Detail View: C. Szwedzicki: The North American Indian Works: Topographical Chart of the Battlefield of the Little Big Horn

Work Record ID: 
212
Reproduction Record ID: 
212
Work Class: 
aerial views
Work Type: 
print
Title: 
Sioux Indian painting
Title Type: 
collective title
Title: 
Topographical Chart of the Battlefield of the Little Big Horn
Title Type: 
constructed title
Measurements: 
10.45 x 17.55 in (26.54 x 44.58 cm) on sheet 15.30 x 19.50 in (38.86 x 49.53 cm)
Measurement Type: 
dimensions
Material: 
paper (fiber product)
Material Type: 
support
Inscription: 
Above Image Right: 1 [Plate Number]
Creator: 
Bad Heart Bull, Amos, 1869-1913
Creator Dates: 
1869-1913
Creator Nationality: 
Oglala Lakota
Creator Name Variant: 
Bad Heart Buffalo (Tatanka Cante Sice)
Creator Type: 
personal name
Creator Role: 
painter
Date: 
1938
Location: 
Little Bighorn Battlefield (Mont.)
Repository: 
Archives and Rare Books Library, University Libraries, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
Repository Type: 
current repository
ID Number: 
ARB RB Oversize E98.A7 S568 1938 Vol. 2
ID Number Type: 
call number
ID Number: 
1
ID Number Type: 
plate number
Style Period: 
Plains Indian
Style Period: 
Indian art--North America
Culture: 
Native American
Culture: 
Oglala Lakota
Culture: 
Cheyenne (Dzitsistas)
Culture: 
Hunkpapa Lakota
Culture: 
Miniconjou Lakota
Culture: 
Sans Arc Lakota
Subject: 
Picture-writing
Subject: 
Indian warfare
Subject: 
Custer, George Armstrong, 1839-1876
Subject: 
Big Design
Subject: 
Large Wound with Guts
Subject: 
Reno, Marcus A. (Marcus Albert), 1835-1889
Subject: 
Terry, Alfred Howe, 1827-1890
Subject: 
Indians of North America--Wars
Subject: 
Little Bighorn River (Wyo. and Mont.)--Views
Subject: 
Little Bighorn, Battle of the, Mont., 1876
Related Work: 
Alexander, Hartley Burr, 1873-1939. Sioux Indian painting. With introduction and notes by Hartley Burr Alexander. Nice (France): C. Szwedzicki, [1938]
Description: 
From: Sioux Indian Painting. Vol. 2, p. 8: Topographical chart of the battlefield of the Little Big horn, drawn by Amos Bad Heart Buffalo. The stream with its green banks is indicated, with the camps of the several bands of the Indians denoted by the tipi circles at the lower left. At the right Col. Reno's troop are advancing with flying colors, while on the extreme upper right is shown the entrenched position of the survivors of Reno's charge, from which they were rescued by Terry's troop. At the upper center the advancing column with flags represents General Custer's troop while clouds of mounted warriors swarm upon it from every side. The accompanying inscriptions give the Indian's view of the battle: "In Montana, when Long Hair (i.e. General Custer) came charging on us all of his men were killed. The Indian nation did not wish to fight; it is always they (i.e. the whites) who start shooting first and the Indian who starts last... This is they who started shooting first and suprised the Indian tribes. All those who pretended to be men got their horses and got ready and met them with a shout and charged. The battle followed... The ones who were shot off their horses in the charge upstream were Big Design and Large Wound with Cuts. They (the whites) were surrounded on a hill and all of them were killed." The drawing is an admirable illustration of the artist's topographical imagination. This and other examples of Bad Heart Buffalo's art are enlarged approximately one-half from the original ledger-leaf. Map references: Little Bighorn Battlefield (Mont.) References: Blish, Helen H. A Pictographic History of the Oglala Sioux. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1967. p. 215. Brizee-Bowen, Sandra L. For All to See: The Little Bighorn Battle in Plains Indian Art. Spokane, Washington: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 2003. pp. 45-48.
Reproduction Rights Statement: 
These images are for non-profit, educational use. For more information see Fair Use statement at https://digitalprojects.libraries.uc.edu/fairuse/.