In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse

Back in Nebraska, Jimmy and Grandpa Nyles head toward their last destination: Fort Robinson. On the way, Grandpa Nyles explains that the winter after the Greasy Grass Fight was hard for Crazy Horse and the Lakota. Sitting Bull led his people into Canada, leaving only Crazy Horse’s group of Lakota to face the overwhelming pressure from the white settlers and soldiers. Grandpa Nyles tells Jimmy a story about the bravest thing that Crazy Horse ever did.

In Grandpa Nyles’s story, it is May of 1877. Crazy Horse and his advisors look down from a bluff at Fort Robinson, where the white men have told them to surrender. Some of the young warriors want to go on fighting the Long Knives, but Crazy Horse worries about what will happen to the women, children, and elderly after all the Lakota warriors have fallen in battle.

Dreading the impending loss of freedom, but knowing it is the only thing to do, Crazy Horse leads his people toward Fort Robinson. As they ride closer, some of the Lakota warriors start singing in loud and defiant voices. Crazy Horse knows that any wrong move might spark violence between his warriors and the Long Knives, which would put the vulnerable members of his people in danger.