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Crazy Horse was a respected war leader of the Oglala Lakota. He fought against the U.S. federal government to preserve the land and traditions of the Lakota way of life, participating in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876. After surrendering to U.S. troops under General Crook in 1877, the prominent leader was fatally wounded by a military guard while resisting imprisonment at Camp Robinson in present-day Nebraska. He has been honored by the U.S. Postal Service with a 13¢ Great Americans series postage stamp.

Crazy Horse is commemorated by the incomplete Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota — a monument carved into a mountain, in the tradition of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial (on which Korczak Ziółkowski had worked with Gutzon Borglum). The sculpture was begun by Ziółkowski in 1948. When completed, it will be 641 ft (195 m) wide and 563 ft (172 m) high. It is still incomplete because of funding constraints. Although the sculpture was originally requested by Henry Standing Bear and other Sioux elders, it has been criticized by some American Indian activists (most notably Russell Means) as exploitative of Sioux culture and Crazy Horse’s memory as well as desecrating sacred ground. Crazy Horse’s memorial statue depicts him pointing out toward his land in the Black Hills. His famous quote is “my lands are where my dead lie buried.”

[Wikipedia]

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