Crazy Horse died in circumstances that were, by almost any measure, undignified: in the struggle at the guardhouse door, bayoneted in the back, dying on the floor of the adjutant’s office.

His burial, conducted by people who loved him, was one of the few acts of full dignity available to his family in that moment.

Protecting that burial — ensuring that the dignity of his final rest was not further violated — has been one of the ways the community has maintained a form of control over what happened to him.

The second dimension is cultural continuity.

The knowledge of the burial location, held within the community, is a form of specific cultural knowledge — a piece of the community’s history that belongs to the community.