page_title: Young Man Afraid of His Horses
section_title: Resistance to assimilation
hierarchical_section_title: Young Man Afraid of His Horses / Resistance to assimilation
caption_attribution_description: English: Chief Young Man Afraid of His Horses (1830-1900, Lakota-name Tȟašúŋke Kȟokípȟapi); Oglala Lakota Leader, ca. 1890 Deutsch: Young Man Afraid of His Horses (1830-1900, Lakota-Name Tȟašúŋke Kȟokípȟapi); Oglala Laktota Sioux Häuptling, ca. 1890
context_page_description: Young-Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses [Tȟašúŋke Kȟokípȟapi], also translated as His-Horses-Are-Afraid and They-Fear-Even-His-Horses, was a chief of the Oglala Sioux. Commonly misinterpreted, his name means They fear his horse or His horse is feared, meaning that the bearer of the name was so feared in battle that even the sight of his horse would inspire fear. He is known for his participation in Red Cloud's War, as a negotiator for the Sioux Nation after the Wounded Knee Massacre, and for serving on delegations to Washington, D.C.
context_section_description: It appears that both Young Man Afraid of His Horses and his father signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868 which ended Red Cloud's War, but they had no intention of leaving their Powder River hunting grounds to permanently settle on the Great Sioux Reservation, at least initially. The influx of white pioneers had managed to drive away most of the game which sustained the Lakota nomadic lifestyle, particularly the large buffalo herds. By the early 1870s, during many winters the Hunkpatila suffered considerably from hunger. By the latter part of 1871, the Oglala split, with Young Man Afraid of His Horses and his father, as well as Red Cloud, leading their followers to the Red Cloud Agency.
  After settling on the Great Sioux Reservation, Young Man Afraid of His Horses worked tirelessly to help preserve his people's land and culture. He countered the obstructionist policy of Red Cloud that led to constant conflict between Red Cloud and the U.S. agent during the 1880s. While Young Man Afraid of His Horses maintained friendly relations with the whites and Federal government, he remained a staunch supporter of Lakota rights, repeatedly asking for compensation for the loss of the Black Hills, buffalo, and other game. He attended several delegations to Washington, D.C. for improved treatment as well as an acting negotiator with federal authorities to assist the Lakota people in adjusting to reservation life. For three years, he served as President of the Pine Ridge Board of Councilmen.
  Along with most of the Lakota, Young Man Afraid of His Horses resisted the push from the government for his tribe to become commercial farmers. He merely cultivated a small garden patch and began raising livestock, raising cattle, horses, and turkeys. He also frequently left the reservation to hunt and roam about the prairie, sometimes on forays of several months. During this period, he made peace with his former bitter enemies, the Crow Nation, and visited them regularly for the remainder of his life. Although he resigned himself to working with the whites to help his people, he remained a staunchly traditional Lakota. He only spoke his native language, had two wives, and fought bitterly to help his people retain the Lakota lands during the 1880s. As the government began attempts to break up the Great Sioux Reservation in the 1880s, Young Man Afraid of His Horses reconciled with Red Cloud and ceased his cooperation with the Pine Ridge agents. During the latter 1880s, the two Oglala leaders, together with Little Wound and the revered old Hunkpatila chief, Old Man Afraid of His Horse, now aged 81, led the opposition to Congressional efforts to take a large swath of Lakota land and sell it to white settlers. Although they succeeded in defeating the proposal at Pine Ridge, white pressure led to its overall passage.
  The loss of their land hit the Lakota hard, and Congress compounded their problems in 1889 when it voted to reduce their beef issue by 20%. The drought of 1890 caused many of the Lakota cattle to die, and as hunger prevailed among most of the people, their lowered resistance caused diseases to flourish. Although Young Man Afraid of His Horses was a realist and knew that the whites had destroyed the buffalo and now surrounded the Oglala, he lamented upon his people's misery as they became increasingly hungry and desperate. Like many of the Lakota, he longed for the old days:
  There was a time when we did not have to assume the character of beggars ... Then we were free to go where we pleased while now we are penned up like so many cattle ... There was a time when the buffalo covered our plains and furnished us with all the meat we needed. Now they are gone, wantonly destroyed by the white man and we are obliged to beg for something to take their place.
caption: Young Man Afraid of His Horses, 1890
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