History's Toughest Heroes: The Ballad of Crazy Horse

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Picture it.

10,000 ponies,

7,000 people, nearly 2,000 warriors.

This village had circles of teepees and campfires that stretch for well over a mile.

For the first time in known history, all the tribes of the Lakota had gathered together on the vast northern plains.

Tribes never come together like that. The whole nation pretty much

is there.

It was the 25th of June 1876.

This was a meeting of old friends and celebration of the old ways But it was also about sticking together in dark times.

So, these people were from the Dakota and Cheyenne tribes, and they were determined to live freely for as long as they could.

These guys had forced white settlers back time and time again, but the settlers kept coming.

The United States government told them that they had to report to the reservations,

but they refused.

And now, soldiers were approaching. You know, we kept moving away, moving away, moving away.

No one expected a direct attack. I mean, the village was next to a twisting waterway called the Greasy Grass River.
The white settlers called it Little Bighorn.

Some of our women were picking teemsala, a prairie turnip up on the hill.

And they heard a bugle, so they ran screaming to the lodge.

Soldiers are coming the man who had ordered the attack was lieutenant colonel george armstrong custer a hero of the american civil war the first rifle fire came from the south killing women and children on the edge of the camp warriors scrambled for their gear and mounted their horses but there was one warrior who moved calmly through the panic.

He was mysterious because the skin was lighter and the way his face was painted.

This warrior placed a single hawk feather in his long hair, painted his body with white circles and drew a lightning bolt on his face.

He spread dirt all over his horse's back, positioned a stone behind his ear and mounted it.

When the word got out that this guy was about to enter the battle, The confidence of all the other Lakota warriors soared.

He was a legend.

Bullets and arrows couldn't touch him, and they gained power just by speaking his name.

Toshunka Witko.

His horse is wild.

Crazy horse was coming.

I'm Ray Winstone and for BBC Radio 4, this is history's toughest heroes. True stories of adventurers, rebels and survivors who live life on the edge.

The ballad of crazy horse.

Donovan Sprague is a Lakota historian and teaches history and political science at Sheridan University. My Lakota name is Chinkahu Wakantia,

which translates to high backbone or from the Hump family. Lakota names have to be earned, revealed or given.
The boy who became Crazios was born around 1840.

His first nickname came from his light-coloured hair. As he was born, they called him amongst the trees

and then as he got a little bit older they called him Curly.

For generations Curly's tribe had roamed a vast territory, modern Montana, Wyoming, north and south Dakota and Nebraska and at the heart of it were the Black Hills.

That was a highly sacred ceremonial, religious area for many tribes. It's kind of of the center of our universe.
Curly learned from his people, from the animals, and from the land.

He and the other lads competed all the time. Who was the best and bravest rider? Who was the best with a bow and arrow? These were the skills they needed when they got into scrapes.

And crucially, to hunt buffalo. The buffalo was food, shelter, and clothing, and every piece was used for something.
Even the tail was a fly fly squatter for the woman in the lodge.

But then new creatures started to arrive on their planes. European settlers.
Now Curly sat on the ridge and watched the line of wagons in the distance.

From early spring to late summer, the settlers followed trails west across Lakota Territory. to Oregon and California.
When Curly was about 11, a treaty was signed.

It said that these territories were Native American, but it also promised safe passage through the territory for a fee.

But as more settlers came west in search of land and gold, this treaty began to fall apart. Clashes between the tribes and the army became common.
Deaths mounted on both sides.

Curly saw the violence firsthand and wanted to do something, so he decided to seek a vision.

Now, visions were an important part of Lakota culture, so he fasted for several days till at last the vision came. A horseman appeared.

He floated through a storm of arrows and bullets, but none of them touched him. A zigzag of lightning appeared on the warrior's cheek, and white spots of how on his body.

Curly didn't know what to think of this and told no one what he'd seen.

He was very quiet and reserved, a common man. Soon it all became clear.
In 1855, Curly spent the summer with a Lakota chief called Little Thunder.

The Americans ordered Little Thunder to move south of the Platte River, but he had no intention of going yet.

Now the hunting that season had been good, and the women of the village were still preparing the meat they'd harvested. Then, one day when Curly was out hunting, a group of American soldiers arrived.

Little Thunder rolled out to negotiate with their commander, Brigadier General William S. Arney.

Arney told Little Thunder he'd come to fight. Little Thunder raced back to his village.
Harney sent his infantry forward.

