“My father woke me at daybreak and told me to go with him<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to take the horses out to graze, and when we were out there he<\/p>\n\n\n\n
said: “We must have a long rope on one of them, so that it will be<\/p>\n\n\n\n
easy to catch; then we can get the others. If anything happens,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
you must bring the horses back as fast as you can, and keep <\/p>\n\n\n\n
your eyes on the camp.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several of us boys watched our horses together until the sun<\/p>\n\n\n\n
was straight above and it was getting very hot. Then we thought<\/p>\n\n\n\n
we would go swimming, and my cousin said he would stay with<\/p>\n\n\n\n
our horses til we got back. When I was greasing myself, I did<\/p>\n\n\n\n
not feel well; I felt queer. It seemed that something terrible was<\/p>\n\n\n\n
going to happen. But I went with the boys anyway. Many people<\/p>\n\n\n\n
were in the water now and many of the women were out west<\/p>\n\n\n\n
of the village digging turnips. We had been in the water quite a<\/p>\n\n\n\n
while when my cousin came down there with the horses to give<\/p>\n\n\n\n
them a drink, for it was very hot now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just then we heard the crier shouting in the Hunkpapa camp,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
which was not very far from us “The chargers are coming! They<\/p>\n\n\n\n
are charging! The chargers are coming!” Then the crier of the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oglalas shouted the same words; and we could hear the cry<\/p>\n\n\n\n
going from camp to camp northward clear to the Santees<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and Yanktonais.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everybody was running now to catch the horses. We were<\/p>\n\n\n\n
lucky to have ours right there just at that time. My older brother<\/p>\n\n\n\n
had a sorrel, and he rode away fast toward the Hunkpapas . I had<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a buckskin. My father came running and said: “Your brother has<\/p>\n\n\n\n
gone to the Hunkpapas without his gun. Catch him and give it<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to him. Then come right back to me.” He had my six-shooter<\/p>\n\n\n\n
too– the one my aunt gave me. I took the guns, jumped on my<\/p>\n\n\n\n
pony and caught my brother. I could see a big dust rising just<\/p>\n\n\n\n
beyond the Hunkpapa camp and all the Hunkpapas were run-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ning around and yelling, and many were running wet from the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
river. Then out of the dust came the soldiers on their big horses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They looked big and strong and tall and they were all shooting<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[This was Reno’s detachment attacking from the southern end<\/p>\n\n\n\n
of the village]. My brother took his gun and yelled for me to go back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was brushy timber just on the other side of the Hunkpapas,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and some warriors were gathering there. He made for that place, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I followed him. By now women and children were running in<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a crowd downstream. I looked back and saw them all running<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and scattering up a hillside down yonder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we got into the timber, a good many Hunpapas were<\/p>\n\n\n\n
there already and the soldiers were shooting above us so that<\/p>\n\n\n\n
leaves were falling from the trees where the bullets struck. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By now I could not see what was happening in the village below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was all dust and cries and thunder; for the women and children<\/p>\n\n\n\n
were running there, and the warriors were coming on their ponies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among us there in the brush and out in the Hunkpapa camp<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a cry went up: “Take courage! Don’t be a woman! The helpless <\/p>\n\n\n\n
are out of breath!” I think this was when Gall stopped the Hunk-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
papas, who had been running away, and turned them back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stayed there in the woods a little while and thought of my<\/p>\n\n\n\n
vision. It made me feel stronger, and it seemed that my people<\/p>\n\n\n\n
were all thunder- beings and that the soldiers would be rubbed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then another great cry went up out in the dust: “Crazy Horse <\/p>\n\n\n\n
is coming! Crazy Horse is coming!” Off toward the west and<\/p>\n\n\n\n
north they were yelling “Hoka hey!” like a big wind roaring,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and making the tremolo; and you could hear eagle bone whistles screaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The valley went darker with dust and smoke, and there were<\/p>\n\n\n\n
only shadows and a big noise of many cries and hoofs and guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the left of where I was I could hear the shod hoofs of the soldiers’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
horses going back into the brush and there was shooting everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then the hoofs came out of the brush and I came out and was<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in among men and horses weaving in and out and going<\/p>\n\n\n\n
up-stream, and everybody was yelling, Hurry! Hurry!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The soldiers were running upstream and we were all mixed there<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in the twilight and the great noise. I did not see much; but once<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I saw a Lakota charge at a soldier who stayed behind and fought<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and was a very brave man[probably Captain French]. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Lakota took the soldier’s horse by the bridle, but the soldier<\/p>\n\n\n\n
killed him with a six-shooter. I was small and could not crowd in<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to where the soldiers were, so I did not kill anybody. There were<\/p>\n\n\n\n
so many ahead of me, and it was all dark and mixed up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soon the soldiers were all crowded into the river, and many<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lakotas too; and I was in the water a while. Men and horses were<\/p>\n\n\n\n
all mixed up and fighting in the water, and it was like hail falling<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in the river. Then we were out of the river, and people were <\/p>\n\n\n\n
stripping dead soldiers and putting the clothes on themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was a soldier on the ground and he was still kicking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Lakota rode up and said to me: “Boy, get off and scalp him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I got off and started to do it. He had short hair and my knife<\/p>\n\n\n\n
was not very sharp. He ground his teeth. Then I shot him<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in the forehead and got his scalp.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Excerpted from “Black Elk Speaks”,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
as told through John G. Niehardt, author.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Islander. TO BE CONTINUED.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
there<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“My father woke me at daybreak and told me to go with him to take the horses out to graze, and when we were out there he said: “We must have a long rope on one of them, so that it will be easy to catch; then we can get the others. If anything happens, … 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-1993","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1993","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=1993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1994,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1993\/revisions\/1994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}