Crazy Horse's Final Vision

THE PROPHETIC LAKOTA LEADER'S FINAL DAYS STILL HAUNT US TODAY.

- MARK LEE GARDNER

There were too many tongues. Crazy Horse sought quiet on solitary walks on the prairie, away from his village. On one of these walks, he chanced upon a dead eagle, and it deeply disturbed him. Crazy Horse returned to his lodge and sat in silence for several hours. The war chief was often immersed in his own thoughts, but those close to him sensed something was different. When asked what troubled him, Crazy Horse's answer was startling. He said he'd found his dead body on the prairie.

A short time after this incident, Crazy Horse experienced a terrifying dream. In the dream, he rode a white pony on an elevated plain. On all sides were enemies and even cannons. Crazy Horse said he was killed in this dream, but how he met his fate he didn't know. All he knew was that he didn't die from a bullet. For a man guided by visions and dreams, this powerful nightmare could only be a foreboding.

Lakota leaders like Spotted Tail, Red Cloud, American Horse, and others feared Crazy Horse because he was a threat to their status at the agencies. These chiefs believed they had a good thing going with the white man, and the last thing they wanted was a defiant Crazy Horse shaking up agency politics. Feeding their anxiety was a rumor that said the Great Father intended to make Crazy Horse chief over all the Lakotas.

All this fear put Crazy Horse in extreme danger. Many whites and Lakotas would sleep much more soundly if Crazy Horse no longer lived. When an early report from White Hat's failed attempt to corral Crazy Horse's band claimed the war chief had been killed, one of the officer's wives wrote that it was "considered good news."