They line up shoulder to shoulder and they crouch down and they aim and shoot and then they reload and they walk forward like that.

Little Thunder told his people to run. This drove them straight into Hani's cavalry.
Hani killed or captured half the village and the rest had scattered. Some 90 Lakota people were dead.

Another 70 were taken prisoner.

An entire village had been annihilated. Curly returned from his hunt to a scene of carnage.
Dozens of warriors slaughtered. He found a woman hiding in the undergrowth with a dead child.

He took her back to her people.

When he went back to his family, Curly finally spoke about his vision.

His father explained it for him. He said Curly must become exactly like the powerful horseman he had seen.

When he put on his war paint, he should include white spots for hell and a lightning bolt down his face. He must be a protector of his people and keep nothing for himself.

Then, like the man in his dream, he'd walk through storms of arrows or bullets unarmed.

Curly and his dad went on raids and hunts together. Impressed by his son's bravery, he gave him his own name, Crazy Horse.

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Over the next few years, Crazy Horse traveled across the Great Plains. He visited other Lakota, hunted with them, joined war parties.

His reputation for skill and daring grew. If word got out Crazy Horse was riding, other warriors rushed to join him.
They walked how you're supposed to walk on our grandmother Earth.

They didn't have boundaries. Now, Floyd Clown is a third generation descendant of Crazy Horse.

Now, Crazy Horse was brave, but he was also careful.

He always had a plan.

Now, after the end of the American Civil War, the government in Washington turned its attention to the Wild West.

They wanted to wipe us out and

exterminate us.

White settlers and soldiers shot buffalo for sport, and they tried to starve the Lakota into defeat. They'd say, well, if you kill a buffalo, that's just as good as killing an Indian.

The government in Washington offered the native tribes a more modern way to live.

Flour, bacon, coffee and farming, in return for their territory and their freedom. And as the buffalo became scarce, southern them agreed.
But not Crazy Ults and many Lakota warriors.

A new trail, the Bowsman, was opened through the heart of Lakota territory and the Lakota launched a campaign of harassment along the trail. Red Cloud's War.

The Crazy Hulks, along with other famous fighters like Sitting Bull, led war parties against the invaders.

They raided settlements and forts, destroyed supply trains and telegraph lines, caused terror and mayhem,

and then they just melted back into the wilderness. We closed Fort Reno, Fort Phil Kearney, Fort C.F.
Smith.

But some U.S. Army officers remained confident they could defeat the Lakota, also sometimes called the Sioux.
Officers like William J. Fetterman.

Fetterman, he bolstered to the public, give me 80 men, I'll ride through the Sioux Nation. Fetterman was posted to Fort Phil Kearney in what's now Wyoming.

In December 1866, he left the fort with 80 men. His orders were to defend a group of woodcutters nearby and not to pursue the Lakota.

Now, Crazy Horse was part of a group acting as a decoy.

He rode up to the ridge where he could be seen by the American soldiers. He dismounted and pretended his horse was lame.

He pretended to be scared and confused, staying just out of range of Fetterman's rifles.

Now Fetterman, he took the bait. Ignoring his orders, he went after Crazy Horse.
He was drawn into the trap.

Our grandfather, with that decoy tactic, led them over the hill and they cut the retreat off and they wiped them all off. All the men were killed, including Captain Fetterman.

They just found all the soldiers laying there like they were all sleepy. Now one soldier was covered with buffalo hide.
The rest of the dead were mutilated.

This was revenge for the massacre of women and children at Sand Creek two years earlier. For the Americans, it was a disaster.
And once again, the Lakota disappeared into the wilderness. The U.S.

pretty much gives up. You know, they retreat.
It's time to talk treaty. Another treaty was signed.
This one closed the trail and gave the Black Hills to the Lakota. But it didn't last long.

In the summer of 1873, the United States was rocked by a stock market collapse. The The government needed gold to restart the economy and there were rumors of huge deposits in the Black Hills.

Now the man sent to investigate was a dashing war hero, George Armstrong Custer.

Now sending a soldier into Lakota lands went against the treaty. Even still, Custer led forces into the Black Hills.
Then he sent back sensational reports there was gold for the taking.

They tried to get the tribe to sign over the Black Hills. They couldn't get the force agreement of the adult males, not even close.
The commission came out, broke up, went back to Washington.

What are we going to do?

Under the leadership of men like Crazy Horse and Sittingbull, the Lakota were never going to give up their land.

