He was the last great chief of the Sioux Nation. Though accounts differ, it is generally accepted that 172 years ago today, Crazy Horse was born to parents from two tribes of the Lakota Sioux. His father of the Oglala and his mother a Miniconjou.

Born in South Dakota, for a while Crazy Horse lived in a Lakota camp in present-day Wyoming with his younger half-brother, Little Hawk. Crazy Horse gained warrior status in many battles, including the decisive 1876 victory over General George Armstrong Custer at The Battle of the Little Bighorn with Sitting Bull and the combined nations of Sioux and Cheyenne.

Crazy Horse held out in remote areas of the Yellowstone country, but soldiers hunted them down and in 1877, he surrendered and spent the summer near Fort Robinson in Nebraska. There he was surrounded by betrayals and deception until he resisted being locked in a guard-house and was stabbed to death.

Crazy Horse defended his people and lands against gold seeking whites in The Black Hills of South Dakota, where in 1948, a monument was started near the giant carving of Mount Rushmore.

It is still under construction to this day.

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