You now Reppin with OG 'Crazy Horse' Get to know this Iconic Native American Loco #NativeAme

Crazy Horse (Lakota: Tašúŋke Witkó in Standard Lakota Orthography,[2] IPA:tχaʃʊ̃kɛ witkɔ), literally "His-Horse-Is-Crazy"; c. 1840 – September 5, 1877) was a Native American war leader of the Oglala Lakota. He took up arms against the U.S. Federal government to fight against encroachments on the territories and way of life of the Lakota people, including leading a war party to victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876.

Four months after surrendering to U.S. troops under General Crook in May 1877, Crazy Horse was fatally wounded by a military guard, using his bayonet, while allegedly resisting imprisonment at Camp Robinson in present-dayNebraska. He ranks among the most notable and iconic of Native American tribal members and was honored by theU.S. Postal Service in 1982 with a 13¢ Great Americans series postage stamp.

Sources differ on the precise year of Crazy Horse's birth, but they agree he was born between 1840 and 1845. According to a close friend, he and Crazy Horse "were both born in the same year at the same season of the year", which census records and other interviews place at about 1845. Encouraging Bear, an Oglala medicine man and spiritual adviser to the Oglala war leader, reported that Crazy Horse was born "in the year in which the band to which he belonged, the Oglala, stole One Hundred Horses, and in the fall of the year", a reference to the annual Lakota calendar or winter count. Among the Oglala winter counts, the stealing of 100 horses is noted by Cloud Shield, and possibly by American Horse and Red Horse owner, as equivalent to the year 1840–41.[8] Oral history accounts from relatives on the Cheyenne River Reservation place his birth in the spring of 1840.[9] On the evening of his son's death, the elder Crazy Horse told Lieutenant H. R. Lemly that his son "would soon have been thirty-seven, having been born on the South Cheyenne river in the fall of 1840".[10]

Crazy Horse was named at birth Cha-O-Ha ("In the Wilderness" or "Among the Trees", meaning he was one with nature.) His mother's nickname for him was "Curly" or "Light Hair"; as his light curly hair resembled that of his mother.

Check out Crazy Horse Memorial, near Custer, South Dakota, is a huge work-in-progress mountain sculpture of Oglala Lakota warrior Crazy Horse... riding a horse. A similar creative endeavor to the four presidents' faces on Mount Rushmore (only 17 miles away), the sculpture is being carved into and blasted out of Thunderhead Mountain in the Black Hills.

Unlike Mount Rushmore, this sculpture isn't finished yet - and might not be finished for another 50 years or longer. The other difference: this work of art, memorial and tourist attraction is not financed by any government but is a private family endeavor!

Originally commissioned by Henry Standing Bear, Polish-American artist Korczak Ziolkowski began work on the mountain sculpture in 1948. He has since passed away - but his family continues the work of getting the monument finished. They also manage the memorial, which includes the Indian Museum of North America, the Native American Cultural Center, a restaurant, and several other smaller sculptures, like the Nature Gates, the Fighting Stallions and a tribute to 9/11 victims and first responders.

Personally, I was a lot more excited to see the Crazy Horse monument than those Mount Rushmore heads. As many Germans are, I'm very fascinated with Native American culture and its heroes and was very moved by Henry Standing Bear's statement “My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes, too.”