APPROXIMATELY 1841–1877 
WARRIOR AND LEADER NORTH AMERICA
One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk.
—CRAZY HORSE
Curly was shocked. He had just seen US troops shoot Chief Conquering Bear in the back while he was negotiating with them for peace. These white men cared little for the Sioux or their way of life. They slaughtered buffalo for sport, introduced new diseases that the Sioux had no protection against, and sold them whiskey, which made them sick. Curly hoped that a vision from the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka, would show him how to help and protect his people.
For three days, thirteen-year-old Curly lay down in an isolated spot on the prairie—no food, no shelter—praying for a vision. To keep awake, he lay on sharp stones. By the third day without sleep, Curly was exhausted. He was weak from hunger, and his body was sore from the rocks. And still, Wakan Tanka had not given him a vision.
Pulling his aching body up off the ground, Curly searched for his pony. Suddenly, the air grew hazy. A great warrior appeared, riding a pinto similar to Curly’s own horse. Most Sioux warriors carried scalps as war trophies, but this warrior had none and wore only a single feather in his hair. Behind the mysterious rider, storm clouds gathered. Gunfire and arrows rained from the sky, and a lightning bolt shot down, grazing the warrior’s face. Then, as quickly as he had appeared, the strange warrior melted away. Though Curly didn’t realize it then, this vision would change his life forever. Curly would one day become the rider in his dream—a fearless warrior and champion for the Sioux. People far and wide would know him as Crazy Horse.
The Sioux believed buffalo were sacred animals, and when they killed one, they used every part of it—the bladders became water bags, bones became tools and knives, and hides became blankets, clothing, drums, and tepees. White settlers, on the other hand, paid $10 to ride a buffalo hunting train. In one day on the train, a single person with a gun could shoot more than 100 buffalo—which they just left to rot! In 20 years, more than 30 million buffalo were massacred. By the 1900s, the great buffalo herds were gone.
Born in about 1841 in South Dakota’s Black Hills, Crazy Horse was first named Curly because of his wavy, light-brown hair. Curly’s mother died when he was a baby, and his father was a holy man. As a young child, his Sioux tribe rarely stayed in one place for more than a few days because they followed the buffalo herds. Sioux riders were outstanding horsemen. They were so skilled on their pintos that they could fight, hunt, and even sleep on horseback!
By the time he was fifteen, Curly was a great horseman and hunter, but his true destiny was still unclear. To gain insight into Curly’s future, Curly and his father built a sweat lodge. Sioux sweat lodges were usually small tents built around a pit containing hot rocks and were used to gain self-awareness, purification, and higher knowledge. Curly, who had never told anyone about his vision, finally revealed to his father what he had seen two years earlier. His father told him that one day he would be a great warrior—the dream rider in his vision. After several years of training, seventeen-year-old Curly was ready to go to battle. To protect him, Curly’s father made a special medicine powder of dried aster flowers and eagle’s brain, which Curly was to put in his mouth and rub on his skin. Curly also wore a red-backed hawk feather and painted a lightning bolt down his nose to represent the warrior in his vision.
Curly’s first battle was between the Sioux and the Arapaho tribes over land rights. After several hours of fighting, the Sioux were losing ground. Suddenly, Curly and his horse raced through enemy gunfire and arrows and shot two Arapaho warriors. As soon as Curly saw the second warrior fall, he reached down to scalp the man for his war trophy, a symbol of his skills as a warrior. At that moment Curly was shot in the leg! Though he wasn’t severely injured, he had learned his lesson: to become the dream rider of his vision, he should not take the scalps of his enemies.
Curly was a great buffalo hunter. He crafted a bow for himself with arrows made of porcupine quills. He located herds by placing his ear to the ground and listening to the thunder of their hooves in the distance. While an experienced hunter was lucky to shoot just one buffalo during a hunt, Curly killed two on his very first trip!
