“We stayed at the Soldiers’ Town[Fort Phil Kearney] this time<\/p>\n\n\n\n
until the grass was good in the Moon When the Ponies Shed[May].<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then my father told me we were going back <\/p>\n\n\n\n
to Crazy Horse and that we were going to have to fight from <\/p>\n\n\n\n
then on, because there was no other way to keep our country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that Red Cloud was a cheap man and wanted to<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sell the Black Hills to the Wasichus[white people]; that Spotted Tail and<\/p>\n\n\n\n
other chiefs were cheap men too, and that the Hang Around the Fort<\/p>\n\n\n\n
people were all cheap and would stand up for the Wasichus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My aunt, who was living at the Soldiers’ Town, must have felt the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
way we did, because when we were breaking camp she gave me a<\/p>\n\n\n\n
six-shooter like the soldiers had, and told me I was a man now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was thirteen years old and not very big for my age, but I thought<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I should have to be a man anyway. We boys had practiced endurance,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and we were all good riders, and I could shoot straight <\/p>\n\n\n\n
with either a bow or a gun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We were a small band, and we started in the night and traveled fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before we got to War Bonnet Creek, some Shyelas[Cheyennes]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
joined us, because their hearts were bad like ours<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and they were going to the same place. Later I learned that many<\/p>\n\n\n\n
small bands were doing the same thing and coming together <\/p>\n\n\n\n
from everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just after we camped on the War Bonnet, our scouts saw a<\/p>\n\n\n\n
wagon train of the Wasichus coming up the old road[Bozeman Trail] that<\/p>\n\n\n\n
caused the trouble before. They had oxen hitched to their wagons and <\/p>\n\n\n\n
they were part of the river of Wasichus that were running into the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Black Hills.They shot at our scouts, and we decided we would<\/p>\n\n\n\n
attack them. When the war party was getting ready, I made up<\/p>\n\n\n\n
my mind that, small as I was, I might as well die there, and if<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I did, maybe I’d be known. I told Jumping Horse, a boy about<\/p>\n\n\n\n
my age, that I was going along to die, and he said he would too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we went, and so did Crab and some other boys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the Wasichus saw us coming, they put their wagons<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in a circle and got inside with their oxen. We rode around and<\/p>\n\n\n\n
around them in a wide circle that kept getting narrower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is the best way to fight, because it is hard to hit ponies running<\/p>\n\n\n\n
fast in a circle. And sometimes there would be two circles, one<\/p>\n\n\n\n
inside the other, going fast in opposite directions, which made<\/p>\n\n\n\n
us still harder to hit. The cavalry of the Wasichus did not know<\/p>\n\n\n\n
how to fight. They kept together, and when they came on, you<\/p>\n\n\n\n
could hardly miss them. We kept apart in the circle. While we<\/p>\n\n\n\n
were riding around the wagons, we were hanging low on the outside<\/p>\n\n\n\n
of the ponies and shooting under their necks. This was not easy<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to do, even when your legs were long, and mine were not<\/p>\n\n\n\n
yet very long. But I stuck tight and shot with the six-shooter<\/p>\n\n\n\n
my aunt gave me. Before we started the attack I was afraid, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
but Big Man told us we were brave boys, and I soon got over<\/p>\n\n\n\n
being frightened. The Wasichus shot fast at us from behind<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the wagons, and I could hear bullets whizzing, but they did not<\/p>\n\n\n\n
hit any of us. I kept thinking of my vision, and maybe that helped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I do not know whether we killed any Wasichus or not. We rode<\/p>\n\n\n\n
around several times, and once we got close, but there were not<\/p>\n\n\n\n
many of us and we could not get at the Wasichus behind their wagons; <\/p>\n\n\n\n
so we went away. This was my first fight. When we were going <\/p>\n\n\n\n
back to camp, some Shyela warriors told us we were very brave boys,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and that we were going to have plenty of fighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We were travelling very fast now, for we were in danger and<\/p>\n\n\n\n
wanted to get back to Crazy Horse. He had moved over west to<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the Rosebud River, and the people were gathering there. As we<\/p>\n\n\n\n
traveled, we met other little bands all going to the same place,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
until there was a good many of us all mixed up before we got<\/p>\n\n\n\n
there. Red Cloud’s son was with us, but Red Cloud stayed<\/p>\n\n\n\n
at the Soldiers’ Town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we came to the ridge on this side of the Rosebud River,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
we could see the valley full of tepees, and the ponies could not<\/p>\n\n\n\n
be counted. Many, many people were there–Oglalas, Hunkpapas,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minneconjous, Sans Arcs, Black Feet, Brules , Santees and Yanktonais;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
also many Shyelas and Blue Clouds had come to fight with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The village was long, and you could not see all the camps <\/p>\n\n\n\n
with one look. The scouts came out to meet us and bring us in,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and everybody rejoiced that we had come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Great men were there; Crazy Horse and Big Road of the Oglalas;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sitting Bull and Gall and Black Moon and Crow King of the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hunkpapas; Spotted Eagle of the Sans Arcs; the younger Hump and<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast Bull of the Minneconjous; Dull Knife and Ice Bear of the Shyelas;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inkpaduta with the Santees and Yanktonais. Great men were there<\/p>\n\n\n\n
with all those people and horses. Hetchetu aloh![It is so indeed!]”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Excerpted from “Black Elk Speaks”,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
as told through John G. Neihardt, author.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Publishers: University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TO BE CONTINUED. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Islander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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“We stayed at the Soldiers’ Town[Fort Phil Kearney] this time until the grass was good in the Moon When the Ponies Shed[May]. Then my father told me we were going back to Crazy Horse and that we were going to have to fight from then on, because there was no other way to keep our … Continue reading “Black Elk”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1968","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1968"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1970,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1968\/revisions\/1970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}