It was the specific historical context of grave robbing, scientific collection of Native American remains, and the demonstrated willingness of American institutions to treat Indigenous human remains as objects of study or spectacle.

In this context, the decision to keep the burial location secret was both culturally coherent — consistent with Lakota practices around the dead — and strategically rational — a specific response to a specific pattern of behavior by the people from whom the grave needed protection.

The protection worked.

The 1870s-1890s: What The Documentary Sources Actually Say

The documentary sources from the period immediately after Crazy Horse’s death are worth examining specifically, because they establish what was actually known versus what was rumored.

The Army’s official records from Fort Robinson in September 1877 document the death itself in detail.