Artist: Tȟatȟáŋka Waŋžíla (Henry Oscar One Bull)

Material: muslin (fabric) and colored pencil

Size: 5 ft 9 inches x 3 ft 3 inches

 

First, take a minute or two to look closely at the images above. Write down your reaction to this object--what details do you notice? Why did you pick this object for your response paper? Make notes on things that you notice about it. Also, write down any questions you have about it--what kinds of things would you want to know about this object? Remember the questions we ask in class. You don't need to have answers for these questions yet, but keep them in your notes.

​

Once you have some questions written down, try to answer them by reading the information I've provided below about this object and its context.

 

For an image of this object that you can zoom into to see details more clearly, follow this link. Use the plus and minus buttons in the upper right corner to zoom in and out. Click and drag to pan around the image. There are a few written notes on this artwork to explain certain details--see if you can read them!​

​

What do we know about this object?​

​

In the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Cheyenne, Lakota, and Arapaho warriors won a stunning victory over the United States Army. Euro-American and Native American military historians still discuss the battle, but accounts through Indian eyes are relatively rare. One Bull (the artist who made this) fought in the 1876 battle and later painted this comprehensive view of events. Across the top and to the right, he portrayed various episodes from the confrontation, carefully annotating some in pencil. On the extreme right, you can see one of the initial events. The US Army came across an Indian boy named Deeds with his horse, and they killed him.  At the left center, One Bull drew radiating circles to represent the tipi encampments of the principal Lakota and Cheyenne groups, while the heads at lower left depict the warriors' families camped near the battle. The tipi encampment drawn on the far left belonged to the Cheyenne Indians who were strong allies of the Lakota Sioux at the time. The other campsites belonged to different groups of Lakota people: the Oglala, Chief Crazy Horse's encampment with Red Cloud, Chief Spotted Eagle's encampment, and the Minikowoju of Chief One Horn and Chief Makes Room's encampment, and the very important Hunkpapa-tipi, the band of Chief Sitting Bull. Chief Sitting Bull did not fight at the Battle of Little Big Horn, but he provided advice and counsel. The artist of this work was the nephew of Chief Sitting Bull and he depicts himself holding Sitting Bull's shield. These shields had great spiritual power. Each Native American warrior here is depicted as an individual portrait, so that each person (and their achievements in the battle) can be identified. In the lower left you see human figures represented in a very different way: the encampment of Indian women, children, elders, and injured who were at the battle. They were important because the US General Custer was trying to get at them to use them as human shields.

​

In the center of the piece, One Bull illustrates himself holding Sitting Bull's shield, which is light green, while mounted on a horse. He rushes to the battle scene and rescues a friend (Good Bear) who has been wounded. One Bull uses pictographic methods to portray this scene. He carefully rendered each horse and provided details on important items such as Sitting Bull's shield. The Plains Indian tribes had a long tradition of representing history on cloth or bark in this way. When creating this kind of historic record, the artist should only depict events that he has been witness to. In fact, the artwork would be discussed in a group counsel session, and each person present would have to agree on the depiction of what actually happened.

​

How can you distinguish between Native warriors and US soldiers in this artwork? Which army is advancing, and which army is retreating?

​

The land where this battle took place had been granted to the Lakota Sioux Indians as part of the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851. However, after gold was discovered on this land in the Black Hills, the US government moved to take over the land by force. Native tribes resisted, in what became known as the Great Sioux War of 1876. Despite the victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn (called the Battle of Greasy Grass by Native peoples), Indian forces were not able to withstand the US army, and were eventually forced to cede their land and move onto much smaller reservations. 

​

Some things to consider in your response paper:​

• What was your response to this object? What drew your eye? What do you like about it, or dislike? You are encouraged to use first person (I/me) in your response paper. I want to know what you think.

• Consider the artistic details of this object carefully. What kinds of decisions did the artist make when they were creating this piece, and why? Use your art terminology.

• This piece is also important as a historical record which tells a story. How did the artist arrange the different components of the story (composition) and illustrate the important events? In what ways do you think that this method of storytelling is different than a more Western approach of telling history in a book? What meaning might this object have had for the Lakota Sioux, considering what happened to them after they lost the war?