the Oglala branch of the Lakota Sioux tribe
around 1830. He was the son of Chief Old
Smoke; his aunt, Walks-as-She-Thinks, was
the mother of the famous Red Cloud. Little is
known of American Horse’s youth and early
manhood, but he was apparently a brave and
astute warrior. This fact was confirmed in
1865 when he was elevated, along with his
close friend Crazy Horse, to the elite rank of
“shirt-wearer.” In this capacity he functioned
as an aide-de-camp to elder chiefs and prof-
fered advice as a tribal councilor in matters of
war and peace. Consistent with his position,
American Horse was granted the right to wear
a shirt made from bighorn sheep hides, lav-
ishly decorated with feathers, quillwork, and
the scalps of enemies taken in battle.
Around this time the nomadic life of the
Lakota Sioux was being challenged and com-
promised by a massive influx of white settlers
and prospectors. The discovery of gold in
Montana in 1850 accelerated the pace of intru-
sion, which in turn produced violent, deadly
encounters. American Horse apparently first
fought American soldiers during the wars
along the Bozeman Trail in Montana. In a se-
ries of successful raids, Chief Red Cloud
thwarted white ambitions to construct several
forts in the heart of Lakota buffalo country. In
1866, Col. Henry B. Carrington arrived and in-
duced several of the hostile chiefs to confer
with him at Fort Laramie. However, Red Cloud
and others stormed out of the talks when the
whites refused to dismantle their fortifica-
tions, and Fort Laramie became the object of
many harassing raids. Companies of cavalry
were frequently dispatched to engage the elu-
sive raiders, and on December 21, 1866, Capt.
William J. Fetterman trotted off, swearing he
could ride through the entire Sioux nation
with only 80 troopers. En route, he was lured
by Crazy Horse and American Horse into the
Peno Valley and directly into the hands of Red
Cloud’s waiting warriors. Fetterman’s entire
command subsequently perished in the
biggest defeat suffered by the U.S. Army thus
far. Two more years of internecine skirmishing
ensued before the American government ca-
pitulated and abandoned the recently erected
forts along the Bozeman Trail. It was a stun-
ning Indian victory and proof of the Lakota
Sioux’s fighting prowess.
In 1868, American Horse accompanied Red
Cloud on a mission to Washington, D.C., for
further treaty talks. There Red Cloud became
awed and alarmed at the apparent strength of
the Americans and thereafter reluctantly
agreed to place his part of the Lakota people
on a reservation. More militant factions, led
by American Horse and Crazy Horse, how-
ever, remained determined to maintain the
nomadic lifestyle of their ancestors and re-
fused to move. In 1874, a reconnaissance con-
ducted by Gen. George A. Custer discovered
gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a re-
gion regarded as sacred to the Sioux. They re-
buffed every attempt by the Americans to pur-
chase the land, and in December 1875 the
government issued an ultimatum requiring all
Sioux to report to reservations or face mili-
tary action. Again, militant factions under Sit-
ting Bulland others refused to yield. The
stage was now set for a dramatic confronta-
tion between the two cultures.
By the summer of 1876, two large columns
of American soldiers were converging on the
Sioux encampment at Little Bighorn from the
west and north. On June 25, 1876, Custer made
his famous attack on Sitting Bull’s camp and
was wiped out in the ensuing riposte by Amer-
ican Horse, Crazy Horse, and Gall, among oth-
ers. The magnitude of the defeat only spurred
the U.S. government to undertake greater ef-
forts, however, and a continuous stream of
mounted forces was sent against them. Soon,
the various Sioux and Cheyenne tribes broke
up their encampment and traveled separate
routes. But their dispersal did not dissuade the
U.S. forces from exacting revenge. On Septem-
ber 7, 1863, a party of cavalry from George
Crook’s column under Capt. Anson Mills acci-
dentally blundered upon American Horse’s
camp at Slim Buttes and returned undetected.
Considering the traditional vigilance of Sioux
encampments, it is difficult to account for this
lapse of security. Nonetheless, two days laterAMERICANHORSE