When Curly returned to the Sioux camp, stories were circulating about how he had almost single-handedly won the battle. The whole tribe held a victory dance in his honor. Curly, a quiet boy, downplayed his tremendous role in the battle. To honor his son for his bravery, Curly’s father announced to the tribe: “My son . . . has done a brave thing; for this I give him a new name . . . Crazy Horse.” For the next seventeen years, Crazy Horse fought in many battles. His reputation as a warrior grew, and he became famous far and wide as a great Sioux leader and war strategist.
In 1875, a US government commission was sent to meet with the chiefs from several tribes. The commission demanded that the chiefs sign a new treaty that would give almost all of the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho land to the US government. For three days the chiefs discussed what they should do. When the commission returned, accompanied by 120 US soldiers, they were shocked to discover themselves surrounded by seven thousand warriors. The land negotiations failed, and the result was all-out war.
Though not all the Sioux wanted to fight, Crazy Horse saw no other option. He remembered the death of Conquering Bear, who had been so unfairly shot, and declared, “For me there is no country that can hold the tracks of the moccasin and the boots of the white man side by side.” It was time for war. In 1876, Cheyenne forces joined the Sioux to form an army and fight US forces. In one of their first major battles, later called Custer’s Last Stand, just forty Indians were killed, compared to the deaths of General Custer and 220 US soldiers. The Sioux strategy was brilliant, combining surprise attacks with detailed knowledge of their land.
Before each battle, Crazy Horse rubbed dirt all over his body and his horse. He also wore a special stone to protect his heart. He wore the same face paint as the warrior in his vision. All these things were part of Crazy Horse’s battle protection, or WO-TA-WE.
This taste of victory didn’t last long, however. Outnumbered by the US troops and low on supplies and weapons, the Sioux were in serious trouble. Some warriors fled with their families, but many stayed with Crazy Horse to continue fighting. Unable to get more food or supplies because of the war, many in the tribe grew sick. Crazy Horse, worried for the welfare of his people, made a difficult choice: he decided to surrender.
In 1877, Crazy Horse marched into Fort Robinson with eight hundred followers to give himself up. A group of Sioux, who had surrendered earlier, were waiting for them and sang out in strong voices welcoming their leader. One soldier commented, “By God, this is a triumphal march, not a surrender.” Even though they’d lost the battle, the Sioux were proud they’d stood up and defended their land and their way of life. General Clark, head officer of the fort, shook the hand of the great warrior, and Crazy Horse said, “I have been a man of war and have always protected my country against invaders. Now I am for peace. I will . . . fight no more.”
Though most Sioux greatly admired the courageous warrior, a few were jealous and did not like Crazy Horse. They spread rumors that he was planning to murder General Clark. When soldiers arrested him, Crazy Horse tried to escape and was stabbed with a bayonet. That night, at age thirty-six, Crazy Horse died. The next day, soldiers went to bury the body, but Crazy Horse’s friend Touch of Clouds pulled a gun on them. Touch of Clouds brought Crazy Horse’s body to his father for a traditional Sioux burial. Legend says that every night until Crazy Horse was buried, an eagle paced across his coffin. Crazy Horse’s father buried the body, not telling a soul of the grave’s location.
The Crazy Horse monument has been under construction for more than 50 years. The head alone is nine stories high, much larger than the heads of the US presidents on nearby Mount Rushmore.
Up to the very moment of his death, Crazy Horse fought bravely, staying true to his vision and becoming the great Sioux warrior and protector of his people he had always dreamed of being. Today, a memorial to Crazy Horse is being carved out of a mountainside in the Black Hills, a permanent reminder of Crazy Horse’s heroic life. Although the carving is not finished yet, nearby is the Indian Museum of North America, where visitors can browse Indian art, artifacts, and presentations on Indian cultures and history.
I will rock the world by becoming an entrepreneur, a filmmaker, a writer, and a motivational speaker. I will direct films and write novels and nonfiction, which will teach people how to better their lives. I will expand my website, Indigo Chef (indigo-chef.com), to educate hundreds of thousands of people about nutrients, diet, exercise, good attitudes, and naturopathic medicine. I will give talks around the world to thousands of people. I will follow in the footsteps of Jim Rohn and continue to advocate his “art of exceptional living” message.
HEZEKIAH CONDRON 
AGE 15