Indian heroes and great chieftains

Crazy Horse

- Crazy Horse was born around the year 1840 in South Dakota. He grew up in a small village as part of the Lakota people. His birth name was Cha-O-Ha which means "Among the Trees." Growing up, the people in his tribe called him Curly because he had curly hair. - Curly's father was called Tashunka Witco, which means Crazy Horse. Legend has it that Curly had a vision of himself defending his people while riding into battle on a horse. When Curly grew older and wiser, his father decided to honor his vision by giving Curly the name Crazy Horse. His father changed his own name to Waglula, which means "Worm." - He was a quiet and reserved person - In 1876, Crazy Horse led his men into battle against Colonel George Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn

Tamahay

- He believed he would die at a young age - At the age of 17 he lost his eye -The Sioux referred to the president as Tamahays father - He died at Fort Pierre, South Dakota, in 1864. He died a natural death, of old age

Little Crow

- Little Crow was a chief of the Mdewakanton Dakota people. - His given name translates as "His Red Nation," but he was known as Little Crow because of his grandfather's name, Čhetáŋ Wakhúwa Máni, was mistranslated -Little Crow is notable for his role in the negotiation of the Treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota of 1851, in which he agreed to the movement of his band of the Dakota to a reservation near the Minnesota River in exchange for goods and certain other rights - He dies in a firefight between Nathan Lamson and his son Chauncey. He was shot twice -His body was dragged down the town's Main Street while firecrackers were placed in his ears and nose. The body was ultimately tossed into a pit at a slaughterhouse, and the head was later removed.

Gall

- Received his name after eating the gall of an animal killed by a neighbor - An accomplished warrior by his late teens, Gall became a war chief in his twenties - the Battle of the Little Bighorn has given Gall greater credit for several crucial tactical decisions that contributed to the Sioux and Cheyenne's overpowering defeat of the five companies of cavalry led by Custer of the 7th Cavalry -Gall lived on the Standing Rock Agency until his death at his Oak Creek home on December 5, 1894.

American Horse

-American Horse is notable in American history as a U.S. Army Indian Scout and a progressive Oglala Lakota leader who promoted friendly associations with whites and education for his people -American Horse was first known as Manishnee (Can not walk, or Played out)" and his nickname was Spider. When he was born, his old grandfather said: 'Put him out in the sun! Let him ask his great-grandfather, the Sun, for the warm blood of a warrior!' And he had warm blood. -On August 31, 1876, about a month after the Battle of the Little Big Horn, American Horse shot and killed Sioux Jim -Chief American Horse died from natural causes in his house near Kyle, Pine Ridge, South Dakota on December 16, 1908.

Red cloud

-Chief Red Cloud led one of the most successful and unforgettable attacks against the U.S. government of any Indian attack in history. This valiant attempt to fend off the intruders to his peoples land became called Chief Red Clouds War. - Red Cloud married a woman named Pretty Owl. They were married for over 50 years. -Chief Red Cloud remained chief of the Lakota until 1881 when he was removed from his position. - He went completely blind before he died at the age of 87 - He was notably a quiet man, simple and direct in speech, courageous in action and a lover of his country

Two Strike

-He earned his Lakota name "Nomkahpa", meaning "Knocks Two Off" in a battle with the Utes, when he knocked two Utes off their horses with a single blow of his war club. Two Strike fought in various battles against the U.S. Army during the time of Bozeman Trail wars -Chief Two Strike was one of the principal chiefs of combined Oglala and Brulé war party of over a thousand braves that attacked a group of 350 Pawnee that had left their reservation in Nebraska to hunt buffalo -He died at Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Roman nose

-He is considered to be one of, if not the greatest and most influential warriors during the Plains Indian War of the 1860s -Born during the prosperous days of the fur trade in the 1820s, he was called môséškanetsénoonáhe (Bat) as a youth. He later took the warrior name Hook Nose, which the whites interpreted as Roman Nose -Hook Nose was known to be very spiritual. "He spent endless hours in preparing his medicine, his mind and his spirit" -Hook Nose had felt that something was wrong and said, "Something was done that I was told must not be done, the bread I ate was taken out of the frying pan with something made of iron... If I go into this fight I shall certainly be killed"

Little wolf

-He was known as a great military tactician and led a dramatic escape from confinement in Oklahoma back to the Northern Cheyenne homeland in 1878, known as the Northern Cheyenne Exodus. -He was chosen one of the "Old Man" chiefs among the Council of Forty-four, a high honor in traditional Cheyenne culture. He was also chosen as Sweet Medicine Chief, bearer of the spiritual incarnation of Sweet Medicine, a primary culture hero and spiritual ancestor of the Cheyenne. -In his later years, he lived on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, where he died in 1904.

Rain-in-the-face

-His name may have been a result of a fight when he was a boy in which his face was splattered like rain with his Cheyenne adversary's blood - During the subsequent fighting at the Battle of Little Big Horn on Custer Hill on June 25, 1876, Rain-in-the-Face is alleged to have cut the heart out of Thomas Custer, a feat that was popularized by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in "The Revenge of Rain in the Face" - Rain-in-the-Face died in his home at the Bullhead Station on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota after a lengthy illness -On his deathbed he reputedly confessed to a missionary that he thought that he might have killed Custer, shooting him from so close as to leave powder marks upon his face.

Hole in the day

-His name refers to a dream in which the guardian spirit was seen through an opening in the sky. Some have speculated that the name refers to an eclipse of the sun, or an opening in an overcast sky through which sunlight is streaming down. -Most white government officials considered him to be head chief in Minnesota. This was due to his ambition to be involved in most, if not all, important negotiations and other dealings between the Minnesota Ojibwe and the US government, and that he presented himself in an articulate and stately manner. -Hole in the Day the Younger was assassinated by gunshot on June 27, 1868 near the Crow Wing Agency by a group of at least twelve Ojibwe men

Dull Knife

-Northern Cheyenne chief who argued that the tribe should settle down and go to Red Cloud's agency. -as a child he was resourceful and resilient -He was regarded by authorities as a dangerous man, and with his depleted band was taken to Indian territory without his consent in 1876 -"I have lived my life, I am ready"

Sitting Bull

-Sitting Bull was born a member of the Lakota Sioux tribe in South Dakota. The land where he was born was called Many-Caches by his people. His father was a fierce warrior named Jumping Bull. His father named him "Slow" because he was always very careful and slow to take action -When he was fourteen, Slow joined his first war party. In a battle with the Crow tribe, Slow bravely charged a warrior and knocked him down. When the party returned to camp, his father gave him the name Sitting Bull in honor of his bravery -As the United States forces began to hunt down Sioux that lived outside the reservation, Sitting Bull formed a war camp - In 1890, the local Indian Agency police feared that Sitting Bull was planning to flee the reservation in support of a religious group called the Ghost Dancers. They went to arrest him. A gunfight occurred between the police and Sitting Bull's supporters. Sitting Bull was killed in the fight .

Spotted Tail

-The young man took his warrior name, Spotted Tail, after receiving a gift of a raccoon tail from a white trapper -He made several trips to Washington, D.C. in the 1870s to represent his people, and was noted for his interest in bringing education to the Sioux. - He believed it was unwise to allow the white man so much freedom in our country - On August 5, 1881, after a long simmering feud, Crow Dog shot and killed Chief Spotted Tail on the Rosebud Indian Reservation

Chief Joseph

-leader of the Nez Perce in their retreat from United States troops (1840-1904) -Chief Joseph led his band of Nez Perce during the most tumultuous period in their history, when they were forcibly removed by the United States federal government from their ancestral lands in the Wallowa Valley of northeastern Oregon onto a significantly reduced reservation in the Idaho Territory -Chief Joseph was born Hinmuuttu-yalatlat (alternatively Hinmaton-Yalaktit or Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt (Nez Perce: "Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain"), or Hinmatóoyalahtq'it ("Thunder traveling to higher areas") in the Wallowa Valley of northeastern Oregon. He was known as Young Joseph during his youth because his father, Tuekakas, was baptized with the same Christian name and later become known as "Old Joseph" or "Joseph the Elder" -In September 1904, in exile from his homeland, Chief Joseph died, according to his doctor, "of a broken heart"