12/14/2024
Black Shawl became Crazy Horse's wife in our traditional way. She was his only wife. The novel by Mari Sandoz loosely based on the Eleanor Hinman papers claims he had an affair with Black Buffalo Woman, who was married to a man named No Water. This is not true. He paid attention because her husband No Water liked to drink and would beat her when he was drunk. She was afraid to leave him so Crazy Horse took her to one of her relatives, Black Bear. There he was wounded with a pistol by a drunken No Water while in Black Bear's tipi delivering Black Buffalo Woman to her relatives. The other woman that some historians try to connect to Crazy Horse was 16 year old Nellie Larrabee. She was offered to Crazy Horse by the soldiers who actually planned to use her as a spy. Crazy Horse saw she had a good heart and since his wife Black Shawl was recovering from TB, he felt it would be good to have a helper for her when he was away. He never took her as a wife, afterall she had been offered to him by the soldiers, people he didn't really trust. It was a silly story told by the soldiers to make them feel like they had the upper hand on Crazy Horse. After Crazy Horse was killed, she went into his tipi and stole his ration card. She then married Albert Greasy Hand who began drawing rations as Crazy Horse for the next 6 months. Nellie did have a child shortly afterwards that actually belonged to a soldier, Lt William P. Clark, an officer at Fort Robinson. Crazy Horse did not "have his way with the ladies" as many in the film, TV, and literary world have claimed. Photo is a colorized version of his actual wife Black Shawl. To learn more from his relative's oral history of Crazy Horse we offer it written down at this link: https://reelcontact.com/collections/books/products/crazy-horse-the-lakota-warriors-life-and-legacy
