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Post by Ephriam Dickson on Aug 30, 2005 21:28:50 GMT -6
Kingsley suggested that we may want to have a discussion on other Lakota bands as we have been doing with the Hunkpapa (see below). In particular, he asked about the Minneconjou and Sans Arc in the Standing Rock Agency census records in 1881-82. (we will have to save the Blackfeet Lakota for another discussion).
The Standing Rock Agency records are not nearly as detailed for the Minneconjou and Sans Arc (as they are for the Hunkpapa and Blackfeet) since they did not remain at the agency long. Each of the tribes were divided into two components based on where they originated at, shipped there in the summer of 1881. They were then transferred out in the spring of 1882.
The Minneconjou were divided in the records into Fool Heart's band, coming from Fort Buford, and Hump's band, coming from Fort Keogh. In the Sept. 1881 census, Fool Heart includes 26 families (112 people) while Hump's band consisted of 142 families (714 people). They were transferred to Cheyenne River Agency in April 1882.
The Sans Arc were also listed in two groups, based on their point of origin. Those coming from Fort Buford were listed under Circle Bear; and those from Fort Keogh under Spotted Eagle. Unfortunately, Spotted Eagle and part of his band (139 individuals) were transferred to Spotted Tail Agency between July and Sept. 1881 just before the census, so we do not have a list of their names. Part of Sans Arc from Fort Buford however joined Circle Bear and they are counted in the census, 85 families or 351 people total.
In early 1882, the remaining Sans Arc at Standing Rock are split between two bands, Circle Bear (with 97 people) and Black Wolf (with 245). Black Wolf and his band were transferred to Cheyenne River in April 1882; but it appears that Circle Bear remained behind at Standing Rock though his numbers continued to dwindle. By July, he was down to only 40 people. I will have to follow him through the census records to see what eventually happened to him.
As you may already know, no agency records come close to the detailed material that we have for Standing Rock. For the Hunkpapa, we can follow each of the bands for 10 to 15 years, showing changes in their composition and size. Cheyenne River Agency records, on the other hand, are mostly missing. We have the 1876-77 Army register but then nothing until the regular agency census begin in 1886. Regrettably, this is an important period for which we currently do not have documentation for the Minneconjou and Sans Arc. But I am still looking!
Charlie Bear Face (interview 1931 in Mekeel Mss.) noted that there were four shirt-wears among the Sans Arc:
1. Black Eagle of the Scarlet Cloth Earring band
2. Elk Head of the Bad One's band
3. Looks Up of the Bull Manure band
4. Blue Coat of the Eat Dried Venison Band.
Men by the first three name all appear in the Sept 1881 Standing Rock Agency census, all listed within Circle Bear's band. This would seem to be support the idea that the grouping represents several combined bands.
Hope this helps!
Ephriam
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Post by kingsleybray on Aug 31, 2005 3:55:15 GMT -6
Thanks, Ephriam. I'm going to limit my main comments to the Sans Arcs today. In the period ca. 1880 missionary S. R. Riggs obtained the order of bands in the Sans Arc camp-circle. Starting at the south side of the east-facing camp-entrance (tiyopa) and running round clockwise to the north side or horn (hunkpa), the order is this:
1. Mini sala, Red Water, or Itazipco-hca, Real Sans Arc [formerly two separate bands]
2. Sina luta oin, Red Cloth Earring
3. Woluta yuta, Ham Eaters
4. Maz pegnaka, Metal Hair Ornament
5. Tatanka Cesli, Bull Dung
6. Siksicela, Bad Ones
7. Tiyopa Canupa, Smokes at the Entrance.
Having established this, I'm going to come at the Great Sioux War from the other end. The Stanley Vestal material indicates that in June 1876 the Sans Arc village on the Little Bighorn included the following leaders [with my hunch about their status in the village organization that summer]:
1. Spotted Eagle [War Chief?]
2. High Horse [Wakicunze, or Decider?]
3. Black Eagle [ " " ?]
4. Blue Coat [ " " ?]
5. Two Eagles [ " " ?]
Band affiliations: the Mekeel material cited by Ephriam explicitly identifies two of these leaders (Black Eagle and Blue Coat) with named bands: Black Eagle (surrendered at Ft Buford January 21, 1881) is explicitly identified with the Red Cloth Earring band. Spotted Eagle (surrendering at Ft Keogh October 31, 1880) was identified with the Bull Dung band in a contemporary Army report, as was Red Bear (leader of the main Sans Arc group to flee to Canada from Spotted Tail Agency in fall 1877). Blue Coat (surrendered at Cheyenne River Agency November 30, 1876) was identified with the Ham Eaters band.
