There’s a fascinating story in the Rapid City Journal today about Crazy Horse, the famous Oglala Lakota war leader whose life and 1877 death remain a mystery. No proven photos of Crazy Horse exist, and people who knew him insist that he was never photographed.

But Tim Giago, the former publisher of The Lakota Times and Indian Country Today, has an old photo that he believes depicts the famed Lakota leader. Giago, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, lives in Rapid City.

Now, “History Detectives” is on the case. A crew from the PBS program is in the Black Hills this week researching documents, talking to historians and interviewing Crazy Horse’s descendants. They are trying to pin down the time and circumstances of the small, framed portrait. The show is supposed to air sometime next summer.

If it turns out to be a photo of Crazy Horse, that would be a major historic find.

Crazy Horse is probably one of the most famous Native American war leaders of all time. In the 1860s and 1870s, he led Lakota, Cheyenne, Crow and Shoshone warriors in major battles against the U.S. military, including the Battle of Little Big Horn. He was later killed, reportedly by a guard, at Fort Robinson in Nebraska, in September 1877.

To the Lakota and other Plains tribes, Crazy Horse remains a symbol of uncompromising resistance to U.S. occupation of Indian lands and the influence of white culture. The belief that he was never photographed has only added to the mystique.
In 1948, sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski chose to create an image of Crazy Horse for his massive mountain carving near Custer.

According to Ruth Ziolkowski, Korczak’s widow and head of the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, the sculptor based his Crazy Horse carving on descriptions from people who knew Crazy Horse, including five survivors of the Battle of Little Big Horn. Korczak’s family continues work on the Crazy Horse Memorial carving today.

By the way, Ruth Ziolkowski told the Journal that the Crazy Horse Memorial museum has a small collection of photos that are purported to depict Crazy Horse. Some, she said, are obviously not Crazy Horse. One, for example, depicts a man who appears to be 60 years. No one knows the exact date of Crazy Horse’s birth, but was believe to be younger than 40 at the time of his death.

With the other photos, the identity of the subject remains an open question. It will be interesting to see what “History Detectives” turns up.