Under the light of a million stars I can hear the drums beating in the distance. Rising from the ancient dust, the spirits of long-dead Lakota warriors materialize. Dancing madly, anger and rage pulsate throughout the valley. The earth shakes as the ten thousand buffalo storm over the tall grass prairie. The smell of retribution and revenge fills my nostrils and the voice of the mighty Crazy Horse thunders from across the centuries. Stricken with fear, my heart pulsates and my stomach becomes weak.
In an instant, all of it is gone; vanished into the heavens and I am left standing alone under a million stars.
Crazy Horse (literally “His-Horse-Is-Crazy” or “His-Horse-Is-Spirited;” 1840 – September 5, 1877) was a Native American war leader of the Oglala Lakota. He took up arms against the U.S. Federal government to fight against encroachments on the territories and way of life of the Lakota people, including leading a war party at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876. After surrendering to U.S. troops under General Crook in 1877, Crazy Horse was fatally wounded by a military guard while allegedly resisting imprisonment at Camp Robinson in present-day Nebraska. He ranks among the most notable and iconic of all Native American tribal leaders to this day.
The memorial of Crazy Horse depicts him pointing out toward his land in the Black Hills where, to this day, he laments, “my lands are where my dead lie buried.”
Crazy Horse Monument, western SD
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