Of the other leaders, I've noted that Vestal often links High Horse and Two Eagles with a third Sans Arc headman, Brown Thunder. My own contacts at Cheyenne River have identified Brown Thunder with the Metal Hair Ornaments band, and High Horse and/or Two Eagles may have belonged to that band. I'm continuing to research these matters, so treat this all as a work-in-progress.
Extending the interpretation, as I did with the Hunkpapa band data supplied by Glenbow, I feel that the Sans Arcs also comprised two primary divisions: the Red Water division had a more easterly distribution closer to the main stem of the Missouri River. It probably comprised band numbers 1, 2, 3, and 7. Band numbers 4 and 5 comprised a second division, to whom the name Saoni may have been in older times attached. The Real Sans Arcs may also originally have been identified with this division, which by the mid-19th Century had a more westerly distribution than the Red Water. The band name Plenty Horses, not otherwise recorded, was applied to this division by F. V. Hayden in ca. 1857 - a name reflecting western contacts to the world of horse trading (with the Cheyennes via the Oglalas and Miniconjous) and raiding (against the Mountain Crows).
The Bad Ones band fits in the camp-circle between these two primary bands. This is consistent with the account of one of my Sans Arc informants, who stated that the Bad Ones were originally a break-off faction from the Kiyuksa band among the Oglalas and Brules (Southern Tetons). Therefore they would have been guests in the Sans Arc hoop, assigned a camping place between the two primary host bands. Other Bad Ones offshoots were found among the Hunkpapa (see the Hunkpapa band thread) and the Miniconjou.
I'll return later to this, and we shall try to address the Miniconjou bands also.
Kingsley
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Post by Agnes on Sept 19, 2005 5:59:26 GMT -6
Dear Ephriam and Kingsley!
I haven't opportunity to research among files and records. I'm able only to read books. You wrote many great infos! I can to learn many from You! Thanks!
In the book, The Lance and the Shield by Utley Robert, he mentioned names of other Sans Arc leaders such as Turning Bear and Buffalo Hump. Which bands they belonged?
Sincerely:
Agnes
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misty
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by misty on Feb 25, 2006 2:11:00 GMT -6
Kingsley and Ephriam
Would you please continue this discussion with the Minniconjou bands at the LBH?
Thanks Misty
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Post by kingsleybray on Feb 26, 2006 8:35:13 GMT -6
Misty, thanks for prodding me into action. Let's start again by listing the major Miniconjou bands, in the order they took in the tribal camp circle. This is the list provided by No Heart to Rev. H. Swift in 1884. Once more band no. 1 is next to the east facing entrance or tiyopa, occupying the southeast segment of the circle. The other bands follow round to the north side of the tiyopa:
1. Unkche yuta, Dung Eaters.
2. Glaglaheca, Untidy, Slovenly, Shiftless.
3. Shunka yute shni, Eat No Dogs.
4. Nige Tanka, Big Belly.
5. Wakpokinyan, Flies Along the River.
6. Inyan ha oin, Musselshell Earring.
7. Siksicela, Bad Ones.
8. Wagleza-oin, Gartersnake Earring.
9. Wanhin Wega, Broken Arrow.
Bull Eagle gave a similar list/circle in 1880, but omitting no's 4 and 9 as being extinct.
From historical documents and information given me by Lakota consultants, we can match several of these bands up with chiefs and headmen in the period 1850-80.
