American Horse

[BrokenSword]

Dietmar-

These most recent picture postings are terrific. Thank you.

VERY rarely do we get to see pictures of such subjects in such clear detail. As with most here, I know them from small reproductions seen through the printing process.

The quality of what you have posted allows a much deeper level of 'seeing'. There is life and personality in these subjects now.

Again, thank you,
Michael

[jinlian]

For Dietmar (and thanks for the wonderful pictures!)



Daughter of American Horse by E.Curtis, 1908 (doesn't she look like the girl in my posting of Jan 18, 2008? By the way, in his "Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains" Charles Eastman reported that "one or two of his (American Horse's) daughters were the handsomest Indian girls of full blood that I ever saw" )

[jinlian]

And here's another son of AH:



Thomas American Horse, Heyn, Omaha, 1899

[Dietmar]

Brokensword & jinlian,

you´re welcome

Now... this is an interesting picture. I can´t remember seeing too many photos of a "squaw" dance. American Horse should be the man standing left with the cane.

[jinlian]

Beautiful picture as usual, Dietmar. I had a look at it with Magnifying Glass Pro and the man on the left is 99.9% American Horse (until now, I knew the picture only as a very low resolution one and the figure was hardly recognizable) - that makes the picture the more precious, as it was taken in 1908 and was probably the last picture of AH around!

Here there are two of the latest pictures of AH:



American Horse, December 1906



American Horse, 1907

[grahamew]

The usual image fropm thissession features Buffalo Bill in place of Sgt Bates.

[grahamew]

Anyone know when he was with Cody? He's clearly considerably older than in the Godkin photo so it's got to be at least 1887/8. Lon Wolf died in England in 1892, so it's before that. Red Shirt would surely feature if it's the 1887 tour; however, Cody, in the companion picture, looks younger and slimmer than he does in the photos taken on Pine Ridge post-Wounded Knee.

There is, in the same series, a photo of AH on his own, ditto Rocky Bear and, I seem to recall, Long Wolf with his wife.

[jinlian]

Hi grahamew,

American Horse joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West at least for the 1886 Staten Island tour (as attested by some pics and newspaper reports) but I don't know if he toured with Cody in later years. I remember reading somewhere that one or two of AH's sons joined the Wild West Show (one of them would be the Native leading the "Sioux Ghost Dance" in the 1894 Edison video) but can't remember where I got this info right now. I'll check in the next days.

Update: I found the reference about AH's son joining the Wild West and featuring in the Sioux Dance video:
www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-79350858.html

"It is possible that the Sioux dancer who gestures defiantly at the camera in Edison's Sioux Ghost Dance is the Sioux performer American Horse. A photograph of him taken by Gertrude Kasebier around 1900-01 appears in Fleming and Luskey"

Then this son would be Samuel, the one photographed with his wife in the picture posted by Dietmar.

Here are two pictures of the Staten Island tour:



Wild West Indians in Staten Island, 1886. American Horse is on the left, wearing a headdress and leaning against a tree.



American Horse with unidentified Native woman and child (his wife and child?) , New York, 1886

[BrokenSword]

jinlian-

Interesting photo. (with Tee Pee) The raised wooden 'floor' is what caught my eye. Was this a semi-permanent 'camping' site in New York, or do you know?

M

[Dietmar]

Here are two photos from the Beinecke Library:




I wonder who this boy is?

[jinlian]

Hi Broken Sword,

It could have been a semi-permanent camping, as the show toured in Staten Island for 3 seasons (1886-1888). Still, I don't know how long American Horse stayed with Cody's company

[gocav76]

Sleeping on a hard wood floor is murder. I've done it a few times--when I was younger.

[jinlian]

Hi Dietmar, and thanks for the amazing pictures! Never seen any of them before.

However, I think I got an idea about the identity of the boy , after reading "Cincinnati" on the bottom corner of the pic. The NY Times, on March 1st 1880 reported the following news (link :http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=2&res=9F03E0DC173FEE3ABC4953DFB566838B699FDE&oref=slogin&oref=slogin)

A GRATEFUL DAKOTA CHIEF: QUAINT LETTER OF THANKS TO A CINCINNATI SCHOOLBOY
From the Cincinnati Commercial, Feb. 28

"A schoolboy in this city was moved recently by a letter published in the Commercial to write to the Indian Chief American Horse and send him some pictures. The great chief was pleased and dictated to his young friend the following letter, in which was inclosed a photograph of himself and wife and daughter..." (think I mentioned this article in one of my previous postings)

The letter reports only the boy's name, Edwin. Most probably, American Horse visited him in 1880 while en route to Carlisle (the pictures of AH taken at Carlisle portrays him in more or less the same regalia he wears in Dietmar's pictures, see below)

[jinlian]

American Horse, Carlisle, 1880

[apsalooka]

Graham...here is a semilar image with Cody himself. The one you posted is indeed Sgt.Bates.

[img src="http://www.littlebighorn.info/messageboards/17bflobill[1].jpg"]

Henri