Crazy Horse fights last battle
On January 8, 1877, Oglala Lakota warrior Crazy Horse and his men—outnumbered, low on ammunition and forced to use outdated weapons to defend themselves—fight their final losing battle against the U.S. Cavalry in Montana.
Six months earlier, in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Crazy Horse and his ally, Sitting Bull, led their combined forces of Sioux and Cheyenne to a stunning victory over Lieutenant Colonel George Custer (1839-76) and his men. The Native Americans were resisting the U.S. government’s efforts to force them back to their reservations. After Custer and over 200 of his soldiers were killed in the conflict, later dubbed “Custer’s Last Stand,” the American public wanted revenge. As a result, the U.S. Army launched a winter campaign in 1876-77, led by General Nelson Miles (1839-1925), against the remaining tribes on the Northern Plains.
Combining military force with diplomatic overtures, Nelson convinced many Native Americans to surrender and return to their reservations. Much to Nelson’s frustration, though, Sitting Bull refused to give in and fled across the border to Canada, where he and his people remained for four years before finally returning to the U.S. to surrender in 1881. Sitting Bull died in 1890. Meanwhile, Crazy Horse and his band also refused to surrender, even though they were suffering from illness and starvation.
On January 8, 1877, General Miles found Crazy Horse’s camp along Montana’s Tongue River. U.S. soldiers opened fire with their big wagon-mounted guns, driving the Native Americans from their warm tents out into a raging blizzard. Crazy Horse and his warriors managed to regroup on a ridge and return fire, but most of their ammunition was gone, and they were reduced to fighting with bows and arrows. They managed to hold off the soldiers long enough for the women and children to escape under cover of the blinding blizzard before they turned to follow them.
Though he had escaped decisive defeat, Crazy Horse realized that Miles and his well-equipped cavalry troops would eventually hunt down and destroy his cold, hungry followers. On May 6, 1877, Crazy Horse led approximately 1,100 Native Americans to the Red Cloud reservation near Nebraska’s Fort Robinson and surrendered. Five months later, a guard fatally stabbed him after he allegedly resisted imprisonment by policemen.
In 1948, American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski began work on the Crazy Horse Memorial, a massive monument carved into a mountain in South Dakota. Still a work in progress, the monument will stand 641 feet high and 563 feet long when completed.
LATIN AMERICA
1959
Fidel Castro arrives in Havana after deposing Batista's regime
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U.S. PRESIDENTS
2002
President George W. Bush signs No Child Left Behind Act into law
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19TH CENTURY
1867
African American men gain the right to vote in Washington, D.C.
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US GOVERNMENT
1835
The U.S. national debt reaches $0 for the first time
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CRIME
2016
Infamous drug lord "El Chapo" is captured by Mexican authorities
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U.S. PRESIDENTS
1992
President George H.W. Bush vomits on the Prime Minister of Japan
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GAY RIGHTS
1978
Harvey Milk becomes the first openly gay person elected to public office in California
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1815
The Battle of New Orleans
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CRIME
2011
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords injured in shooting rampage
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ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1963
"Mona Lisa" exhibited in Washington
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INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
1642
Astronomer Galileo dies in Italy
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WORLD WAR I
1916
Allies retreat from Gallipoli
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WORLD WAR II
1940
Mussolini questions Hitler’s plans
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U.S. PRESIDENTS
1918
President Wilson delivers "Fourteen Points" speech
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1976
Ragtime wins the National Book Critics Circle Award
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1946
Elvis Presley receives his first guitar
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ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1941
William Randolph Hearst stops Citizen Kane ads
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INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
1916
Bugatti brother dies by suicide
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