1. Dung Eaters - not explicitly identified with a chiefly family; however I suspect that this is the band identified with the father and son chieftainship of White Hollow Horn and Little Bear. These men were present at Cheyenne River Agency through September 1876, being registered in the agency census on Sept. 24, but "all left to join Hostile Camp on Sept 25th". The main part of their band was therefore not at the Little Bighorn.
2. Glaglaheca is identified with the White Swan dynasty of Miniconjou hereditary chiefs. Most of this band was resident at Cheyenne River Agency by 1876. It would not have been collectively present at the Little Bighorn.
3. Shunka yute shni was seemingly divided into agency and non-treaty factions after 1868. The No Heart dynasty of chiefs was identified with the agency faction. Modern day elders all consistently identified Hump with the Shunka yute shni. As a key non-treaty leader, Hump's segment of the band was present in force at the Little Bighorn. My research strongly indicates that this band and the extinct Broken Arrow band were offshoots of a single parent band.
4. Big Belly band - if it was not already "extinct", the 1876 whereabouts of this band are not known. There is a possible link to the headman Roman Nose. He was present at Cheyenne River Agency through the summer of 1876, being one of the five Miniconjou leaders who left "immediately preceding" the census taken on Sept. 24.
5. Wakpokinyan - this is the band associated with the hereditary dynasty of the One or Lone Horn family. Lone Horn himself had died near the agency probably in the first few weeks of 1876. As the summer progressed leadership focussed on his son Touch the Clouds, who like Roman Nose was present at the agency until shortly before Sept. 24. Believing (correctly) that their ponies were about to be impounded, these two headmen and their bands plus those of Long Neck (Red Skirt No. 1), Bull Eagle, and Red Skirt No. 2, all left the agency to more or less reluctantly join the non-treaty alliance that had defeated Crook and Custer. A second leadership family in the Wakpokinyan was that of Lame Deer. The band had polarised in 1868 over the issue of that year's treaty. Lame Deer continued in 1876 to lead the non-treaty faction, and his followers were present in strength at the Little Bighorn.
6. Musselshell Earring - according to my consultants was the band of White Bull (Stanley Vestal's key informant) and his father Makes Room. The majority of this band was identified with the non-treaty faction of Miniconjous, and was present at the Little Bighorn.
7. Bad Ones - leadership not clear, although some statements may again align Roman Nose with this band.
8. Gartersnake Earrings - not explicitly identified with any chiefly family, but my hunch is that this band ties up with contemporary leader Flying By (not to be confused with Walter Camp's Miniconjou informant of the same name, born 1850, who was one of Lame Deer's sons). One of my consultants has identified Dog Backbone, the Miniconjou killed on Reno Hill on June 26, with what she called the "Wagleza-wila". I think that this band was also present in large force in the non-treaty coalition at the Little Bighorn.
9. Broken Arrow - this band was very important in the early 19th Century. It broke up about 1840, its members shifting to other bands and divisions (e.g. the Two Kettle). The residual members seem to have been extremely 'hostile' and were probably present in large numbers at the Little Bighorn.
So much for instalment 1. I'll return and expand on these ideas, but I wanted to get down the basic Miniconjou tribal structure and show how it maps onto treaty/non-treaty factions. More later, after we get another discussion flowing!
Kingsley
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Post by Dietmar on Feb 27, 2006 4:55:05 GMT -6
Kingsley,
the insights you give on Sioux tribal history are always unbelievable! I wish I could contribute something you don´t already know.
All I can do is raise some questions:
1. in “Warpath” White Bull said “the Minniconjou Sioux were governed by six hereditary chiefs or Scalp-Shirt Men. In 1866 these were Brave Bear, Makes-Room, White-Hollow-Horn, Black Shield, One Horn and White Swan. Lame Deer and Fire Thunder were then vice-chiefs.” Five of these names were already categorized in your last post. Brave Bear is unknown to me. But Black Shield was a chief in 1876. Can we name him a leader in one of the bands you listed? I think I remember you stated in one of your articles, that Black Shield lost his influence at the end of the Sioux Wars. Fire Thunder was a famous warrior, but wasn´t he Oglala?
2. White Bull also said that White Swan hated the whites the most. He had fought them often and when he died he requested that his followers had to kill all white men. I wonder if and why his son, White Swan the younger, had neglected this mission, for he was at the agency in 1876.
