TrishaWehrle

Death of a Legend (Crazy Horse)

I found the readings of Native Americans to be very fascinating. The one interested me the most was the story of The Killing of Crazy Horse. One of the points that Dr. Jerz pointed out to me in class was the feeling of bias that was found in the two articles about the life and death of Crazy Horse. The first account of the killing of Crazy Horse if told through the eyes of a young indian boy who looked up to Crazy Horse as an indian leader and warrior. Here are some of the examples of the boys potenital bias in telling his account of the death of Crazy Horse.
1) When hearing bad news, "Some of us turned around then and went back to camp, and soldiers sent the others back a little later; but Crazy Horse went on."
2) After descibing the events leading up to his death, the staory states, "Crazy Horse was dead. He was brave and good and wise. . . The could not kill him in battle. They had to lie to him and kill him that way."
The narrator only saw Crazy Horse as a hero and was bitter towards his murderers even though he did not seem to understand fully what happened the day of his death. There is also bias found in the article of the Encyclopedia of North American Indians as exemplied by the word "unfortunately" found when describing the vistory of the American troops over the Native American Indians. The article also describes the white people as being "cruel," which often times they were to the Indians, but someone like Custer (who was fighting against the indians) would never say something like that. I decided to research and try to find an article written on the other side of the spectrum by a white American who opposed the Indians.

I found an article in the Encarta Encyclopedia that described the death of Crazy Horse. This article contains a completely different attitude towards Crazy Horse and portrays the event in a more neurtal way by saying, " Crazy Horse and his warriors killed Custer and most of his cavalry. The United States Army then began a relentless pursuit of Crazy Horse; he finally surrendered in Nebraska on May 6, 1877. A few months later, while reportedly resisting confinement, he was killed by a soldier." I think it is important to research all aspects of a story to make sure you are not getting biased information.

I was also intigued by Nabila's article and statement about whether Crazy Horse should really be considered a hero. Nabila seemed to be concerned with the fact that Crazy Horse seemed to steal a man's wife away, but I thought of it in a different way. "Crazy horse was a quiet, introspective, and shy man" who loved Black Buffalo Woman since childhood. Although she was married, she left her husband to elope with Crazy Horse. I found this to be very romantic. I feel that because he was so shy he did not pursue Black Buffalo and realized he was too late, but his warrior/heroic qualities shone through when he fought for her love and went after what he wanted. Another aspect that I felt made Crazy Horse a true hero was his humble behavior. "He did not recount his war deeds, nor did he wear or display the symbols of achievement accruing to him."

I lastly wanted to comment on Nabila's ill feelings of the burial of Crazy Horse. I feel that his parents taking him into the mountains to bury him was respectful and was their way of dealing with their mourning. I think that she may have missed an important line in the narrative that stated, "It does not matter where his body lies, for it is grass; but where his spirit is, it will be good to be." Crazy Horse was a hero, and although he died trying to save and protect his people, his spirit and legend lives on.