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N0KFQ > TODAY 08.01.15 15:57l 57 Lines 2615 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 44210_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jan 8
Path: IZ3LSV<IV3SCP<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<JM1YTR<JE7YGF<XE1FH<N0KFQ
Sent: 150108/1455Z 44210@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.62
Jan 8, 1877:
Crazy Horse fights his final battle
Outnumbered, low on ammunition, and forced to use outdated
weapons to defend themselves, Crazy Horse and his warriors fight
their final losing battle against the U.S. Cavalry in Montana.
Six months earlier, Crazy Horse (Tashunca-uitco) and his ally,
Sitting Bull (Tatanka Iyotake), led their combined forces of
Sioux and Cheyenne to a stunning victory over Lieutenant Colonel
George Custer and his men near the Little Bighorn River of
Montana. Outraged by the killing of the flamboyant Custer and
more than 200 soldiers, the American people demanded speedy
revenge. The U.S. Army responded by commanding General Nelson
Miles to mount a winter campaign in 1876-77 against the remaining
hostile Indians on the Northern Plains.
Combining military force with diplomatic overtures, Nelson
succeeded in convincing many Indians 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. Meanwhile, Crazy
Horse and his band also refused to surrender, though they were
suffering badly from sickness and starvation. His followers later
reported that Crazy Horse, who had always been slightly odd,
began to grow even stranger during this difficult time,
disappearing for days into the wilderness by himself and walking
about the camp with his eyes to the ground.
On January 8, 1877, General Miles found Crazy Horse's camp along
Montana's Tongue River. The soldiers opened fire with their big
wagon-mounted guns, driving the Indians 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 and hungry people. On May 6, 1877,
Crazy Horse led 1,100 Indians to the Red Cloud reservation near
Fort Robinson. The mighty warrior surrendered in the face of
insurmountable obstacles. Five months later, a guard fatally
stabbed him after he allegedly resisted imprisonment by Indian
policemen.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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