Back To The Red Road: The Hunt For Crazy Horse's Women

By Chandra Lahiri
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About the Book

Savoring memories of his 2018 solo pilgrimage across the Native sites of the Great Plains, a little at a time, every morsel full of riches, Chandra Lahiri eventually got to thinking of Crazy Horse and more so of the two women who played such a massively influential role in his life, even indirectly shaping the course of his career. His first love interest, Black Buffalo Woman, disappears from the pages of history shortly after the attempt on his life by her husband. His wife, Black Shawl, vanishes almost equally completely soon after his assassination at Fort Robinson. What became of them? How did their lives play out? Did they have descendants, perhaps living today? Did they ever find happiness again?

Understandably, they have been of limited or no interest to historians over the years, living as they did in the gigantic shadow of the legendary Crazy Horse, whose story is the very stuff of sagas. It is somehow fitting that an entire mountain is required to build a modern-day memorial to him, and it is unlikely that the sculptors take much notice of the fauna at its base, far, far below the peak. These women have effectively become footnotes to his story, if they appear at all. Knowing what he now does of them, Chandra considers this historical oblivion grossly unfair and unjust after the impactful roles they played in the great warrior’s life.

This is their story.

About the Author

Chandra Lahiri is an “Indian from India” who lives in the Sultanate of Oman. After many years as a global CEO, he now focuses on his lifelong passion for Native American heritage, especially of the northern Great Plains Nations. His wife is a Special Needs Educator in Oman, and his two sons live and work in the U.S.A. He loves hearing from like-minded readers—contact details and more pictures, maps, etc., can be found at www.dawnvoyager.com.

This book ships in 7-10 business days.

Published: 2023
Page Count: 126

Customer Reviews

Based on 2 reviews
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T
Tim Long
Break-through, game-changing Research of Crazy Horses wives

Customer Review
,Tim Long - Author of Owl Man & Lakota Headhunters
5.0 out of 5 stars Authenticated Break-Through Research on never-before-seen two historically-crucial Lakota women
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2024
BACK TO THE RED ROAD – THE HUNT FOR CRAZY HORSE’S WOMEN becomes at once ‘break-through’ research brought forth in Chandra Lahiri’s newest book. This text is a ‘Game-Changer’! Long have Western-History authors pondered how to make mention of Black Buffalo Woman and Black Shawl – Crazy Horse’s women – in their writings. Now, they will be able to, given Chandra Lahiri’s painstaking research.
Three years combing through Lakota Reservation Rolls of the National Archives & Records Administration in Kansas City, Missouri, Lahiri conscientiously paid attention to the minutest of details. This author’s innate ability to reassemble a lost jigsaw puzzle – i.e., name matches, both weak and fabricated, seemingly unseen, brings relationships into new focus. There is a bright new light shining here for those of us intrigued with the near-mythic legend of Crazy Horse.
Objectively without emotion, an obfuscating “red herring” pops onto the record, but with equanimity and logical discernment, a different ‘Black Shawl’ in the same locale and geography is brilliantly differentiated from the real-true wife of Crazy Horse.
All in all, this is a fascinating ‘read’ as one comes to dwell on these Oglala-Lakota women living out their lives after their loss of Crazy Horse in September 1877. These women come alive and breathe, identified in their places and times in the after-math of the high plains drama that were the Indian Wars of the late 18th Century. I highly recommend this investigative work and its behind-the-scenes storyline ringing true in a faithful honoring of these two remarkable women.

T
Tim Long
Break-through, game-changing Research of Crazy Horses wives

BACK TO THE RED ROAD – THE HUNT FOR CRAZY HORSE’S WOMEN becomes at once ‘break-through’ research brought forth in Chandra Lahiri’s newest book. This text is a ‘Game-Changer’! Long have Western-History authors pondered how to make mention of Black Buffalo Woman and Black Shawl – Crazy Horse’s women – in their writings. Now, they will be able to, given Chandra Lahiri’s painstaking research.
Three years combing through Lakota Reservation Rolls of the National Archives & Records Administration in Kansas City, Missouri, Lahiri conscientiously paid attention to the minutest of details. This author’s innate ability to reassemble a lost jigsaw puzzle – i.e., name matches, both weak and fabricated, seemingly unseen, brings relationships into new focus. There is a bright new light shining here for those of us intrigued with the near-mythic legend of Crazy Horse.
Objectively without emotion, an obfuscating “red herring” pops onto the record, but with equanimity and logical discernment, a different ‘Black Shawl’ in the same locale and geography is brilliantly differentiated from the real-true wife of Crazy Horse.
All in all, this is a fascinating ‘read’ as one comes to dwell on these Oglala-Lakota women living out their lives after their loss of Crazy Horse in September 1877. These women come alive and breathe, identified in their places and times in the after-math of the high plains drama that were the Indian Wars of the late 18th Century. I highly recommend this investigative work and its behind-the-scenes storyline ringing true in a faithful honoring of these two remarkable women.