Not for anything.

The Crazy Hulse had already lost enough. By now, his brother had been killed and his three-year-old daughter had died, probably of cholera, which was a sickness brought by settlers.

By all accounts, his life was altered. He was so devastated about that.

In his grief, Crazy Hulse fought harder than ever. Some believe he was bulletproof and that his rifle was magical and never missed.

Meanwhile, Custer's reports brought on a gold rush right at the heart of Lakota territory. Like what our people call the white men, Washing Ichu means fat-getter.

They

gather and gather and gather, but they don't share with anybody. The government kept trying to take the Black Hills from the Lakota.

By now, many chiefs had given in to Washington's demands and accepted resettlement. But influential figures like Crazios still refused to even attend negotiations.

We had our own agenda and we weren't ready to be removed or pushed.

Sitting Ball and Craziel stayed out of the reservations. Then the American government planned a three-pronged attack against them and other hostile tribes.

Custer would command the 7th Cavalry and head into the plains from the east with General Terry. General Crook would come from the south, General Gibbon from the west.

But on the plain, Sitting Bull gathered the Lakota and the Cheyenne tribes. He tempted them with one last summer, a final year of living in freedom.
He sent messages to those already resettled.

Many young warriors flooded out to join him. In June, they held a sundance.

That's the greatest religious gathering of the year.

A circle was set up, singers and drummers prepared. Sitting Bull had 100 small pieces of flesh removed from his body, an offering to the Creator.

Then, staring at the sun, he danced for days. When he finally collapsed, he was rewarded with a vision.
He seen where soldiers were falling upside down in the camp. This vision predicted victory.

Crazy also

danced and was also given a vision, but his was much darker.

What he was shown was his demise, his death. And then in front of him, there was a soldier with a rifle and bayonet that stabbed him twice.

And then beside that soldier was his own kind standing with this soldier,

meaning that the government and his own kind were going to do this.

A soldier holding one of his arms, a Lakota holding the other, and a flash of steel. He wouldn't be killed by arrows and bullets.
One day, he'd be killed by a knife, and he'd be betrayed.

But not today.

The village moved to the banks of the Little Bighorn. There was more trouble coming.
General Crook's forces were heading down the rosebud valley straight towards them.

Crazy Horse got ready to meet them.

And he never announced, you know, like, follow me. He just would be seen getting on his horse over by the creek and then people are looking around like, what's he doing? He's going somewhere.

Everybody would just follow, just take off. We don't know where he's going, but we're going with him.

General Crook's scouts galloped back into the camp, shouting, The Lakota are coming! Crook's men scrambled into their saddles. The Lakota attacked with a ferocity Crook's men had never seen before.

They drove straight through the troops, striking right and left with lances and knives. They would say, What's holding him on that horse?

He's using the head for a shield, and he's peeking out underneath the horse, and he's got his bow reached over the neck of the horse on the other side.

And from his quiver, he's pulling out arrows and releasing those.

The native raids Crook had seen before were fast and deadly. This one was sustained and disciplined.
Crook was left with heavy casualties and not much ammunition.

He withdrew to wait for reinforcements and supplies.

As the battle raged, Custer and the cavalry were approaching the village. They could tell a large number of Lakota were nearby.
Custer moved fast, exhausting his men and horses.

He was worried that the Lakota might get away and disappear into the landscape again.

Then that morning of the battle,

Custer wore his Civil War uniform and he cut his hair short. Custer split his forces into four.

He rode onto the northern bluff.

Colonel Reno was ordered to the southern bank. Captain Benteen was sent out to block any escape routes.
When Reno charged the south end of the Lakota camp, he realized how big it was.

There were thousands of warriors.

He lost his nerve and halted the charge. From the cover of the trees, he ordered his men to form skirmish lines and fire.
The shots took the Lakota by surprise, but they didn't run.

They gathered to counterattack. They were well armed and they had crazy horse with them.
Reno's men crumbled. His best scout was shot in the head in front of him, splattered in gore.

Reno panicked. He told his men to mount again, then dismount.
Then he ordered a retreat. The soldiers have lost their horses and they're so disoriented and disorganized that some are just running.

Crazy Horse led his warriors against the retreating men, forcing them onto a narrow trail. The soldiers, they didn't stand a chance.

Some of the Cheyenne Lakotas was kind of like the way we hunted buffalo. We just ride up beside them and we separate them into smaller groups, keep separating and separating.

