus- The Smithsonian Chronicle of the North American Indians: 970.004










4 comments:

  1. There were a few grammar and spelling errors here and there, but overall I think you did a good job.

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  2. overall this is a very well worded blog post. you manage to say what you want to say and back it up with proof

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  3. There were some sentences that were confusing to read because of the wording. Overall it made a good argument and proof.

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  4. This was a really good post, but you need to look at your first paragraph because there are some grammatical errors there. Also, in the second paragraph, you need to change 'there' to 'their'. Other than that, you did a great job.

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