Fort Omaha in North Omaha

The Green, parade grounds

General George Crook Administrative Building

hospital

Book Review: Standing Bear of the Ponca

 Standing Bear of the Ponca by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, illustrated by Thomas Floyd, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, 2013.

This book gives a very good brief history of Chief Standing Bear.  The treatment of the Ponca by the federal government was very bad, forcing them to move 600 miles south to Oklahoma and then not providing proper support.  Many died, including Chief Standing Bear's daughter and a son.  His son asked to buried on the Ponca homeland.  Standing Bear hoped to honor this request and left the reservation.  Upon arriving at the Omaha Reservation he was arrested by General George Crook.  Joseph LaFlesche (Iron Eyes) and Susette La Flesche (Bright Eyes) of the Omaha helped them all they could, and General Crook suggested Standing Bear take him to court.  The newspaper man, Thomas Henry Tibbles helped them with publicity and finding lawyers to represent Standing Bear.  And Standing Bear won after his famous "I am a man" speech with Bright eyes interpreted.  Still the Ponca had no place to live.  Bright Eyes, Chief Standing Bear and Tribble made a tour of the east to win public support.  This was successful to a degree.  At first the Ponca lived on an island, but eventually the Sioux gave part of their reservation (which had been the Ponca reservation) to the Ponca to live.  Tribble's wife passed away and he married Bright eyes.  The last chapter also deals with the legacy of Chief Standing Bear.  Pow wows and statues are made in his honor.  He is honored in the Nebraska State Capitol.  

Fort Crook; Now Offutt Air Force Base

 Fort Crook was the original name of the fort constructed south of Bellevue to replace fort Omaha in North Omaha.  It was named for General George Crook who had been the commander at Fort Omaha.  I took some pictures of the old for from the Fort Crook days.  There was a model in the Sarpy County History museum.  The fort was planned and announced in 1888 but construction did not begin until 1894.  Officers quarters were built on the west side of the parade grounds and the private quarters opposite on the east.  Troops began to arrive in 1896.  1920-24 the fort added an airfield and the fort was renamed Offutt for a WWI pilot named Lieutenant Jared Offutt.  During WWII the base became a large manufacturing plant for B-26 and B-29 bombers.  After WWII it housed the Strategic Air Command.

parade grounds

sergeant's row

Book Review: The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse

 The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse: Bison Classic edition: Three eyewitness views by the Indian, Chief He Dog, the Indian-White, William Garnett, and the white doctor, Valentine McGillycuddy, Edited and with a new introduction by Robert A. Clark, Commentary by Carroll Friswold, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, c1976.

About a year after the events of the Little Big Horn and the death of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, Crazy Horse's band of Oglala Lakota had had enough.  Food was scarce, his people were being constantly pursued, they were starving and freezing.  He surrendered in May of 1877.  There was considerable jealousy between different chiefs.  An Indian scout Frank Grouard misinterpreted a remark made by Crazy Horse.  He and a few of his warriors were being asked to help with the Nez Perce.  He responded passively saying he had had enough war, but if asked he would track the Nez Perce till they were all dead.  Grouard said Crazy Horse said we would hunt White people until they were all dead.  This interpretation caused considerable alarm among the officers.  There was worry Crazy Horse would leave to the north and go on the warpath again.  Grouard did not care for Crazy Horse.

General George Crook, on his way to a peace meeting was intercepted by Woman's Dress, an Indian scout and nephew or cousin to Chief Red Cloud.  Woman's Dress said he had heard Crazy Horse discussing plans to kill General Crook.  This was not true but the meeting was cancelled.  Orders were issued to arrest Crazy Horse.  But when they went to Crazy Horse's camp he was not there.  Word got to Crazy Horse that he was to go to Camp Robinson.  He did not understand that this was to be arrested an locked up.   

When he arrived, and they arrested him and lead him to the stockade, he began to protest.  He had a knife.  His friend Little Big Man tried to restrain Crazy Horse.  He was cut.  An enlisted soldier bayoneted Crazy Horse, causing the fatal wound.  The bayonet entered his kidney area and caused internal bleeding.  Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy attended to him in the adjutant's office.  He died several hours later at midnight.   

The last page of the book reveals that the enlisted soldier was William Gentles, an Irish enlisted man.  He was rushed out of camp to avoid any possible trouble.  Grouard also was whisked out of camp as well.  Gentles would die about a year later due to asthma.  

Magazine Article Review: Beyond Reach (The story of Crazy Horse's Death)

 Beyond Reach, by Ron J. Jackson jr.,  Nebraska Life, November/December 2025, pp 20-25.

Crazy Horse was murdered September 6, 1877.  He had been summoned to talk with General George Crook at Camp Robinson (now Fort Robinson).  However this was false pretense as the intent was to arrest him based on reports the general had received of Crazy Horse's intent to leave the reservation.  When he arrived, Crazy Horse realized he was being arrested and resisted.  He was stabbed in the side with a bayonet, which pierced both his kidneys.  The arresting officers were Lakota.  Crazy Horse had been the Lakota war chief of the Oglala band.

One year earlier he had participated in the Battle of Little Big Horn and the death of General Custer.  Since that time the American Army had pursued an unrelenting war against the Sioux, burning villages, killing buffalo.  They brought the Sioux to starvation.  Crazy Horse and his band survived the winter, but in the spring the surrendered at the Red Cloud Agency.  

Even so rations were still sparse.  The rumors of Crazy Horse leaving the reservation were based on the lack of food.  However mostly the were promoted by rival leaders and some by army officers skittish of Crazy Horse's influence.  

After Crazy Horse was wounded, his father Crazy Horse Sr. was allowed to see him.  "I am hurt bad, I am going to die."  By morning he was dead.  

His father was allowed to take the body and a procession took him to the Spotted Tail agency near Camp Sheridan.  He traveled on a travois.  In the precession was his wife, Black Shawl Woman.  He was placed in his coffin in a tree on a bluff overlooking Camp Sheridan and the valley of Beaver Creek.  Old Man Crazy Horse and others kept vigil there for five weeks.  The Native Americans were ordered to move north they took Crazy Horse with them, again on a travois.  Lt. William P. Clark, aid to General Crook reported that "Crazy Horse's father was hauling along his dead son.  This is the last confirmed mention of Crazy Horse's body.  

Horn Chips, cousin to, and spiritual advisor to Crazy Horse would say he had been at five interments, Beaver by the cliffs, then along Clay Creek, white Horse Creek, in a cave above the cliffs and finally at Wounded Knee.  Victoria Conroy, niece to Crazy Horse Sr. wrote in 1934 that her mother had helped bury Crazy Horse secretly between Porcupine and Wounded Knee Creeks.  

The exact location of the burial of Crazy Horse is not known.  It was a secret kept by the family.  Anyone who would have known has now passed away.

What Did Crazy Horse Look Like?  Crazy Horse was lighter complected than most Native Americans.  His hair was sandy brown.  He was not tall, about five feet six inches.  Despite being of average heights, his courage and calm made him seem larger than life.