Free In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall Page B

here, Crazy Horse was on the other side of the river. He had gone through the village, gathered a lot of warriors, and ridden north. Somewherebeyond where the visitor center is now, he crossed the river and went east. He took his warriors up the hills, and there they encountered some soldiers who had gone ahead. They chased those soldiers back.
    â€œSo what Crazy Horse did was to block the soldiers from going beyond Last Stand Hill,” the old man went on. “Gall’s warriors and others, Crow King and Black Moon, were leading warriors, too. They were chasing the Long Knives from behind. There was no way the Long Knives were going to escape. By then, oh, maybe five or six hundred warriors were involved. It was all but over for Custer and his soldiers.”
    Grandpa Nyles pointed west toward the river. It was at the bottom of the slope behind the trees. “Right about here, some of the soldiers went toward the river,” he said. “They made it to a deep gully and were surrounded there by warriors coming up from the village. Those soldiers didn’t make it out. They say they are still there, buried in that deep gully.”
    Jimmy looked down the slope. He saw several white markers on the slope below them. He was beginning tounderstand how difficult it must have been for the soldiers.
    They drove into the parking spot near the large stone monument. From there they could see back along the road they had driven. Jimmy could see a lot of white markers.
    â€œCrazy Horse led a charge against a group of soldiers, right about here,” Grandpa Nyles said, “probably a company. He saw they were organized and fighting strongly. He inspired other warriors to follow him, and they wiped out the company. At first he was the only one riding at the soldiers, far ahead of the other warriors.”
    â€œWow! Wasn’t he afraid?”
    â€œHe probably was,” Grandpa Nyles said. “But remember his dream, when the rider was untouched by bullets and arrows? Crazy Horse was untouched at the Battle of the Hundred in the Hands, and he was unhurt here, too. Sometimes you have to do things no matter how scary it is, or how scared you are. For days, and weeks, months, and years after that, the warriors who were there talked about that—how Crazy Horse charged ahead of everyone else. Look, we’re still talking about it now.”
    Jimmy nodded slowly. The tall stone marker was nearby,and several white markers were on the slope. Below the tall monument were more headstones—those inside the black iron fence.
    â€œSo,” he said quietly, “the battle was over, after that?”
    Grandpa Nyles nodded. “Yeah. The last group of soldiers with Custer fired a few shots. The warriors had them surrounded and fired back. Maybe once or twice more there was light exchange of firing. Then it was over. They say it became very, very quiet.”
    â€œThen what happened?” Jimmy asked.
    â€œPeople came up from the village, the women mostly,” the old man said. “They were looking for their husbands, sons, and grandsons. They wanted to know that their loved ones were safe. Many of them were angry at the Long Knives. So that’s when it started.”
    â€œWhat? What started, Grandpa?”
    â€œWell,” Grandpa Nyles replied, his voice low, “the first thing was probably someone taking something off a fallen soldier—you know, a gun, bullets, maybe boots. Then someone took a knife and cut a soldier’s body. All that anger washard to hold back. So they began stripping bodies, taking things, and then mutilating them.”
    â€œâ€‰â€˜Mutilating’?”
    â€œCutting arms and legs.”
    Jimmy didn’t know what to think. “Why?”
    â€œLike I said—the people were angry because the Long Knives probably would have hurt women and children—shot them, even. And Long Knives had done the same thing to Indians—like at a place called