The Spotted Tail Agency And The Trail North

The most commonly cited general direction of the family’s movement after leaving Fort Robinson points toward the Spotted Tail Agency area — what was then in Nebraska, along Beaver Creek and the surrounding drainage.

Spotted Tail was Crazy Horse’s uncle — the uncle at whose camp Crazy Horse had been staying in the weeks before his death.

The Brule Lakota band that Spotted Tail led was camped in that area.

The family had connections there, trusted people, a social network that could provide the kind of assistance a grief-stricken family preparing a burial needed.