Reno scrambled to higher ground with his remaining men. There, they met Bentine's forces.
Custer had summoned him to the fight, but Reno's men needed help. They dug in and waited for supplies.

The news reached Crazy Horse, and he set off at a gallop through the camp towards Custer.

No one knows exactly what Custer planned. Maybe he'll raid on the village.
He split his forces again and sent some down to the northern fort.

At the riverbank, the Lakota destroyed the soldiers. They rolled up the steep ravines towards Custer.
Captain Miles Keogh stood in their way. His men held firm.

It looked for a moment as if the Americans had the upper hand. Then Crazy Horse charged right through the center of Keogh's skirmish line.

The Americans trained all their firepower on him, but he flew through unscathed, scattering soldiers with his war club. Then he turned and rode through the line again.

It was just like the vision he had as a young man. And they all talked about how Crazy Horse couldn't be hit, penetrated with the bullets.
The Lakota warriors were inspired and charged Keogh's lines.

There was no escape from the arrows, the war clubs, the knives. They had the soldiers so confused and some of them were almost dizzy.

Exhausted before the fight even began, the men were overwhelmed by stunning, unexpected force. Apparently, many of the soldiers, they shot themselves.

Others dropped to their knees and begged for mercy.

A dying warrior handed Crazy Horse his rifle. Take them all out, he said.

And he did.

Every man under Custer's direct command was killed.

The Lakota dispersed, leaving more than 250 American soldiers dead on the battlefield. The death toll included Custer himself, who was found with gunshot wounds to his chest and his head.

And that was the greatest disaster of the American battles in the West.

After this, the U.S. Army would get whatever it needed to drive the Lakota off the territory for good.

And so the winter of 1877 was brutal. The United States Congress cut all rations to the Lakota unless they gave up the Black Hills.
I said, you know, they retreat.

We couldn't get this land in warfare, so let's figure out a way to do it on paper.

Crazy Horse's vision had made him protector of his people.

Almost a year after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Crazy Horse led his people to Fort Robinson in northwestern Nebraska.

Then rumors spread that the American government was planning to make him chief of all the Lakota. To many, it felt like a betrayal.
At the band, they were all equal.

There was no president or like that. Wow, the Europeans use a king or a dictator or our nation didn't do that.

Some people felt his struggle for freedom had cost them too much. Some might even have doubted his leadership.
Now he had enemies on both sides.

In early September 1877, Crazy Horse was summoned to the fort. He was told it was for a meeting, but the general in charge had given an order to arrest him.

A Lakota called Little Big Man and an American lieutenant seized him by the arms.

Another vision had come true.

The plan was to put him in the jail for the night. That crazy horse wouldn't be put in a cell.
He slashed a little big man with his knife.

An American soldier rushed forward and plunged his bayonet in the crazy horse's back.

It almost came out the front. So hemorrhage, there's nothing that could be done for that.
He was taken to the officers' quarters. His longtime friend, Touch the Cloud, sat with him.

Later that night, Crazy Horse died.

Touch the cloud, he said, he has looked for death and it has come.

In 1890, Sittingbull was also killed. But with the passing of all those

traditionalists, it was a new era for our people. Now, the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn became a national monument.

Custer became a hero in the legend of How the West Was Won and Crazy Horse became part of the romance of the Old West.

His name was used to sell whiskey and guns. A 500 foot tall carving of his head was created in the Black Hills just 10 miles away from the American presidents carved into Mount Rushmore.

For some Americans the Lakota were savages to be tamed. For others, they were symbols of freedom and independence.
The Lakota's nomadic way of life was destroyed.

But on the reservations, the culture survives. Sundances are still held, the language is still spoken, and the stories are still told.
And in those stories, Crazy Horse rides on.

Next time on history's toughest heroes. An intrepid reporter risks her life to expose lynchings in the American American South.
I don't believe she was fearless.

I believe that she did have fear, but she chose to do what she was doing anyway.

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See Mintmobile.com. Discover the wit, romance, and charm of Jane Austen like you've never heard before.

From Pride and Prejudice to Emma, experience all six classics in full cast BBC audio dramatizations.

Featuring David Tennant and Benedict Cumberbatch, these productions bring Austin's timeless world to life. I cannot tell you how welcome your words are.
How I have wished for them.

My dearest Elizabeth, can it be true that you love me too? It is true. Listen to the Jane Austen BBC Radio Drama Collection available wherever you get your audiobooks.