3. I think Roman Nose was the son of One/Lone Horn and so the brother of Touch-the Clouds. Their bands must have had close ties. No wonder they were together at the agency. Lame Deer was also related to the Lone Horn family, being Lone Horns brother. But I remember his band shifted to the warlike Hunkpapa of Sitting Bull in the 1860s.
A third son of Lone Horn was Spotted Elk (later called Big Foot). Where was he in 1876. I mean I read somewhere that he was at LBH, but I am not sure. And was he already a band leader by then?
4. Another headman at LBH was the Miniconjou Red Horse. In which band was he a leader?
I would be happy if someone can give answers to some of these questions. Thanks.
Dietmar
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Post by ephriam on Feb 27, 2006 8:42:43 GMT -6
Unfortunately, I cannot add much to Kingsley's review either. In addition to the headmen that Dietmar brought up, however, I would like to add one additional name.
White Bull (in James Howard, The Warrior Who Killed Custer p. 31-32) lists the chiefs of the Mnicoujou, including all the names mentioned above by Kingsley and Dietmar except one. White Bull mentions six hereditary chiefs including their sons, then notes that there were two who rose to prominence as war leaders, much as Red Cloud did among the Oglala. These were Lame Deer and Black Moon (not to be confused with the Hunkpapa leader by the same name).
The Mnicoujou Black Moon (c1821-1893) had a small band at the Little Bighorn (Vestal, Sitting Bull, p. 143). He may have been with Lame Deer in May 1877 when that headman was killed. He led his band into Canada in 1877 and was one of the last to leave. My impression is that his band broke up during the 1880-82 period. As many of the northern or non-treaty bands came in and surrendered, Black Moon held out though many of his followers did not. His daughter married one of the Mounties at Fort Walsh, perhaps added incentive for him to remain. Black Moon finally left Canada with 11 lodges in April 1889. After being intercepted by troops, he made it to the Standing Rock Agency that July. He and his family were transferred to Cheyenne River to join other Mnicoujou in October 1890. Most of his family left Cheyenne River with Big Foot and ended up at Wounded Knee -- Black Moon's wife, daughter and son were killed there; another son and other family members were wounded. Black Moon remained at Cheyenne River for the remainder of his life. He does not appear to have been a band leader during this later period. I still cannot match Black Moon's band to any of the known bands listed by Kingsley above.
Unfortunately, as I noted earlier, the Cheyenne River Agency census records are not much help. I did find a few more records so that we have moderately good coverage of the Mnicoujou families from the fall of 1876 (with the Army's detailed census) through 4th Quarter 1881. These later records are just issue records. Unlike the 1876 census, the families are not listed in bands; rather, from 1877 forward the agent at Cheyenne River listed everyone alphabetically by tribe, thus erasing any evidence of band structure. The first full census for Cheyenne River came in 1886, but if you look closely at its structure, it preserves the alphabetical listing from the 1877-81 records with some additions inserted -- again, no evidence of band structure. So while Standing Rock, Pine Ridge and Rosebud census records provide some important clues as to the relationship of bands, the Cheyenne River Agency census records are disappointingly not very helpful.
Ephriam
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Post by kingsleybray on Feb 27, 2006 13:47:39 GMT -6
Thanks Dietmar and Ephriam:
Let's take the White Bull list of Miniconjou chiefs in detail. Actually there are two such published lists:
(a) printed in Vestal, WARPATH, p. 51, reading as follows:
Six Hereditary Chiefs or Scalp Shirt Men:
1. Brave Bear
2. Makes Room
3. White Hollow Horn
4. Black Shield
5. Lone Horn
6. White Swan
plus two "vice chiefs":
7. Lame Deer
8. Fire Thunder.
A similar list was printed in Jim Howard's THE WARRIOR WHO KILLED CUSTER: THE PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF CHIEF JOSEPH WHITE BULL, pp 31-32. It reads:
Six Wichasa Itanchan (Chief Men):
1. Makes Room
2. Black Shield
3. Lone Horn
4. White Hollow Horn
5. White Swan
6. Comes-flying [i.e. Kinyan Hiyaye, Flying By]
plus two "renowned" men who were accordingly "treated as chiefs . . . They wore shirts decorated with scalps":
7. Lame Deer
8. Black Moon
The lists are identical except that Howard's list replaces Brave Bear with Flying By, and Fire Thunder with Black Moon. From the treaty commission minutes of 1865, we know that Fire Thunder (recognized as one of the ten chiefs of the Miniconjou by Gen. Harney in 1856) had died by that year. Black Moon must have been seated as his successor.
