American Historical Ephemera and Early Photography, including The Larry Ness Collection of Native American Photography

5 CDVs on cardstock mounts, each with verso imprint of W.R. Cross, Niobrara, Nebraska. The subjects, who are identified in an unknown hand on recto or verso, include: Spotted Tail, wearing a federal cavalry coat and blanket. -- "Spotted Tail's Family," comprised of 6 Brule Sioux women and children. -- "Spotted Tail's Girls," known as "Chimp and Sky." -- "Spotted Tail's Daughter." -- "Spotted Tail's Papoose / This is a Sioux Chief's Boy all ready for transportation," as inscribed on verso. -- Together, 5 CDVs of Spotted Tail and his family.

Tribal Chief Spotted Tail (1823-1881) was a major figure in Sioux relations with the United States government during the latter half of the nineteenth century. He participated in the Grattan Massacre in 1854, but decided not to join in Red Cloud's War in the late 1860s, having determined that the Indians' armed resistance of white encroachment was largely futile. Instead, he took to speaking and negotiating on behalf of his tribe, including signing the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, which established the Great Sioux Reservation. Spotted Tail traveled several times to Washington, DC, mostly in the 1870s, to defend the rights of his people, especially to their land. He met with many important government officials during these trips including Commissioners of Indian Affairs Ely S. Parker and John Quincy Smith, and President Ulysses S. Grant. Spotted Tail was, in the end, shot in the back and killed by Crow Dog, a Lakota sub chief, in 1881 for reasons which have been disputed. Though he certainly made a name for himself in his own right, it is also possible that Spotted Tail was the uncle of the famed warrior, Crazy Horse, as two of his sisters were married to the elder Crazy Horse.