In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse

As their road trip continues, Grandpa Nyles tells Jimmy that the highway follows a trail marked in 1860 by John Bozeman—a white man—to show the path to the goldfields in Montana. The Bozeman Trail ran through Lakota territory and parallel to many older trails used by the Lakota.

After a short stop at the former site of Fort Reno for Jimmy to “feel the same sand under [his] feet” (47) as Crazy Horse once did, the two proceed to Fort Phil Kearny. A friendly tour guide offers to share his knowledge about the fort, but after speaking to Grandpa Nyles, he realizes that the Lakota grandfather probably knows more about Crazy Horse than he does.

Close to the fort, Jimmy and Grandpa Nyles come to a battle monument. The Indigenous people call it the Battle of the Hundred in the Hands, while others call it the Fetterman Massacre. Grandpa Nyles critiques the plaque on the memorial, which remembers the United States soldiers and civilians who died during the battle. The plaque says there were no survivors, but Grandpa Nyles says that is wrong: There were hundreds of survivors, they just happened to be Indigenous people. Grandpa Nyles then tells Jimmy the story of the battle.