Surrender and death
When Crazy Horse arrived at the Red Cloud Agency near Fort Robinson, Nebraska, on May 6, 1877, roughly 900 Oglala warriors accompanied him. As the two-mile-long column approached, no whooping or celebrating broke the silence; from one end to the other arose a solemn peace chant, moving one watching officer to exclaim: "By God! This is a triumphal march, not a surrender!" Only Lieutenant William P. Clark and two interpreters remained as witnesses when Crazy Horse and his warriors laid down their arms.
For the four months following his surrender, Crazy Horse resided in his village near the Red Cloud Agency, where the attention he received from the Army drew the resentment of Red Cloud and Spotted Tail—both long-established agency chiefs who regarded him as a destabilizing presence. In August 1877, when Lieutenant Clark asked him to join the Army against the Nez Perce of Chief Joseph, Crazy Horse and Miniconjou leader Touch the Clouds objected, citing the peace terms of their surrender; he ultimately agreed, reportedly saying he would fight "till all the Nez Perce were killed"—but scout Frank Grouard misinterpreted his words, reporting instead that Crazy Horse had said he would "go north and fight until not a white man is left." The mistranslation, compounded by rumors circulated by supporters of Red Cloud and Spotted Tail, proved fatal to whatever trust remained.
General George Crook, warned by Woman's Dress—a nephew of Red Cloud—that Crazy Horse planned to kill him during a scheduled council, ordered his arrest and departed Fort Robinson, leaving Lieutenant Colonel Luther P. Bradley to carry out the order. On September 4, 1877, two columns moved against Crazy Horse's village, only to find it had scattered overnight—Crazy Horse having fled to the Spotted Tail Agency with his ailing wife. After tense negotiations at Camp Sheridan, where Spotted Tail confronted his nephew publicly and Touch the Clouds escorted Crazy Horse with some three hundred armed warriors, Crazy Horse agreed to return to Fort Robinson with Lieutenant Jesse M. Lee—on the promise that he would be given an opportunity to tell his side of the story.
Departing Camp Sheridan on the morning of September 5, Crazy Horse realized he was essentially a prisoner well before reaching Fort Robinson—at one point dashing ahead of his escort, possibly to receive a knife from a Lakota family he encountered on the trail. Approximately three to six thousand Lakota assembled at Camp Robinson to await his arrival; he was permitted a brief word with his old friend He Dog before being led toward Bradley's office. Upon arriving, Lee was informed that Crazy Horse was to be turned over to the officer of the day; Bradley had no intention of hearing his side of the story; his orders were that Crazy Horse be arrested and shipped immediately to Omaha and then to Florida—a painful discovery for both Crazy Horse and the agent who had made him promises. Captain James Kennington and Little Big Man escorted the war chief toward the guardhouse.
The moment Crazy Horse saw or sensed the filthy cells, he whirled and attempted to break for the parade ground; Little Big Man jumped on his back, but Crazy Horse freed one arm and cut him across the wrist. Private William Gentles ran forward and bayoneted him—once certainly, possibly twice, with one thrust piercing the kidneys. Crazy Horse sank down, crying out, "Let me go, my friend—you have hurt me plenty bad!" Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy, who reached him moments later, found him "on his back, grinding his teeth and frothing at the mouth, blood trickling from a bayonet wound above the hip, and the pulse weak and missing beats," and immediately recognized the wound as fatal. Touch the Clouds intervened to prevent Bradley from moving the dying man to the guardhouse, declaring that Crazy Horse was a chief and could not be imprisoned; McGillycuddy had to petition Bradley twice before he relented and permitted Crazy Horse to be carried to the adjutant's office instead.
There, refusing a cot and lying on the floor, Crazy Horse was administered morphine; his father, Worm, spoke to him, and Crazy Horse roused himself long enough to say: "Father, it is no good for the people to depend on me any longer—I am bad hurt." He died later that night on September 6, 1877. When Touch the Clouds went out to bring the news to the waiting Sioux, a wailing rose from the parade ground and the surrounding tents. His body was returned to his elderly parents; after wandering the fort for three days in grief, they were permitted to place him on a burial scaffold outside the post. When the Spotted Tail Agency was relocated to the Missouri River the following month, they took his remains on a travois and buried him at an undisclosed location—legend places the site near Wounded Knee Creek, though his final resting place remains unknown.
