Little Big Man

Little Big Man
Charging Bear

Little Big Man
Oglala Lakota leader
Personal details
Relations Sister (Twin), Hannah Mule Tocha Cesli, b. 1841
Parents Yellow Thunder, Her Holy Breath
Known for Battle of Little Bighorn, rival of Crazy Horse
Little Big Man (bottom row, 2nd from left) with Delegation of Sioux, in 1875. (standing: Joe Merrivale, Young Spotted Tail, Antoine Janis; seated: Touch-the-Clouds, Little Big Man, Black Cool, unidentified.)[1]

Little Big Man (Lakota: Wičháša Tȟáŋkala), or Charging Bear, was an Oglala Lakota, or Oglala Sioux, who was a fearless and respected warrior who fought under, and was rivals with, Crazy Horse ("His-Horse-Is-Spirited"). He opposed the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie and fought against efforts by the United States to take control of the ancestral Sioux lands in the Black Hills area of the Dakota Territory. He also fought at the Battle of Little Big Horn in the Montana Territory in 1876. Late in life he decided to cooperate with the White conquerors and may have been involved in the murder of his old ally and rival, Crazy Horse, at Fort Robinson in Nebraska in 1877.[2]

Details

Little Big Man was Crazy Horse's lieutenant and threatened to kill the U.S. government commissioners negotiating with the Sioux for control of the Black Hills in the late 1860s. However, after surrendering along with Crazy Horse in the late 1870s he decided to switch allegiance and was even suspected of being directly involved with Crazy Horse's death by assisting in pinning his arms as soldiers killed him with bayonets in 1877.

It was said the Little Big Man was crafty but with considerable ability and presence while being a recognized trouble maker. Crazy Horse's last words, uttered to Little Big Man and others after he was bayoneted by a soldier, were "Let me go my friends. You have got me hurt enough."[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Subjects in photo identified by George E. Hyde, 4229 Dangler St., Omaha, Nebr.
  2. 1 2 Ambrose, Stephen (1996). Crazy Horse and Custer. Anchor Books. ISBN 0-385-47966-2.
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