Native American Art

10 CDVs on cardstock mounts with verso imprint of D.S. Mitchell, Cheyenne, Wyoming, or Mitchell & McGowan, St. Louis, Missouri. Most subjects are identified in period ink on mount verso.

Subjects include: Young Man Afraid of His Horse (1830-1900), Oglala Sioux chief, nephew of Red Cloud and one of his most trusted lieutenants, first president of the Pine Ridge Indian Council and a frequent representative to the United States government. -- He Dog (1840-1936), Oglala Lakota, nephew of Red Cloud, fought at Little Bighorn, surrendered with Crazy Horse in 1877, joined the delegation to Washington, then fled to Canada with Sitting Bull, eventually surrendering again and serving as a judge at Pine Ridge. -- No Flesh, Brule Lakota, captured one of the cavalry standards at Little Bighorn. -- Pawnee Killer, Oglala Lakota, present at Little Bighorn, later took his band to Red Cloud Agency. -- Little Big Man (Charging Bear) Oglala Lakota, fought under Crazy Horse at Little Bighorn, then later switched allegiance and assisted in his murder. -- Red Dog. -- Long Bull. -- -- Little Wolf. -- Two Bears. -- American Horse with two women. American Horse (1840-1908) Oglala Lakota, made chief in 1868, joined Red Cloud in 1871, appointed representative of Bear People to the US Government in 1881, negotiated peace with Spotted Elk and the Ghost Dance followers who were considering war, traveled to Washington and secured improved provisions in 1891, and toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.

Daniel S. Mitchell (1838-1929) spent nearly his entire life involved in photography, starting as a daguerreotypist's assistant when he was only nine years old. After working at several Northeastern galleries, he left his home and family in Boston to photograph the West in 1874.

Mitchell initially established a gallery in Cheyenne but often traveled to photograph Native Americans, miners, soldiers, railroads, and landscapes of the Great Plains and Black Hills. He moved his studio from Wyoming to South Dakota to Nebraska to Illinois to Oklahoma, compiling an impressive catalog of Western views, of which the photos seen here are arguably the most important. They were taken at Red Cloud Agency in 1877 and show notable Sioux chiefs and warriors, most of whom were present at the signing of the Fort Laramie Treaty and the Battle of Little Bighorn.