Halfway through this account, it is worth shifting from the historical-documentary question — where exactly was he buried? — to the larger question that the mystery opens:

Why does this matter?

Not “why does the mystery matter?” — that is a question about public fascination, which has obvious answers.

But why does the location of Crazy Horse’s burial matter to the people for whom it actually matters: the Lakota people, the descendants, the community that has carried his memory for nearly 150 years?

The answer has several dimensions.

The first is the dimension of dignity.