In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall Page A

Horse also had words on it. They were not about fighting or battles. “We did not ask you white men to come here. The Great Spirit gave us this country as a home. You had yours . . . We did not interfere with you. We do not want your civilization!”
    Jimmy was a bit puzzled.
    â€œI think that explains why he fought so hard, why he didn’t want to surrender,” Grandpa Nyles said. “He was fighting just as hard for those who had lived before as he was for those living at the time and those who would be born later.”
    â€œLike us?”
    â€œExactly.”
    Some of the other panels were about the enemies of the Lakota and Cheyenne: the Crow and Arikara scouts who were with the Long Knives that day.
    â€œThey fought bravely, too,” asserted Grandpa Nyles.
    They finished looking at the granite panels, lingering reverently at the panel devoted to Crazy Horse. They walked slowly out the west entrance and followed the stone-covered path. Crossing the road, they walked east of thevisitor center and paused on the path leading to a long, sloping meadow.
    Jimmy looked toward the meadow and then turned to look down the slope toward the river. “Why did the Long Knives attack our people?” he asked.
    â€œWell,” said Grandpa Nyles, “there were a lot of reasons. The big reason was they wanted our land. So they had to get us out of the way, put us on reservations. In 1876, two groups of Lakota were still not on reservations. One was Crazy Horse’s band, and the other was Sitting Bull’s. The other Lakota bands were at Fort Robinson, in Nebraska, including the Sicangu, Mniconju, and Oglala. Their leaders, like Spotted Tail, Touch the Clouds, and Red Cloud, had already surrendered to the whites.”
    â€œWhy did they surrender?” Jimmy wanted to know.
    Grandpa Nyles sighed deeply. “Oh, the main reason was because they were afraid of the power of the whites. The whites had more guns, more bullets. They had big cannons. Spotted Tail and Red Cloud had traveled east to Washington, D.C. They saw the big cities of the whites. But the onething that scared them most of all was how many whites there were.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œThere weren’t many of our people left by 1876,” Grandpa Nyles explained, “compared to the sheer numbers of whites. There were probably twenty thousand Lakota. At the same time, there were twenty-five million white people.”
    Jimmy’s eyes grew wide.
    â€œSo the Lakota leaders, like Spotted Tail, knew the odds were against us. It was like one cricket trying to fight off a thousand hungry ants.”
    Jimmy could actually see that, a thousand ants against one cricket. He knew about ants. He knew how strong they could be just because there were always thousands, even tens of thousands, in one colony.
    â€œWhat about Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull?” he asked. “Did they know the odds?”
    Grandpa Nyles nodded. “They did, but they also knew what surrendering would mean. It would mean giving up being free. It would mean giving up living the old way. Itwould mean Lakota people would be forced to accept the ways of the white man. So they believed it was better to resist them. That’s why this battle happened, here along this river.
    â€œThe whites knew they were a symbol to other Lakota,” Grandpa Nyles continued. “As long as Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull stayed free, they were dangerous. The whites were afraid they might inspire other Lakota to leave Fort Robinson and fight. Many of them did that. They left and joined Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse here.”
    Jimmy looked down the slope toward the trees. Beyond them was the river, which they could not see.
    Grandpa Nyles saw that he was confused. “Hey, let me finish the story of this battle, and then we’ll go inside and grab a cold drink.”
    Jimmy nodded.

    The last engagement—soldiers on a hill
    For the first