September 10, 2021
Hello ,
This past Labor Day, September 5th held a unique historical significance for the Oglala Lakota Sioux in America's heartland. On that date in 1877 Oglala chief Tasunke Witko, also known as Crazy Horse, was fatally wounded by a soldier’s bayonet.
I first learned about Crazy Horse as a child on a family car trip one summer. My memories remain vivid of the long hot days on the road before air conditioning, the amazing scenery, from rugged mountains to endless plains, and the various stops at points of interest and to visit family relation.
Driving from Washington State to Minnesota, we stopped in Montana to tour Custer's Battlefield, now known as the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. In South Dakota we piled out of the car to view Mt. Rushmore.
My Dad told me another head was being sculpted from a mountain not far from Mt. Rushmore. This memorial to Chief Crazy Horse would be even grander than the four presidents.
In 1876, Crazy Horse led a band of Lakota warriors against Custer’s Seventh U.S. Cavalry battalion at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, we had visited earlier on our trip.
The way Dad spoke of him made him larger than life in my mind, the great Sioux warrior astride his horse fighting to protect his people and preserve their culture. I longed to see his likeness rising from South Dakota granite.
But the sculpture wasn't finished yet, Dad said. I thought maybe I'd see it on a future vacation. But funded only by donations, the memorial started in 1948 is still under construction today.
A name never mentioned as we drove through the Great Plains that summer is Buffalo Calf Road Woman. In fact I never heard about this Cheyenne heroine until earlier this year in the book Women Warriors.
Buffalo Calf Road Woman was supposed to be the story today and I'm disappointed that she is being upstaged by a man, though Crazy Horse is a worthy subject.
To be honest, as the week went on Buffalo Calf Road Woman's story became complex and I got caught up in the research and I couldn't finish it in time.
More than a dozen theories over the last 125 years have tried to prove who killed Gen. George Armstrong Custer at the
Battle of the Little Bighorn. Only recently has attention shifted to Buffalo Calf Road Woman a veteran Cheyenne warrior.
I'll have that story for you next week!
Meanwhile, here's more on the Crazy Horse Memorial. The photo below shows a model 1/300th the size of the carving you see under progress in the far distance.
Crazy Horse always refused to allow his photograph to be taken, saying “Would you imprison my shadow too?” So, the sculpture is based on descriptions of the warrior from the time period.
It's meant to capture a moment in time after the buffalo that supported the Lakota way of life had been nearly wiped out and the Lakota forced onto a reservation.
“Where are your lands now?” A derisive cavalry man asked Crazy Horse and the warrior replied, “My lands are where my dead lie buried.”
Perhaps the conversation happen while Crazy Horse was imprisoned at Ft. Robinson, Nebraska, where he was ultimately stabbed to death by a soldier.
From the photo below, you can see that it may yet be a very long time before the sculpture of Crazy Horse is finished.
It will stand over 560 feet tall and more than 640 feet in length, one of the world's largest sculptures.
When Crazy Horse's head rises complete in the sacred land of the Black Hills, South Dakota, it will be larger than all four Mount Rushmore heads put together.
https://crazyhorsememorial.org/
https://stubykofsky.com/mt-rushmore-vs-crazy-horse/
https://crazyhorsememorial.org/story/the-history/about-crazy-horse-the-man/
https://www.postguam.com/entertainment/lifestyle/a-nostalgic-return-to-south-dakotas-black-hills/article_2191b476-f5d0-11eb-b188-97f71601af13.html
Sending out a huge thanks to Barbara, who took to heart last week's newsletter about National Pots de Creme Day.
She made me a delicious chocolate pots de creme! Thanks, Barbara! Here's a recipe if you want to make your own chocolate pots de creme.
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