Brent From Michigan(David Humphreys Miller)

[brentnvicki]

My name is Brent Stevens. I have been fascinated with the Native Culture since I was a kid. I started collecting arrowheads by walking fields when I was 8 years old and every time I found one I could not help but think that the last person that touched this was a Native American from thousands of years ago. When I lived in Ohio as a kid it was mostly ADENA points that I found. My Grandfather loved nature and told me stories about the Native Americans in our area growing up. Then he bought a painting of "ONE BULL" that was painted by a friend of his Lew Miller from Van Wert,Ohio.That painting started a love affair for me with The Miller Family and the Little Big Horn Battle.

Lew went out west to visit his son, David Humphreys Miller in 1939. David went west at the age of 16 years old and then every summer after , except for a break for the service. David Humphreys Miller searched out and painted 72 survivors of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. He wrote several books from the Native Side of the Story. Most of all he was a friend of the 1st Americans. I hope that through this site I can connect with Family members who might remember Mr. Miller painting their relatives. He was working for The Crazy Horse Memorial when it opened and put on Indian pageants in the summer. He started coming to the reservations in 1935. If there is any information that you can provide please let me know.

Here are the names of LBH survivors and others that David Painted from Life. Their Stories are what helped him write his Book "Custers Fall" and "Ghost Dance"

1 Chief Henry Oscar One Bull.
2. Chief Joseph White Bull.
3. Chief Fish Wolf Robe
4. Chief Joseph Black Horn
5. Chief Martin Red Bear
6. Chief Turkey Legs
7. Chief William Spotted Crow
8. Across the Mountain
9. Agatha Two Strikes
10 Babe Bear
11. Bad Man
12. Belt (Fred Belt)
13. Bert Two Moons
14. Bird Above
15. Black Elk (Nicolas Black Elk Sr.) Adopted David Miller
16. Blue Arm
17. Charles NipWater (Nipwater)
18. Chief Bull (Richard Sanderville)
19. Crazy Thunder Woman
20. Dan Bull Plume
21. Daniel Blue Horse
22. Dewey Beard (Iron Hail) Adopted David Miller after Black Elk
23. Drags The Rope
24. Frank Red Eagle
25. Frank White Buffalo Man
26. George Red Bear
27. George Wallowing Bull
28. Grace Iron Crow (Iron Crow Woman)
29. Gros Ventre Boy
30. Henry Kane
31. Henry Sitting Bull (Little Soldier)
32. High Bald Eagle
33. Jack Shave Head
34. Jake Raymond
35. James H Red Cloud
36. James White Bear Claws
37. John Dives Backward
38. John Strange Owl
39. Joseph High Eagle
40. Joseph White Cow Bull
41. Julian Antoine
42. Juniper Old Person
43. Leo Kills Pretty Enemy
44. Leonard (foolish?) Woman
45. Little Nest
46. Louis Looking Horse
47. Margaret Tremmel One Bull
48. Mary Ora Fire Thunder (AKA Red Bird Women)
49. Mary Runs On
50. Mountain Chief
51. Moses One Feather
52. Mountain Sheep
53. Mrs Henry Oscar One Bull
54. Mrs. Ptesaninapewin (Buffalo Comes Out)
55. Mrs. Yellow Eyes
56. Naca Cicela-Little Chief
57. Nambe Dooak (Nampy Dooak)
58. Night Shoots
59. Old Eagle (Amos Clown)
60. One Elk
61. Pete Bad Horse
62. Pete Lone Bear
63. Peter Stands
64. Peter Stands For Them (might be the same guy as above)
65. Philip White Bird
66. Poor Buffalo (Henry Weasel)
67. Ptesaninapewin (Buffalo Comes Out)
68. Red Paint
69. Scraping White
70. Shermen Sage
71. Shoots Straight
72. Short Face
73. Swims Under
74. Thomas White Horse
75. Uses Arrow
76. Walking Hunter
77. White Wolf
78. Yellow Brow
79. Yellow Eyes
80. Henry Crow Dog

[Dietmar]

Hello Brent,

In hope our message board can help you in contacting the families you are looking for.

All the best

Dietmar

[wolfgang911]

welcome brent
I'm quite new here myself. as you will notice there is more information here then one can memorise.
I'm also interested in artifacts and traditional bowshooting. A pity we did not ran in to them as a kid in europe :-( So we made them ourselves. Do you have more on your findings?
Do you still 'search' on the field?
bye
wolfgang911
(mark)

[brentnvicki]

Wolfgang(Mark)

Yes, About twice a year I go out and walk the fields. I have gotten pretty good at finding them. I can even tell where a point was made when i find the right artifacts. If you find something called the bulb of percussion, which is where the maker hits the flint with the stone to knock off flakes of flint. There is a rounded part of the flint where the initial energy starts to spread out creating the blades. When they are knocked off that they will keep the pieces that they can knapp into points and knifes. I am sure i don't have all the correct terminology down . It has been awhile since I took the classes. When I went to college I took 2 summers and joined an archeology team in Yellow Springs, Ohio. I learned a lot about the points that I had found as a kid. I have close to a thousand , about 20 hammers and a few other odds and ends. I am pretty proud of them. It was most of my childhood weekends in the spring
going from one field to the next. When I would find one I would thank the Great Spirit and ask for just a couple more before I leave. We live in the Black Swamp area in Ohio. I deduced as a kid that when the Indians where here hunting they would be shooting at animals that were on dry ground before hey drained the swamp, so my plan was to only hunt the hills in fields in the spring. When the ground was plowed in the fall it would settle all winter. The dirt would get a smooth crust and I could pick out the flint chips pretty easy. The triangle shapes jumped out as something that did not belong in the field. Even if it was just a corner sticking out. The key was to find fields that people had not search. I loved to find fields that had not been plowed in 20 years and be the first one out in the spring. So I only got about 2 months a year to look before the crops where planted. Great Childhood Memories. My best friend to this day still talks about our walks in the fields hunting for arrowheads and we are almost 50. That was a lot of years ago.

[brentnvicki]

Thanks Dietmar

This site and the LBH site have provided me with a lot of information. I know there is alot more waiting for me. I am excited about what's around the corner.

Brent