American Historical Ephemera and Early Photography

3 photographs originally taken by George Trager, two of which include the verso imprint of the Northwestern Photographic Co., Chadron, Nebraska. Photographs, which are titled in the negatives, include:

Birds Eye View of Battlefield at Wounded Knee, S.D. looking North. 5 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. photograph on cardstock mount. -- Leaders of the Hostile Indians at Pine Ridge Agcy, S.D. During the late Sioux War. Includes Chief Two Strike, Chief Crow Dog, and Chief High Hawk. 4 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. photograph on cardstock mount. -- Chief Kicking Bear. A leading Chief of the Brule Hostile Indians, Pine Ridge, S.D. Uncredited, but likely printed by the Northwestern Photographic Co. 4 3/4 x 8 in. photograph on cardstock mount.

Kicking Bear (ca 1846-1904), an Oglala who brought the Ghost Dance to the Pine Ridge Agency and unwittingly precipitated the massacre at Wounded Knee. Incorrectly identified by Trager as a Brule, Kicking Bear was a relative of Sitting Bull and intimate of Crazy Horse. He was a survivor of the battles of the Rosebud, Little Big Horn and Slim Buttes. In the spring of 1890 he and another group of Lakota traveled by train to Nevada where they learned the Ghost Dance from the Paiute Wovoka. Returning to Pine Ridge, he held continuous dances throughout December of that year. After Wounded Knee, Kicking Bear and other dancers set up camp on White Clay Creek.
After attacking the Drexel Mission, Federal troops under the command of General Nelson Miles surrounded the camp and forced the surrender of Kicking Bear and his followers on January 15, 1891. This image almost certainly was taken about this time. Later that spring, he was released and toured with Buffalo Bill for two years before returning to Pine Ridge.

Together, 3 photographs.