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The Life and Death of Crazy Horse

ISBN: 0823412199

Title: The Life and Death of Crazy Horse

Author: Russell Freedman

KDL Description:

A profile of the Teton Sioux warrior depicts him as a shy, sensitive youth who overcame his fears in order to protect his people and their lands from invading white settlers, and follows his achievements in the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.
Lexile Level: 1100

Amazon Description:

Born on the Great Plains during the mid-1800s, Crazy Horse was a shy, sensitive youth who rose to fame as the greatest of all Teton Sioux warriors. He grew up at a time of fierce struggle, when the Sioux, pressed on all sides by growing numbers of invading whites, fought desperately to save their hunting grounds and their way of life. Crazy Horse never signed a treaty with white men and he resisted them all his life.

Called “Our Strange One” by his own people, he was different from other warriors. He wore no war paint, took no scalps, and refused to boast about his brave deeds. Faithful to a powerful vision he had as a boy, he rode into battle with a single hawk’s feather in his hair, a small brown stone tied behind one ear, and a few hailspots painted on his body. He won many victories, but his crowning achievement was leading his warriors against General Custer and his Seventh Cavalry in the Battle of Little Bighorn on June 26, 1876. The Indians fought with a passion and courage that overwhelmed the enemy and left 263 soldiers dead and 60 wounded.

Treachery and deceit finally led to Crazy Horse’s violent death at Camp Robinson on September 5, 1877. For generations to come, his survivors, their children, and their children’s children would tell of his brave deeds. In this moving account, Russell Freedman captures the courage and idealism of an uncompromising warrior who fought and died for his beliefs.