Little Big Man (
Lakota: Wičháša Tȟáŋkala), or Charging Bear, was an
Oglala Lakota, or
Oglala Sioux, who was a fearless and respected warrior who fought under, and was distant cousin to,
Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse ( , ; – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota people, Lakota war leader of the Oglala band. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by White Americans, White American settlers on Nativ ...
("His-Horse-Is-Crazy"). 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 Hills area 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 U.S. and may have been involved in the death of his old ally and rival, Crazy Horse, at
Fort Robinson
Fort Robinson is a former United States Army, U.S. Army fort and now a major feature of Fort Robinson State Park, a public recreation and historic preservation area located west of Crawford, Nebraska, Crawford on U.S. Route 20 in the Pine Ri ...
in Nebraska in 1877.
Details
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 1875. He surrendered along with Crazy Horse in the late 1870s.
It was said the Little Big Man was crafty but with considerable ability and presence while being a recognized trouble maker. Little Big Man grabbed Crazy Horse's arm just before Crazy Horse was bayoneted by an army soldier. Crazy Horse's last words, uttered to Little Big Man and others after he was bayoneted by the soldier, were "Let me go my friends. You have got me hurt enough."
See also
*
Little Big Man (film)
References
External links
Little Big Man, OglalaGenealogy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Big Man
1840s births
Lakota leaders
Native American people of the Indian Wars
People of the Great Sioux War of 1876
People from South Dakota
Red Cloud's War
Year of death missing