Book Review: The Sioux: People of the Great Plains

The Sioux: People of the Great Plains: American Indian Nations by Anne M. Todd, Consultant Lydia Whirlwind Soldier, Bridgestone Books, imprint of Capstone Press, Mankato, Minnesota, 2003.

A good review of the Sioux, Oceti Sakowan people--the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota.  Buffalo hunting was central to their way of life.  Initially relations were good between the Sioux and the White settlers.  However when Oregon opened up the came in greater numbers, and then even greater with the gold rush.  The settlers were scaring the buffalo away and using all the grass.  The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 lead to many Indians living on reservations with the government promising supplies to the Indians.  The supplies were usually late, or of poor quality.  Im 1862 the Dakota broke out in war against the settlers and 700 settlers were killed.  The government executed 38 Dakota warriors in December of 1862 in Mankato, Minnesota.  

The Bozeman trail opened in 1866.  The Laramie treaty of 1868 promised the Lakota that South Dakota would remain Indian land.  However when George Armstrong Custer and others began exploring the area looking for gold, the Lakota were not happy.  Th government offered to buy the Black Hills.  The Sioux refused.  This lead to the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1871.  As a result of the defeat of Custer much pressure was put on the Sioux to all go to reservations.  Economic and war pressure lead to this result.  Crazy Horse was killed after he surrendered.  

The Ghost Dance lead to a Sioux revival of sorts.  The government outlawed the dance.  This leaded to the massacre of Wounded Knee and the death of Sitting Bull.  

Book Review: It Is a Good Day to Die

 It Is a Good Day to Die: Indian Eyewitnesses Tell the Story of the Battle of Little Bighorn by Herman J. Viola, Crown Publisher's Inc, a Random House Company, New York, 1998.

This book is what the title says, the story of the Battle of Little Big Horn as told by Native Americans.  This includes scouts working for the military, Crow and Arikara, and those Custer hoped to defeat, Cheyenne, Blackfeet and Lakota (Sioux).  There are stories from young men and young women, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.  There are stories of loss and grieving and deaths happenned amonth the Native Americans.  Many tribes were traveling together for self protection.  When Custer saw them he should have known better than to attack.

The title line has been rumored to be that of Crazy Horse but this book credits the quote to Low Dog, Oglala Chief.  "We retreated until our men all got together, and then we charged upon them.  I called to my men, 'This is a good day to die.  Follow Me!'"  He said the soldiers were brave, but poor shooters because they held their horses with one hand and the horses jerked around and the shooting went awry.

Sitting Bull talks about his vieion before the fight in which he saw soldiers falling into their hands.  At the start of the battle Sitting Bull Said, "Warriors, we have everything to fight for, and if we are defeated we will have nothing to live for; therefore, let us fight like brave men."

Most of the warriors did not recognize or know that General Custer was there.  However he was and he as killed.  A couple of Cheyenne women pierced his ears after the battle so he could hear better in the after life.  He had not listened to the advise of others that the battle was ill conceived.  He also had broken his word about not fighting the Cheyenne.

Little Bighorn was a grrat victory for the Lakota and Cheyenne, but it also proved their undoing.  The U.S. governemtn was so embarassed they continually pursued the Lakota until they were defeated.  

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.

Biographical Documentary: Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull: Chief of the Lakota Nation, Biography, (1995)
This biography started as more a history of the Sioux.  It especially follow Red Cloud, and the Red Cloud War who was upset that the Whites, and the military were moving in the Powder River area.  They were building forts without permission or treaty to do so.  For this he went to war, and actually won.  A treaty was negotiated, where the Sioux agreed to go to reservation, but the Powder River area was preserved for the Sioux. 
Sitting Bull became prominent after this, more as a spiritual leader.  Red Cloud became a reservation chief, but Sitting Bull felt this was silly, and criticized those on the reservation who stayed for the bacon given by the government. 
It wasn't for several years, when gold was discovered in the Black Hills.  This area was sacred to the Sioux, but whites coveted the area for the gold.  General George Armstrong Custer gave positive reports, and encouraged the white population to move in.  However he could not support this with military might.
The contribution of Sitting Bull was a vision he had about a month before Little Big Horn, where he saw soldiers falling into the Sioux City.  Custer lead his men into this city.  Crazy Horse was war chief that day, and lead his men to victory.  The battle only lasted 20 minutes.
Although they were victorious, thee Native Americans lost.  The repercussions of the American military were total against the Sioux, with a scorched earth campaign where villages were burned and crops destroyed, and whatever they might be able to eat was destroyed.  The Indians had to submit.  Crazy Horse agreed to live on the reservation.  Sitting Bull took those with him and fled to Canada.  However, after living in poverty for four years, he returned.  Sitting Bull returned to the reservation, but did not stay.  He joined the Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show. 
Later in life Sitting Bull had another dream, that he was killed by another Sioux. There was great excitement about the ghost dance among the Sioux.  Perhaps this would give them the power to throw up the control of the whites. other Sioux.  As the participated in the dance, dancing all night, the BIA agent ordered them to stop.  The continued.  He deputized 20 Sioux to go arrest Sitting Bull.  In the scuffle Sitting Bull was shot and killed.  This lead to the last battled, that of Sounded Knee where many Sioux were slaughtered.