The Victors of the Battle of Little Bighorn

Sitting Bull ensured he would become a legend at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, during which an estimated 2,000 Lakota and Cheyenne warriors inspired by one of his visions routed and then annihilated the 7th U.S. Cavalry led by George Custer. That disaster led the American government to double down on its efforts to “pacify” the Sioux, and by the end of the decade many of them had surrendered and been moved onto a reservation. Sitting Bull defiantly refused to surrender, instead heading with a smaller band into Canada and remaining exiled.

When he finally surrendered to the U.S. in 1881, he was a celebrity of sorts, and Sitting Bull went on to appear in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show during the decade. Not surprisingly, his death was as controversial as his life; in 1890 Sitting Bull was killed on a reservation after plans to arrest him went terribly awry, leading to fighting in the aftermath that left over a dozen dead.

As he lay dying, Tashunke Witco, whose name is literally translated as “His Horse is Spirited” or “His Horse is Crazy,” refused to be placed on an army cot, and he insisted upon being placed on the floor. He had spent his life avoiding white people whenever possible, and after he died, his cousin Touch the Clouds pointed to the blanket covering the dead Chief’s body and said, “This is the lodge of Crazy Horse.”

Throughout his life, Tashunke Witco tried to live the life his people had enjoyed for centuries. He never signed a treaty with the U.S. government and was never photographed, largely because he wanted to avoid contact with the settlers encroaching further west upon Native American lands. By staying away from white settlements and military forts, he thus avoided the places where a photographer might be lurking. As the great Lakota leaders surrendered to the U.S. military or were killed, they became symbols of the qualities and character of their people. Red Cloud is often referred to as a symbol of Lakota concession. Sitting Bull is considered symbolic of Lakota spirituality. Crazy Horse, because he delayed surrender and never entered into treaty agreements with the U.S. military, became a symbol of Lakota resistance.

Crazy Horse may have fervently wished to avoid white settlers, but he’s a Native American icon today because of the inability to do so. Like Geronimo in the Southwest and Sitting Bull on the Plains, Crazy Horse was a chief who fought in several skirmishes against settlers and U.S. forces during the 1860s, and he became one of the most famous Native Americans in American history because of one fateful confrontation with whites: the legendary Battle of the Little Bighorn, during which an estimated 2,000 Lakota and Cheyenne warriors routed and then annihilated the 7th U.S. Cavalry led by George Custer. That disaster led the American government to double down on its efforts to “pacify” the Plains, and by the end of the decade many of them had surrendered and been moved onto a reservation. Like Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse tried to avoid surrendering for as long as he could, and both suffered a controversial death.