CDV on cardstock mount of "Ta-Ton-Ka-I-Yo-Ton-Ka 'Sitting Bull, The Sioux Chief in Command at the Custer Massacre,'" as identified below the portrait. Verso imprint of W.R. Cross, Niobrara, Nebraska. Cross is believed to have taken the first portrait of Sitting Bull, from which this CDV was created.

Originally from Vermont, Cross (1839-1907) 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.