Crazy Horse had continued to speak in favor of the new northern agency for his people once promised by General Crook. This was contrary to the 1877 government plan to move the agencies to the Missouri River where supplies could be more economically delivered by river boat, an arrangement favored by army officers.
Crazy Horse further alienated the Army, now involved in a new Indian campaign, this time the outbreak of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce tribe. Efforts were made to obtain Indian scouts for the new campaign from among the former hostiles at Red Cloud Agency. At first Crazy Horse opposed their enlistment on the grounds that they would be used to fight Sitting Bull and their Sioux friends rather than Chief Joseph’s people. Finally Crazy Horse consented to fight the Nez Perce but Frank Grouard, acting as interpreter, made an error in translation and reported that Crazy Horse said he would fight until not a white man was left. Whether this error was an honest mistake or a deliberate one,[23] the mistranslation reinforced the rumors that Crazy Horse planned to murder Crook and other officers and that he planned to go on the warpath again. General Crook directed that the famed warrior be apprehended and “sent out of harms way.”[24]
A cavalry battalion from Camp Robinson and a large party of Indians (including Crazy Horse’s personal enemy, No Water, with whom he had had a squabble over a woman) rode to Crazy Horse’s camp nearby to arrest him. They succeeded in capturing many of his band, but Crazy Horse escaped and fled to Spotted Tail Agency, seeking refuge in the camp of his friend Touch the Clouds. His arrival caused considerable excitement in that camp, but loyal Brules interceded and restored order. Touch the Clouds and about 300 warriors then escorted Crazy Horse towards Camp Sheridan. Halfway there they were met by Lt. J. M. Lee, acting agent at Spotted Tail Agency, two other officials, and an interpreter. Just as this group reached the post parade ground Chief Spotted Tail arrived with an equally large number of his Brule warriors. This support for the small Camp Sheridan garrison turned the balance in their favor. With Spotted Tail backing the Americans, Crazy Horse apparently realized his position was not a strong one.
The crowd finally was dispersed and Lee and a few others had a conference with Crazy Horse who explained his desire to transfer to the Spotted Tail Agency. An attempt was made by interpreter Louis Bordeaux to correct Grouard’s mistranslation of Crazy Horse’s statement about fighting the Nez Perce. Lieutenant Lee and Major Burke assured Crazy Horse that he would not be harmed. In response to Lee’s persuasion Crazy Horse agreed to return to Camp Robinson the next day on condition that he be allowed to explain how he had been misunderstood and misinterpreted and that he wanted peace, not trouble. By this time, however, most officers, particularly those at Camp Robinson, completely distrusted him.
On their arrival at Camp Robinson, the post commander, Colonel Bradley, refused to hold a council with Crazy Horse despite Lee’s efforts to arrange one. Bradley’s orders gave him no alternative except to imprison Crazy Horse, and an effort was made to put him in the guardhouse. When he saw the cells inside Crazy Horse drew a knife and attempted to free himself but he was bayoneted by one of the guards during the struggle. Little Big Man was injured while trying to restrain Crazy Horse. Both friendly and hostile Indians were in the excited crowd of witnesses, and the friendly Indians prevented Crazy Horse’s friends from firing at the guard. When another attempt to put the mortally wounded warrior into the guardhouse was made, the Indians seemed so close to an outbreak that Colonel Bradley reluctantly agreed to Surgeon McGillycuddy’s suggested compromise and Crazy Horse was taken next door to the adjutant’s office where he died shortly before midnight on September 5, 1877.[25]
Great excitement developed among the Indians around Camp Robinson as a result of the killing of Crazy Horse and serious trouble was threatened, but the efforts of Indian leaders prevented a violent outbreak. In a report of the incident Lt. W. P. Clarke listed the Arapaho, Black Coal and Sharp Nose, and the Sioux leaders Red Cloud, Young Man Afraid of His Horses, American Horse, Yellow Bear, Little Big Man, Big Road, No Water, Three Bears, and No Flesh as the men who prevented an outbreak by controlling their people. That so important a man as Crazy Horse could be killed in such a way without any more serious consequences than a few days uproar was an indication that the war with the Sioux was about over.
After Crazy Horse was killed the plan to relocate Red Cloud Agency on the Missouri River went ahead rapidly. On October 25, 1877 the move was begun, with troops from Camp Robinson escorting the Red Cloud Indians and those from Camp Sheridan escorting the Spotted Tail Indians and the hostiles of the late Crazy Horse’s camp. Although seemingly subdued, the hostiles still managed to embarrass the soldiers. Before the two columns had proceeded very far the northern Indians broke away from the Spotted Tail column and joined the Red Cloud group. Then they broke away from that column, and, carrying Crazy Horse’s bones, fled north to join Sitting Bull in Canada, pausing on the way to raid in the Black Hills and along the Bismarck stage line. The first report was that some 1,700 Indians had escaped, but a recheck cut the figure to 800.
The soldiers from Camp Robinson who escorted the Indians built and formed the garrison of a military post at New Red Cloud Agency,[26] but the new location was used for only a short time. The Oglala refused to go to the new agency site and set up their camp seventy-five miles away. In 1878 the government gave up the Missouri River plan and the agency was moved west again to become the present Pine Ridge Agency about fifty miles northeast of Fort Robinson in South Dakota.
GARRISON LIFE
Camp Robinson was renamed Fort Robinson in January 1878. It remained an important post and its garrison was called upon in several Indian emergencies after the death of Crazy Horse.