Things were fairly quiet though, until Custer’s Yellowstone Expedition discovered gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota. This was going to cause a problem because the Sioux had expressly forbidden white entry into that area. The military gave the Indians an ultimatum: come in peacefully and surrender to the reservation or be hunted down and killed. Crazy Horse and many others refused to surrender.
Many bands of Indians began to assemble. The many tribes of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho gathered on the Rosebud in southeastern Montana. On June 17, 1876, General Crook led a large contingent to the Rosebud. Sitting Bull did not particulate in the fight, as he was so weak from a recent sun dance. Crazy Horse is generally credited with the overwhelming victory by the Indian force. He kept the cavalry and infantry from forming a solid front from which to attack the Indians. The army left in shambles with high casualties. They retreated to the Tongue River. A few days later Crazy Horse and his Sioux would destroy Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
After that battle, the tribes split up. Crazy Horse took his people and settled on the Powder River for the winter. Some of the smaller bands were hunted down by the cavalry and captured or killed. When the news of it got out, some chiefs voluntarily surrendered. At first, Crazy Horse did not give in. His band fought several skirmishes with the white man. But finally on May 6, 1877, he surrendered at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. Supposedly he married a white woman while at the fort.
While there, he went out to visit the Spotted Tail Agency. Black Shawl was very sick with tuberculosis. Medical help was available at the agency. He asked for permission to go, which was denied. But he went anyway. He was arrested at the agency and taken back to Fort Robinson. Some soldiers and Indians escorted him to the fort jail. He went crazy when he saw the bars on the windows, signaling the end of his freedom. He drew a knife. The Indian Little Big Man grabbed him, and a Captain Kennington stabbed him in the stomach with a bayonet. The wound injured a kidney. That night, September 5, 1877, he died from his injury. His father, Dr. McGillicuddy, and a warrior named Touch the Clouds took him away for a secret burial.
Because Crazy Horse died relatively young, not much is really known about him. He did not live for years on a reservation like many of his contemporaries did. No one got the chance to
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