Taking Dietmar's points, I have no proof, but my feeling is that Black Shield (also known as Breast) was associated with the Broken Arrow band or one of its split-offs.
In truth there were several men named Fire Thunder (Wakinyan Peta) among the Oglala and Miniconjou in this period. A younger Miniconjou of the name was listed in Makes Room's band (i.e. the Musselshell Earrings) in the Cheyenne River Agency census for 1875. Given the strongly hereditary nature of Miniconjou leadership, perhaps his namesake (possibly father?) had belonged to the Musselshell Earrings.
White Swan: the chief of 1876 was at least the third of this name. His father was implicated in the planning for the Fetterman fight, 1866, and died that same year. White Swan III brought his band, counting approximately 20 lodges, to the just-established Cheyenne River Agency in the fall of 1868. His Glaglaheca band augmented the permanent peace faction of Miniconjous that had been based around Ft Sully for several years: the bands of headmen The Hard (Eat No Dogs band) and One Iron Horn (not to be confused with Lone Horn). Apart from a lengthy visit among the non-treaty bands or winter roamers in the winter of 1869-70, White Swan was a fixture at the agency from that time forward, a key proponent of peace and a delegate to Washington DC in 1870, 1875, and 1888.
Roman Nose: Here begin problems with the standard secondary sources. I don't believe that Roman Nose was a biological son of Lone Horn. Take a look at the famous 1868 Ft Laramie group shot including both men, and the age difference is simply not possible! My wife, with no detailed knowledge of the controversy, but by the same token an objective reader of the pictorial evidence, thought that Roman Nose looked the older of the two men! I don't quite think that, but if Lone Horn was born about 1814-15 (his own statement), I think Roman Nose must have been born no later than the early 1820s. This is consistent with family descent information I'm beginning to accrue, which shows that he had children born in the 1840s. OK, Lakota kin terms are more extensive than ours - an ate (father) would include what we would call paternal uncles, etc. etc. Perhaps Lone Horn was even a hunka father to Roman Nose. I think that Hardorff - a great gatherer or data - made a misreading of a passage in George Hyde and considered the successors to Lone Horn (Touch the Clouds, Spotted Elk/Big Foot, and Roman Nose) as all Lone Horn's sons. Against my reading it is only fair to say that Lone Horn descendants today certainly do consider Roman Nose as a son of Lone Horn.
Spotted Elk/Big Foot: again I don't think that Spotted Elk was a biological son of Lone Horn. Census records indicate his birth about 1826 - when Lone Horn was 11 or 12. It is worth noting that several Lakota accounts - admittedly vague - indicate that Big Foot and Lone Horn were not father and son, but brothers. Frustratingly, I have not been able to clear up this problem with family descendants. One interpretation that I think is worthy of consideration is that one story about Big Foot identifies him as a nine-year old orphan on an Oglala war-party against the Pawnees - a raid dated by the 1833 Leonid shower When the Stars Fell. There are circumstantial details in the story that match up with a raid recorded
in the fall of 1835. Since the elder One Horn was killed by a buffalo bull in July 1835 at Bear Butte - could Spotted Elk have been his orphaned 'son' subsequently raised by the younger Lone Horn? On bands, one of my consultants named Spotted Elk's band as the Hehepiya, meaning something like At the Foot of the Hills. This may be a reference to Big Foot's camp location on the Cheyenne River in the 1880s. Josephine Waggoner's brief profile names Big Foot's band as the Inyan ha oin (Musselshell Earrings), but this seems unlikely - at least in any sense of permanent residence.
