Crazy Horse, A True American essays

Crazy Horse, A True American essays "A very great vision is needed and the man who has it must follow it as the eagle seeks the deepest blue of the sky. I was hostile to the white man...we preferred hunting to a life of idleness on our reservations. At times we did not get enough to eat and we were not allowed to hunt. All we wanted was peace and to be left alone. Soldiers came and destroyed our villages. Then Long Hair (Custer) came...They say we massacred him, but he would have done the same to us. Our first impulse was to escape but we were so hemmed in we Crazy Horse, as Remembered by Ohiyesa I chose to write about Crazy Horse because he is a man who suffered for the cause of freedom from genocide and oppression. He was a warrior for justice. Crazy Horse did not have an equal as a warrior or a chief. He gave submissive allegiance to no man, white or Indian, and claimed his inalienable rights, as an Indian, to wander at will over the hunting grounds of his people. He never registered at any agency; never touched a pen; never signed a treaty and refused to allow any photographs to be taken of him. He wanted only peace and a way of living for his people without having to live on the white man's reservations. Crazy Horse (Tashunkewitko) was born on the Republican River about 1845. He was killed at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, in 1877, so that he lived barely thirty-three years. He was an uncommonly handsome man. It is said that Crazy Horse was physically perfect, like an Apollo. He was modest and courteous, but was a born warrior. However, he was a gentle warrior, a true brave, who stood for the highest ideals of the Sioux. Biased historians have misconstrued facts surrounding Crazy Horse. It is only fair to judge a man by the estimate of his own people rather than that of his enemies. Crazy Horse earned his reputation among the Lakota not only by his skill and daring in battle but also by his fierce determination to preserv...