From facsimiles of Sitting Bull's drawings to an 1870s analysis of them, this story is straight from a scanned copy of the Daily Graphic. The piece concludes that Sitting Bull has a great deal of influence with his ["dusky"] brethren because of his artistic skills. Um, maybe, yes, but more probably his ranking in his tribe is because he's a complete badass who knows how to mindfuck the enemy and keeps on coming with a bullet in his thigh and seven in his horse.
THE DAILY GRAPHIC: NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JULY 13, 1876
FACSIMILE OF SITTING BULL'S PICTORIAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, WASHINGTON
SITTING BULL'S PICTURES
Herewith are presented reproductions of extracts from the famous pictorial autobiography of the great Sioux chief Sitting Bull.
These drawings were presented to Dr. Patrick in 1870 by his friend, Dr. W. West, of the United States Army, who sent them then with the comment that they were the work of Sitting Bull, a Sioux outlaw, who was a great braggart and fraud; that they were ostentatious boasts of that Indian's prowess, who doubtless placed them in the hands of the Crow scout who gave them to Dr. West for the purpose of reminding the soldiers of sundry and several outrages which Sitting Bull had in person perpetrated on the whites and friendly Indians.
Dr. Patrick sent them to the Smithsonian Institution last Christmas in connection with a very large collection of Indian utensils of war and specimens of pottery, pipes, etc., which are simply deposited, and not given to the institution.
It must be remembered that these pictures were all drawn by Sitting Bull in color on sheets of common writing paper. He evidently used a fine brush and shaded those parts of the drawings which are filled in with lines by our artist, who has made these copies perfect facsimiles. They are reduced in THE GRAPHIC and are about one-half of the original sizes. The outlines, however, he drew in the same free, bold manner as represented.
These five pictures are selected from the series above referred to, It not being deemed necessary to use them all, as the style and skill of Sitting Bull is well expressed by the selections given: He doubtless must owe a large portion of his influence among his dusky brethren to this art, which he certainly possesses in an unusual degree as compared with Indians generally.
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| sitting bull pictograph facsimile, 1876 |
1. Sitting Bull is represented on foot, with war shield and rifle, defying the power of the troops represented as drawn up in platoons. Sitting Bull, by the dotted line curving on itself behind, calls attention to the fact that though in a hailstorm of bullets and the cannon belching in his face, yet he is unconcerned enough to execute a derisive dance in the enemy's presence. The fire of the soldiers is represented by the cloud of heavy horizontal lines around him, indicating in this way the path of bullets, and the march of the soldiers by the dots representing tracks to the left of the dark patches, which show the compact masses of infantry.
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| sitting bull pictograph facsimile, 1876 |
2. The same thing, only he has chosen to represent himself as a buffalo bull on its haunches: the war shield is placed in full view behind the Sitting Bull.
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| sitting bull pictograph facsimile, 1876 |
3. Sitting Bull steals three mules from some ranchman's corral. The attention of the whites and their fire has bas drawn to the back of the corral, where a lot of Sioux have been threatening to charge, as shown by the tracks, while Sitting Bull slowly rides around behind, and under the cover of the previous confusion he dismounts, slips into the door of the corral, and manages to get out three mules before he is discovered. The whites fire on him from the windows, but do not dare to come out of the open house door, so he gets away with his plunder.
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| sitting bull pictograph facsimile, 1876 |
4. Sitting Bull, single-handed, catches four soldiers out somewhere by themselves, rides around them discharging arrows, which are represented as bringing blood, when he finally gets off his horse, and in the face of a general broadside from the whites gives them all the finishing touch with his war-lance. The bird of victory, an eagle, perches on his head; his body is painted red, with stripes of the same color across his face; his warhorse has its tail clubbed up like one of our dray horses on a muddy day, and has white bands painted around its legs as indicated by the savages brush and shaded those parts of the drawings which are filled in with lines by our artist, who has made these copies perfect facsimiles. They are reduced in THE GRAPHIC to about one-half of the original sizes. The outlines, however, he drew in the same free, bold manner as represented.
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| sitting bull pictograph facsimile, 1876 |
5. Here Sitting Bull represents the Fort Phil Kearny massacre. The surrounding of the hapless squad of soldiers and their utter annihilation are expressed by the unbroken circle of horse tracks around the concentrated mass of discharging guns and pistols, for the men fought nearly an hour in this way before their ammunition gave out, when they were at once charged upon and butchered. Sitting Bull, who, with Red Cloud, was one of the leaders and planners of the ambuscade, draws himself here in full costume, with two bullet-holes in his thigh and seven in his horse, from all of which the blood is streaming. Six other bullet holes on the opposite side are depicted by being made in a line just above the horse's back. Although the Indians were well armed with breech-loading rifles, yet Sitting Bull, to show his contempt for the belching guns of his victims, represents himself as being armed with nothing more than a bow and a quiver full of arrows!
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