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Bruce Brown's 100 Voices... John Bourke's Recalls
ON DINING WITH CRAZY HORSE "WHEN WE approached the Chief's 'tepi' a couple of squaws were grinding coffee between two stones and preparing something to eat. Crazy Horse remained seated on the ground; but when Frank [Frank Grouard] called his name in Dakota, Tashunca-uitco, he looked up, arose, and gave me a hearty grasp of his hand. "I saw before me a man who looked quite young, not over thirty years old, five feet eight inches high, lithe and sinewy and with a scar in the face. The expression of his countenance was one of quiet dignity, but morose, dogged, tenacious and melancholy. He behaved with stolidity, like a man who realized that he had to give in to Fate but would do so as sullenly as possible. While talking to Frank, his countenance lit up with genuine pleasure; but to all others he was, at least in the first days of his coming upon the reservation, gloomy and reserved. "All Indians gave him a high reputation for courage and generosity. In advancing upon an enemy, none of his warriors were allowed to pass him. He had made hundreds of friends by his charity towards the poor, as it was a point of honor with him never to keep anything for himself excepting weapons of war. I have never heard an Indian mention his name save in terms of respect." On the Border With Crook by John G. Bourke, Charles Scribner's Sons 1891
John Gregory Bourke was General George Crook's adjutant. This eye-witness impression of Crazy Horse was obtained at a dinner held in Crazy Horse's honor shortly after he surrendered at Fort Robinson, NE, on May 6, 1877.
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