Shows-a-Fish/Fish Appears (Buaashish)

[jinlian]

According to E.S. Curtis (The North American Indian vol. 4 - The Apsaroke or Crows ) Shows-a-Fish (or more correctly, Fish Shows or Fish Appears), Buaashish, member of the Big or Thick Lodge Clan (Ashshitschite) and of the Fox warrior society, was born about 1848.
Still from Curtis' notes, we know that Shows-a-Fish never fasted or got visions because his father prevented him to do so, saying that presenting relatives some gifts (a practice common in Apsaalooke relationship) would sort the same effect.
In F.B. Linderman's book, Plenty Coups reported a Crow raid against the Lakotas in which Shows-a-Fish refused the honor of counting coup cutting the enemy's horses free, because "that day his medicine was bad", praising him for his prudence and wisdom. According to Plenty Coups, the typical Crow war-headdress "with feathers reaching down the back...representing the buffalo's backbone" were shown to Shows-a-Fish's grandfather in a vision. R.H. Lowie, in Myths and traditions of the Crow Indians confirmed that Shows-a-Fish's medicine was the buffalo.
He belonged to the Yellow Tobacco chapter of the Tobacco Society and was owner of a bundle containing "a man's shirt and two women's dresses, all of yellow cloth, and with small Tobacco bags tied to them" (R.H. Lowie The Tobacco Society of the Crow Indians).
According to Curtis, Shows-a-Fish joined about 40 war parties, but counted "coups" (capture of an enemy's gun) only thee times.
In his late years, he became a pious member of the Baptist Church and resided in Lodge Grass.
In the 1885 Crow census he's listed as being 40 years old (which would make him born in 1845 rather than 1848) and married to The Shell Child, and having two daughters, Takes Between the Camp (11 years old) and Goes All Over the Ground, who both died at very young age sometime between 1887 and 1890.
Shows-a-Fish was still alive as late as 1920, when W.A. Allen photographed him (I wasn't able to get that photograph, though). Does anybody know the exact year of his death and has more info/photos to share? Thanks!

Shows-a-Fish photographed by E.S. Curtis, 1908:



Still by Curtis, "Council of war": Shows a Fish is third from left, next to Medicine Crow:




E.S. Curtis "Watching for the signal" - Shows-a-Fish again third from left:



From the Wanamaker Last Great Indian Council, 1909:





Early 1900s, at a Baptiste Church meeting. Shows-a-Fish is standing, second from left:

[jinlian]

Curtis also wrote that Shows-a-Fish went on his first war party when he was sixteen: the pipe-carrier of that group was the legendary warrior Red Bear (for his exploits, see Barney and Henry Old Coyote The Way of the Warrior)

[tipifan]

A bigger close-up from the Curtis photograph "Council of War", showing Medicine Crow and Shows-a-Fish.

Attachments:

[jinlian]

Thank you for the photo enlargement, Tipifan! Shows-a-Fish's headdress is peculiar indeed...same as the one worn in the first Wanamaker picture, isn't it?

[jinlian]

Shows-a-Fish. Close-up from the photograph of Crow indians at the Sheridan Fair (1913) originally posted by Tipifan:

[jinlian]

Other three Shows-a-Fish photographs:





(standing second from left)

[jinlian]

Another image of Shows-a-Fish:



The photograph first posted by tipifan in the Wolf thread:

[jinlian]

Shows-a-Fish by Richard Throssel:

[jeroen]

Don't recall whether this image has been posted here before, but it seems new to me:

[jinlian]

Hi Jeroen,
first, sorry for the missing photographs - it's a problem of the file-sharing service I've used so far. I hope to fix it soon.

We had this photograph somewhere in this section (don't remember which thread, sorry), and the man was identified as "Spotted Horse". For a comparison, here's Spotted Horse in a 1880s portrait:



and in a Miller photograph (left) , about 1900

I tend to prefer the Spotted Horse identification, but I admit there's some resemblance with Shows-a-Fish/Fish Shows.

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[jeroen]

I think you are right Jinlian! The Fish Shows identification of the photograph's source ( oldindianphotos.com) is incorrect, it must be Spotted Horse, although there is a some resemblance with Fish Shows...