Lame Deer: Continuing in iconoclastic vein, Lame Deer was not the brother of Lone Horn. They did belong to the same band, and may have been related, but this assertion is based on a misreading by Harry Anderson. Harry - one of the great pioneers of lakota history - thought that Elk Bellows Walking (indeed the elder brother of Lone Horn) was the same man as Lame Deer. The 1865 Treaty Commission minutes establish that this is not possible.
Red Horse: we don't know his band identity, although he surrendered in Feb. 1877 with Spotted Elk. My hunch would be that his outfit, and those of Red Skirt and Bull Eagle, were part of the Gartersnake Earring band.
Black Moon: my research has thrown up a number of band names in addition to the major bands listed in the camp-circle. This probably reflects Miniconjou population attrition through the 19th Century, with people steadily shifting to the bigger Teton divisions (especially the Oglala and Brule). A persistent name to crop up is Ashke, Lock of Hair. This may have been a sub-band of the old Broken Arrow band. Some of my consultants identified elements of Black Moon's family with the Ashke.
Of the chiefs listed by White Bull, three of the Wichasa Itancan
Makes Room
Flying By
Black Shield
and both of the "vice chiefs", Lame Deer and Black Moon, were listed by him as present at the Little Bighorn. Of the others, Lone Horn was dead, White Swan III and White Hollow Horn were at Cheyenne River Agency. Assuming a Miniconjou population of 270-300 lodges in 1876, I think this is consistent with a little more than half the tribe being at Little Bighorn on June 25. I've tweaked the figure up and down during writing my biography of Crazy Horse, but in the end I think John S. Gray's estimate of 150 Miniconjou lodges at Little Bighorn is pretty fair. As a round figure estimate of total Lakota lodges present I favour 850-900 (not including Cheyennes), right around one-third of the total Teton population. The other two-thirds were living at the agencies of the Great Sioux Reservation.
More later
Kingsley
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Post by grahamew on Feb 27, 2006 15:27:20 GMT -6
Just out of interest, is this the Brave Bear you refer to?  If Big Foot was that old, then surely the Huffman photos that are often claimed to be him, must be of another man?   |
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Post by Dietmar on Feb 27, 2006 16:44:19 GMT -6
Kingsley, thank you very much for answering my questions in detail. I am stunned by all the information! Grahame, I think the Brave Bear photo was made or published by D.F. Barry, wasn´t it? This man looks quite young, too young to be a chief in 1866 and I don´t believe it could have been made earlier than in the late 1860s. I was thinking and wondering about all the different published Big Foot photographs for a long time. So I would very much appreciate a discussion about these photos. The Huffman photo is labeled Spotted Elk. He looks very young, also maybe too young. To me the most reliable picture of the Big Foot who was killed at Wounded Knee is in the group photo of the Cheyenne River delegation at Washington in 1888 by Thomas Smillie.  Spotted Eagle (Sans Arc) & Big Foot (Miniconjou) The second Big Foot photograph was made by Alexander Gardner in 1872. Although it has been published hundreds of times as the chief killed at Wounded Knee, I really doubt this. Gardner pictured delegates from several Sioux tribes (Oglalas, Brules, Yanktonais), but no Miniconjous. The Big Foot photo was attached to the Oglala delegation, led by Red Cloud. There are other hints. If you take a look at the 1868 treaties, there was indeed an Oglala chief named Big Foot. Catherine Price states in her book that the Oglala chief Big Foot was among the delegates who went to visit the President in 1872. In 1875 there went another delegation to Washington. This time Miniconjou chief Lone Horn went along. In the group photograph of 1875 there is also a Big Foot shown. This must be the son/adopted son of Lone Horn (Also pictured in the photo is White Swan III). |
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Post by kingsleybray on Feb 27, 2006 17:01:42 GMT -6
Thanks Grahame
The Brave Bear image I don't know - what is its age and provenance?
