page_title: American Horse (elder)
section_title: General Crook at the Ravine
hierarchical_section_title: American Horse (elder) / Chief American Horse at Slim Buttes / General Crook at the Ravine
caption_attribution_description: English: "An artistic (and erroneous) rendition of the surrender of American Horse at Slim Buttes."
context_page_description: American Horse was an Oglala Lakota warrior chief renowned for courage and honor. American Horse is notable in American history as one of the principal war chiefs allied with Crazy Horse during Red Cloud's War and the Battle of the Little Bighorn during the Great Sioux War of 1876-1877. Chief American Horse was a son of Old Chief Smoke, an Oglala Lakota head chief and one of the last great Shirt Wearers, a highly prestigious Lakota warrior society. He was a signatory to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, along with his brothers Chief Red Cloud and Chief Blue Horse. A month or so after the Treaty, American Horse was chosen a "Ogle Tanka Un" along with Crazy Horse, Young-Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses and Man That Owns a Sword. On September 9, 1876, American Horse was mortally wounded in the Battle of Slim Buttes fighting to protect his family and defending against the white invasion of the "Paha Sapa" Black Hills.
context_section_description: On September 9, 1876, General Crook's relief column endured a forced march of twenty-miles to Slim Buttes in about four and a half hours, arriving at 11:30 a.m.   The whole cheering command entered the valley, and the village teemed with activity like an anthill which had just been stirred up. Crook immediately established his headquarters and set up a field hospital in one of the Indian lodges. Crook inventoried the camp and the booty.  The camp held thirty-seven lodges.  A three- or four-year-old girl was discovered, but no bodies were found. Over 5,000 pounds of dried meat was found and was a "God-send" for the starved troopers. Troopers separated the stores to be saved from the greater number to be destroyed, and the remaining tipis were pulled down. General Crook then turned his full attention to Chief American Horse and his family in the ravine.
  "Crook, exasperated by the protracted defense of the hidden Sioux, and annoyed at the casualties inflicted among his men, formed a perfect cordon of infantry and dismounted cavalry around the Indian den.  The soldiers opened upon it an incessant fire, which made the surrounding hills echo back a terrible music."   "The circumvalleted Indians distributed their shots liberally among the crowding soldiers, but the shower of close-range bullets from the later terrified the unhappy squaws, and they began singing the awful Indian death chant.  The papooses wailed so loudly, and so piteously, that even  not firing could not quell their voices. General Crook ordered the men to suspend operations immediately, but dozens of angry soldiers surged forward and had to be beat back by officers. "Neither General Crook nor any of his officers or men suspected that any women and children were in the gully until their cries were heard above the volume of fire poured upon the fatal spot."    Grouard and Pourier, who spoke Lakota, were ordered by General Crook to offer the women and children quarter. This was accepted by the besieged, and Crook in person went into the mouth of the ravine and handed out one tall, fine looking woman, who had an infant strapped to her back.  She trembled all over and refused to liberate the General's hand.  Eleven other squaws and six papooses were taken out and crowded around Crook, but the few surviving warriors refused to surrender and savagely re-commenced the fight.
caption: The surrender of Chief American Horse to General Crook at Slim Buttes. Chief American Horse's matchless bravery in defense of wives and children electrified even the enraged soldiers into a spirit of chivalry.
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