Crazy Horse Was A Pipe Smoker

In the the book "Memories of Chief Red Cloud" he says the Indians tracked Custer and Benteen the entire way , even baiting them to split their forces. Yeah, Custer was a boob but maybe if had some Balkan Sobranie with him he could have induced the Indians to put down their weapons and share a bowl with him..

There was an interesting investigative documentary on the Battle of Little Bighorn on TV a few years ago. Apparently they had recently had a brush fire over the battlefield and it proved to be a godsend for archaeologists. With the ground brush burned away, the archaeologists were able to pin point the empty cartridge casings fired by both the cavalry troopers and the Indians in the exact spots where the casings fell during the battle. This allowed them to better pinpoint the actual positions of the Indians and the troopers on the battlefield as well as trace the movement of the troopers from the start of the engagement to the final minutes of the battle. You could see where the troopers started out in a well defined skirmish line but towards the end of the battle the positions of the men proved to be a chaotic massing as one would expect from the obvious panic that must have occurred towards the end. Through forensic analysis of the cartridge casings, they were even able to trace a specific cartridge to a specific carbine that survived the battle and they now know exactly where the carbine was fired and carried across the battlefield!

I've been to the battlefield three times now. It's very interesting to see the landscape. At the bottom of a huge open field is a river. This is where Custer emerged from and started up the wide, long open field. There are tombstones along the way indicating where men started to fall. At the crest of the hill is where there is a large group of tombstones. This is where the remaining men of Custer's detachment made their final stand. As these men (less than 200) crested the hill I wondered how many times they said.. "OH SHIT" because just on the other side was about 2000 armed Indians!
There is a really nice museum there. What I don't understand is why they didn't take refuge in there? It air conditioned in the summer time... :D

Tobacco was only a portion of the mixture that went into his, and many Native Americans, pipe. Different herbs and sacred plants also went into the mixture. I'll bet it was aromatic as heck. Which begs the question, why were they able to hide so well?

There is a really nice museum there. What I don't understand is why they didn't take refuge in there? It air conditioned in the summer time...

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Probably for the same reason they didn't use the tank.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Heart-Everything-That-Is-ebook/dp/B00BSAZ614/ref=tmm_kin_title_0
I enjoyed this history of Red Cloud and his leadership during the early Indian wars on the western plains.

And there are are several mentions in it of Crazy Horse as a young brave.

If the other nations would have listened to Red Cloud the outcome of the so called Indian wars may have been much different. He was a big picture thinker and probably smoked many a pipe pondering the encroachment of the white man.

Get out, an american indian that smoked a pipe?? :?

Flintlockjohn said:
The battlefield is a fascinating place to visit. Once you see the ground, you can appreciate how difficult it must have been for Custer's forces to communicate and move, and how effective the Indians' tactics were. Definitely worth a visit for those interested in Western history.
I travel to South Central North Dakota every fall and along with Deadwood and Mt. Rushmore, the battlefield is on my must see list. What's a few hundred more miles, right?

A little boring Lakota theology lesson from an old fat guy....
If you are considering the chanupa, or "peace pipe" as non-Indians commonly call it, to be a casual pipe, you would be highly mistaken. It is the central religious item used in every single one of the Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota.
Chanupa is actually two Lakota words combined: cha, meaning wood and nupa, meaning two. It is a two part pipe, the stem being wood, and the bowl is carved from catlinite (pipestone). The bowl, because the stem fits into it, represents everything female. The stem symbolizes all things that are male. When the two parts are joined, they symbolize the entire Universe.
Each pinch of tobacco or kinnick kinnick mixture represented a specific prayer offering. It was (and still is by traditional Lakotas) believed that as the person praying (i.e. the smoker) drew the smoke into his mouth, those prayers were entering his/her body. As the smoke is expelled, it drifts throughout the atmosphere, touching each thing that exists. Generally speaking, since air is recycled...we all breath in and exhale the same air, along with the animal and plant kingdoms... it was felt that these prayers touched each thing in Creation.
It is true that Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Black Elk, and many other Lakota leaders smoked their pipes frequently, but they used them for prayer, religious rites, and making sworn contracts before God (Wakan Tanka).
I could elaborate, but will refrain unless there is some interest in it, as I feel like I've turned a simple thread into a cultural lesson. :lol: My apologies.
Note: I am a devout Anglo-Catholic, but grew up around Native Americans, lived near Little Big Horn, worked on a rez for several years, and spent many years studying the theology of the Plains Indians. I couldn't resist adding a couple cents.

For what it's worth, when I posted the above trivia, I had not yet read this post: Closed Racist Pipe Horror
I certainly was not trying to stir the pot. If needed, please delete my useless pontifications in this thread. 8)

I think we found our talking points for the second hand smoke police

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Touche'! :lol: