the lakota indians wanted a monument of their own to rival rushmore.ey asked him to carve the like. >> of crazy horse. he was revered for not allowing them to take away the indian land. >> why has it taken so long? >> because it's so big. we started with absolutely nothing and we had to make every bit of it ourselves. >> her husband spent 35 years ag3535 yearsblasting and chippit the mountain side. >> he died in 1 1974 when it was finally taking shape. he made the statement if the mountain stopped when he died his whole life would be wasted. >> ruth and their ten children decided to forge ahead. six of them still work on the mountain. >> he wanted us to have a commitment like he did. was he obsessed with this project? >> yes. did he teach us to be? yes. he said do not ever lay it down. if you lay it down -- if you lay down the feeling then you know, you have to fine something else to do. >> her younger sister monique wears the hard hat in the family supervising the actual carving of the mountain. as a young girl she learned how to scale the cup fu ask

indian wars have land at the base. in this case, 1868 treaty of fort laramie between the united states government and lakota nation had recognized the lakota lan claim to most of western south dakota and additional lands in montana and wyoming. that was fine in 1868, but a few years later, gold was discovered in the black hills in the united states government decided it wanted to renegotiate the treaty by force if necessary. that's what the army without your doing, trying to come out to come into the agency to renegotiate the treaty to conceive morland. custer's attack came from the east here are over into the valley of the little bighorn, had a long ride that day. he was trying to be sure to catch the indians are they bound him, discovered him and he was afraid they would disperse if they did see him first, so he was aiming for a surprise attack. he had a problem and that he had the long drive. he would have preferred an attack, but that wasn't possible. so it was about 3:00 in the afternoon. he split his forces into three groups. one attacked, one did scatting to the south of us and custer himself of the largest mai

indian wars, a land at the base of it. in this case 1868 treaty at fort laramie between the united states government and the lakota nation and recognized the claim to most of western south dakota and additional land in montana and wyoming. and that was fine in 1868, but a few years later gold was discovered in the black hills and the united states government decided it wanted to renegotiate the treaty by force if necessary. that is what the army was out here doing, trying to compel the indians to come in to the agency's and renegotiate that treaty to concede more of the land. custer attacked, came from the east across over into the valley of little bighorn, had a long ride that day. he was trying to be sure to catch the indians before they found him, discovered him and he was afraid that there would disperse. so he tried -- he was aiming for a surprise attack. he had a problem in that he would have provide -- he would have preferred a dawn attack. it was about 3:00 in the afternoon. he split his forces into three groups. when attacked, one day it's getting to the south, and custer himself in the largest body of soldiers main

of lakota participants were defending themselves and their way of life the ability to follow the buffalo to remain free indians not subservient to the united states government so i try to pick up as many of those perspectives and voices as i could. from the perspective of the united states calvary i tried to say something about the experience not just custer but the soldiers celeb for those accounts in this story for instance there is a young man from prussia and move to escape in the rv and then did not speak much english and then he joined the army to learn english should have a job now he was riding around the montana hills hunting indians if he was surprised to be here and survived and left a rich account of that experience. the account of little big horn is it is appointed history where people get excited coming in because of the bad, they yell, a cry, what happened over 100 years ago a story with extraordinary power for some people to confirm manifest denis day and the movement during the 19th century in for some people a story of great tragedy and pain because it is a reminder of the suffering the nativ

lakota intrusions on their land here. the participants in the battle were defending themselves. there way of life, their ability to follow the buffalo and remain free indians, not subservient to the united states government. so i try to pick up as many of those perspectives and voices as i could. from the perspective of the united states cavalry, i tried to say something about the experience not only of the officers of people like custer, but also some of the soldiers. a look for soldiers accounts to include in the story. for instance, a young man who was prussian and moved from pressure to new york to escape. found himself poor cannot speaking much. follow the advice of someone who said join the army. and the next thing you know he was riding around in montana hills looking for indians to mounting indians. and he was surprised to be here. he survived. it left the rich account of that experience. one of the things that people -- one of the points in history when people get excited, angry, matt. people will yell. people cry about what happened over 100 years ago. it is a story. extraordinary power both for some people to confirm american manifest destiny an