CDV on cardstock mount. Verso bears pictorial imprint for W.R. Cross. Period manuscript notation on verso, which is difficult to discern, but appears to reference "Spotted Elk," who is not depicted in the photograph.

The lieutenant wears a kepi with regimental insignia, shoulder straps, and grasps his saber. The chief wears a capote, a bone hairpipe breastplate, wool leggings, and moccasins. 

Cross (1839-1907), originally from Vermont, had moved west and initially operated a traveling tent studio in northeastern Nebraska. He settled in Niobrara and opened a studio on 4 July 1878, where he would remain for the next twelve years though he still traveled intermittently. Notably, he opened another studio at Fort Niobrara around 1886 and worked with his apprentice John A. Anderson at Fort Meade in 1888. Fort Niobrara was garrisoned by the 5th Cavalry, alongside the 9th Infantry and the 9th Cavalry, throughout the 1880s.

An example of this photograph was published as the cover image in Military Images Vol. XIX, No. 4. (1998).