The other two are more cases of mistaken identity. The first was taken by Huffman. This Spotted Elk was one of the Miniconjous to return from Canadian exile and surrender at Ft Keogh. That means he isn't Spotted Elk/Big Foot, who surrendered at Cheyenne River Agency in February 1877 and remained there until the tragic last days of his life. As a possible solution to his real identity, there is a Miniconjou listed in the Spotted Tail Agency census of 1877, a single man living in Roman Nose's lodge - probably one of his 'sons'. He probably fled to Canada with the Roman Nose outfit in January 1878. So the Huffman photo could be him after his return from Canada. We definitely need Ephriam in on this one - does Spotted Elk show up in the Miniconjou roll taken at Standing Rock in 1882 - and listed in Hump's camp, i.e. the Miniconjous from Ft Keogh?
This Huffman image strongly resembles the Spotted Elk who accompanied the Pine Ridge delegation to Washington in 1891 in the aftermath of the Wounded Knee tragedy. In 1931 anthropologist Scudder Mekeel obtained a list of contemporary Oglala communities. One of the White Clay District communities he listed as Spotted Elk or "Opangalicka (Also called Big Belly of Spotted Elk Band[)]. Spotted Elk's other name is Big Foot. The one who was massacred at Wounded Knee. This man was the present Spotted Elk's father's brother." So, connections still provisional, but this "present Spotted Elk" could be the same man photographed by Huffman, a nephew of Big Foot's (in our system; in the Lakota system he would have been a son), possibly the son of Roman Nose. This would also tie up both Roman Nose and Big Foot to the Big Belly band of Miniconjous. But we are at the outer edge of conjecture here.
The other shot of Big Foot was taken by Alexander Gardner in 1872, one of his portraits of the Oglala delegation to Washington that spring. Despite numerous reproductions as the famous Big Foot, this is not the Miniconjou of that name. A Big Foot consistently appears in Oglala censuses and band tallies across the period 1871 to 1882, his band affiliation shifting between the Kiyaksa and Loafer bands. His first recorded appearance seems to be in Sept. 1868, when his camp of 18 lodges - then identified as Lower Brules - accompanied Spotted Tail's removal from the Republican River hunting grounds to the new Whetstone Agency. John G. Bourke's extraordinary diary account of the 1882 Pine Ridge Sun Dance names Big Foot as one of the presiding holy men.
Hope this makes things a bit clearer - Kingsley
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Post by grahamew on Feb 27, 2006 17:27:36 GMT -6
There is a Spotted Elk in delegation photos from pre and post Wounded Knee and I wonder if he's the same man as above. Here's Burbank's portrait of the Oglala Spotted Elk from 1899  Is this the same man as this (seated, second from left, holding the pipe)?  Here he is again in 1891, behind and to the left of Young Man Afraid:  There is another photo from this delegation in Jensen. et al., Eyewitness to Wounded Knee, in which he's sitting in more 'traditional' clothing with several Oglala leaders, so maybe he is the man who signed the 1868 treaty and who was in the 1875 delegation. On the other hand, I've also seen this photo lalelled as Big Foot and he doesn't seem to be the same man as above:  |
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Post by grahamew on Feb 27, 2006 17:34:24 GMT -6
Thanks. I didn't see your reply when I posted the above. The photographer I have for Brave Bear is Goff, but considering the way images were copied, I don't suppose this means too much!
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Post by grahamew on Feb 27, 2006 17:40:10 GMT -6
Incidentally, I have seen several images of the individual below, taken in 1908 and referred to as Spotted Elk or George Spotted Elk - perhaps a son of one of the men referred to above. This one was taken while he was a member of Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show.  I'm pretty sure this is the same man:  |
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Post by grahamew on Feb 27, 2006 18:00:42 GMT -6
In the NAA archives, the photo of Brave Bear is, as Dietmar said, listed as a Barry photo from the James Taylor collection, taken in or around 1880, although their dating can be a little vague. There'a a little note on the copy there suggesting, unless I'm reading it incorrectly, that he's a 'bad Indian'! From the way he's dressed I'd be surprised if this was taken much later than 1880. Here's another Brave Bear, taken at Fort Randall, presumably by Bailey, Dix and Mead and, therefore, possibly one of Sitting Bull's immediate followers. It's labelled 'Brave Bear and Wife'!  |
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