Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors (45 page)

17. Little Big Man, once the most irreconcilable and hot-blooded of Crazy Horse’s Oglala warriors. In 1875 he rode into a council (called by the United States Government to force the Sioux to sell the Black Hills), naked save for a breechcloth and an eagle feather war bonnet, carrying a Winchester repeater in one hand, a fistful of cartridges in the other, and announced with a roar that he would kill any white man who tried to steal Indian land. Two years later he was working for the whites.

18. Elizabeth Bacon Custer in 1874. She spent the summer at Fort Abraham Lincoln while her Autie was opening the Black Hills. Indian scouts, mounted on ponies, carried letters back and forth between Libbie and Autie on a route that they nicknamed the “Black Hills Express.”

19. Red Cloud, the Oglala Sioux war leader who took charge of the allied Indian forces during the three-year campaign (1866-68) against the Bozeman Trail and Fort Phil Kearny. After 1868 Red Cloud was a champion of peace, a frequent visitor to Washington for meetings with the Great White Father, and in charge of the largest Sioux reservation, Red Cloud Agency in Nebraska. An able if unscrupulous politician, he managed to stay on top despite the frequent shifts in policy and white agents.

20. Sitting Bull, the Hunkpapa leader, perhaps the most famous of all North American Indians, the man who inspired the Sioux in their defense of the Powder River country. After the battle of Little Bighorn in June 1876 Sitting Bull fled to Canada. When he returned to the United States a few years later he became the chief attraction in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show (where this photograph was taken). In 1890 he embraced the Ghost Dance and as a result was killed (shot in the back, in fact) by Indian policemen shortly before the massacre at Wounded Knee.

21. Libbie Custer at the turn of the century. On social occasions younger women noticed, with jealous eyes, that every male in the room flocked to her side.

22. He Dog in old age, at the time Eleanor Hinman conducted her interviews with him. She said of He Dog at this time: “In spite of his ninety-two years and their infirmities, He Dog is possessed of a remarkable memory. He is the living depository of Oglala tribal history and old-time customs. Anyone digging very deeply into these subjects with the other old-timers is likely to be referred to him: ‘He Dog will remember about that.’ In interviewing He Dog one can hardly fail to be impressed with his strong historical sense and with the moderation and carefulness of his statements.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

A
Summer on the Plains: 1867

“Whether right or wrong, those railroads will be built, and everybody knows that Congress, after granting the charts and fixing the routes, cannot now back out and surrender the country to a few bands of roving Indians.” William T. Sherman to John Sherman, September 28, 1867

Spring came late to the Powder River country in 1867, but when it burst forth it was glorious. By May, when the grass was coming up, Crazy Horse and Little Hawk had rejoined Red Cloud’s force near Fort Phil Kearny. The brothers had spent the latter part of the winter harassing the whites farther south on the Bozeman Trail, down by Fort Reno, where they fought a number of sharp little battles, but when the flowers began to bloom, the grass turned green, and the birds returned, Crazy Horse and Little Hawk headed north.
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They were joined by young warriors from the Laramie Loafers and Spotted Tail’s Brulés. There was going to be a big Sun Dance along the Powder, then more fights with the garrison at Fort Phil Kearny. It promised to be a good summer.

When the Sun Dance was over, the headmen of the Oglalas began to discuss their plans. Both the civil and military arms of the Oglala government were represented. Old Man Afraid, the most important of the older chiefs, was there, along with the other Big Bellies. Red Cloud was the highest ranking military officer, backed up by his shirt-wearers, including Crazy Horse. The whites had asked the Oglalas to come down to Fort Laramie to “touch the pen”
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to a treaty that would give the Americans the right to use the Bozeman Trail, provide for general peace, and give the Indians lots of beads and other presents. Old Man Afraid and the Big Bellies were willing to go to Fort Laramie to discuss the offer, but Crazy Horse and the shirt-wearers were opposed. Because they represented the fighting
men who were, in addition, the economic providers for the community, their opinion carried great weight. Few of the warriors wanted to give up on a war that had been going so well for them, nor did they feel a need for any white man’s presents. The Big Bellies, who had a more realistic view of the power of the whites, wanted peace.

Eventually the Indians reached a workable compromise. Old Man Afraid could go to Fort Laramie to see what the whites had to say, but Red Cloud would accompany him to make sure nothing was done that would displease the warriors. Red Cloud agreed not to speak in the meeting with the whites, but he would be there watching what Old Man Afraid did all the same. The warriors won another concession—Old Man Afraid would sign nothing until the whites had abandoned the Bozeman Trail forts and supplied the red men with some ammunition. The warriors had more guns than they had ever seen before, guns picked up from Fetterman’s command, but they had no ammunition nor the materials nor knowledge to make any. Crazy Horse and Red Cloud had insisted on the stringent condition that the whites abandon the forts before any treaty could be signed because they had no faith in the white man’s word. Promises would not be enough—the physical fact of abandonment must be accomplished first.

On June 12, 1867, Old Man Afraid met with the white peace commission at Fort Laramie. He said that he represented two hundred lodges of Oglalas, that they all wanted to be friendly, and that he would touch the pen as soon as the whites abandoned the forts and handed over some ammunition. Red Cloud remained in the background, but he watched Old Man Afraid’s every move. The whites wanted to know why the Indians needed ammunition. To hunt with, Old Man Afraid replied. But, the whites responded, you have been getting along fine for centuries without guns. Ah ha, Old Man Afraid complained, the game is too wild now because so many whites come and frighten the animals. Ah ha yourself, the white commissioners concluded, you want the ammunition in order to wage a more vigorous war. And with that, Old Man Afraid walked out.
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Crazy Horse was not surprised at the failure of the peace negotiations and happily went back to making war on the whites. Along with the warriors, he struck hard throughout eastern Wyoming. Occasionally the main body of warriors would gather near Fort Phil Kearny and either try to wipe out the wood train or to decoy the soldiers out into the open again, but the troops were much more cautious this summer than they had been the preceding winter and
nothing was accomplished. Tiring of the war, war chief Pawnee Killer led a band of southern Oglalas down to the Platte River in Nebraska, near Fort McPherson, where he hoped to trade buffalo hides for ammunition. At about the same time that Pawnee Killer left the Powder River camp, Custer set out from Fort Hays, also heading toward Fort McPherson.

Custer started in early June 1867, looking for hostiles. He had three hundred cavalrymen under his command, although on the first day’s march Custer was not with the column. Instead, he stayed behind at Fort Hays, where he spent the day with Libbie. At midnight, after one last kiss, Custer embarked on a moonlight ride across the prairie. He galloped for twenty miles, accompanied by a seven-man escort of Delaware scouts, on what he always recalled as a glorious experience. He rode into camp at reveille, just in time to join the column for the next day’s march. A night without sleep, followed by a twenty-five-mile march the following day, was small enough price to pay for some extra hours with Libbie.
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