Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Crazy Horse

CRAZY HORSE, Indian chief, b. about 1842. He was an Ogallalla Sioux, brother-in-law of Red Cloud, and one of the principal chiefs of the hostile Indians that for several years defied the authority of the U. S. government in the northwestern territories. He left Fort Laramie, and went to war, after the murder of his brother in 1865. He soon established a reputation as a brave and cunning leader, and gathered a strong band, whom he ruled with despotic rigor. With Sitting Bull he surprised and destroyed Gen. Custer's command on the Little Big-Horn river, 25 June, 1876. He was pursued by Gen. Terry into the Black Hills, and the following spring Gen. Crook conducted an expedition against him and forced him to surrender, with 900 followers, at the Red Cloud agency.