Tasunka Kokipapi (, 1836 – July 13, 1893), was an Oglala Lakota leader known for his participation in Red Cloud's War, as a negotiator for the Sioux Nation after the Wounded Knee Massacre, and for serving on delegations to Washington, D.C.. During and after his lifetime American sources and written records mistranslated his name as Young Man Afraid of His Horses or uncommonly as His-Horses-Are-Afraid, but a proper translation is They-Fear-Even-His-Horses or His Horse Is Feared, meaning that the bearer of the name was so feared in battle that even the sight of his horse would inspire fear.
Early life
Tasunka Kokipapi was born about 1836 into a distinguished family of Oglala headmen. According to his father, Young Tasunka Kokipapi was the fourth in a direct line of Oglala chiefs to bear the name, which translates to English as They-Fear-His-Horse.
Indian agent James McLaughlin noted in his memoir the poor translation of the lineage of leaders who bore the name Tasunka Kokipapi: "And this brings me to one feature of the Indian nomenclature that is worthy of attention the misleading character of the translations. Tasunka-Kokipapi is by no means to be rendered 'Young-Man-Afraid-of-his-Horses.' I do not know that the translator could have gone much further astray from the meaning of the name, if he had tried. The name implies a tribute of great esteem on the part of the Indian for the man who bore it, the meaning of Tasunka-Kokipapi indicating one whose capacity in battle was such that the mere sight of his horses inspired fear in his enemies."
After the Younger Tasunka Kokipapi became a renowned Lakota warrior and headman in his own right, his father became known as Old Man Afraid of His Horse (18081889). The elder Tasunka Kokipapi served for many years as a headman and chief of the Hunkpatila band of Oglala, but about 1870, as uncertainty over how to deal with American incursions created turmoil among the Lakota, elder Tasunka Kokipapi turned most duties of leading the Hunkpatilas to his son. In 1871, the Oglala split over the creation of the Great Sioux Reservation. The followers of the Younger Tasunka Kokipapi settled permanently at the Red Cloud Agency, later the Pine Ridge Agency. The non-treaty Oglala faction retained the Hunkpatila name and remained in the Powder River country, and Young Tasunka Kokipapi's band became known as the Payabya band.
Rise to leadership
The brutality of the Sand Creek Massacre on 29 November 1864 brought war to the South Platte River Valley, as the Cheyenne, Lakota, and Arapaho retaliated for the attack on a peaceful village of mostly women, children, and old men. On 7 January 1865, a combined force of 1000 warriors attacked the stagecoach station at Julesburg, Colorado, and they continued raiding throughout the South Platte region for several weeks. Young Man Afraid of His Horses emerged as a leading Oglala warrior during these raids. The U.S. Army's construction of forts along the Bozeman Trail beginning in 1866 to protect settlers infuriated the Lakota and Cheyenne, as they refused to accept the white presence in their prime hunting grounds. The U.S. officials invited the Lakota and Cheyenne leaders to a council at Fort Laramie to obtain right-of-way from the Lakota for the forts and road, but during the conference, a regiment of infantry troops arrived to build Fort Phil Kearny without the Lakota giving their consent. This duplicity enraged Old Man Afraid of His Horse and Red Cloud, and most of the Lakota stormed out of the council in anger. These events precipitated Red Cloud's War of 18661868, the only Indian war to end in defeat for the United States. Young Man Afraid of His Horses served as an instrumental war leader during this conflict.
He played an important role in the Lakota victory at the Battle of the Hundred Slain (known as the Fetterman Fight to the whites). At the Wagon Box Fight of 2 August 1867, Young Man Afraid of His Horses served along with Crazy Horse as the leaders of the combined Lakota/Cheyenne war party. In 1868, the multiband Oglala council bestowed one of their highest honors upon Young Man Afraid of His Horses, investing him, along with American Horse, Crazy Horse, and Sword Owner (later George Sword) as the Oglala's four head shirtwearers or protectors of the people. They were the last four head Oglala shirtwearers. In the 1930s, the official interpreter at the Pine Ridge Agency stated that Young Man Afraid of His Horses was the only one of the four who kept his shirt until his death.