Get to Know Native American OG's- Little Big Man #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth

Little Big Man, or Charging Bear, was an Oglala Lakota, or Oglala Sioux, who was a fearless and respected warrior who fought under and was rivals with, Crazy Horse ("His-Horse-Is-Spirited"). He opposed the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, and fought against efforts by the United States to take control of the ancestral Sioux lands in the Black Hillsarea of the Dakota Territory. He also fought at the Battle of Little Big Horn in the Montana Territory in 1876. Late in life, he decided to cooperate with the White conquerors, and may have been involved in the murder of his old ally and rival, Crazy Horse, at Fort Robinson in Nebraska in 1877.

Little Big Man was Crazy Horse's lieutenant, and threatened to kill the U.S. government commissioners negotiating with the Sioux for control of the Black Hills in the late 1860s. However, after surrendering along with Crazy Horse in the late 1870s, he decided to switch allegiance, and was even suspected of being directly involved with Crazy Horse's death by assisting in pinning his arms as soldiers killed him with bayonets in 1877.

It was said the Little Big Man was crafty, but with considerable ability and presence, while being a recognized trouble maker. Crazy Horse's last words, uttered to Little Big Man and others, after he was bayoneted by a soldier, were "Let me go, my friends. You have got me hurt enough.

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“Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men,we didn't have any kind of prison. Because of this, we had no delinquents. We had no locks nor keys and therefore among us there were no thieves. When someone was so poor that he couldn't afford a horse, a tent or a blanket, he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift. We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property. We didn't know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being was not determined by his wealth. We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians, therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another. We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and I don't know how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society.” ― Lame Deer