Rain-The-Face

[grahamew]

So... did this 'trial' exist as something drummed up by mclaughlin to diminish sitting bull or have the photos been deliberately mislabelled to make a council of some sort look more exciting?

[nicolas (carlo)]

I haven’t read anything about a ‘trial’, but I’m sure McLaughlin must have berated Sitting Bull after learning about it from a worried Williamson, his counterpart from Crow Agency. I personally doubt this photograph shows a trial (of sorts).

[grahamew]

I don't have my books at the moment but I recall a crow leader jerking off his breechclout to insult sb who took it in good faith and everything was fine after that. This get together is supposedly when fansler took those photos of rain and John grass dancing though this is way too early for fansler and while that might be rain, it doesn't look like grass. And, of course, if you're taking photos of prominent lakota, why not photograph sb?

Apologies for the lower case!

If they were taken in 86 on the crow agency, I would have thought goff to be the likely photographer. Always possible fansler got hold of the images and sold them as his own as fiske did with some of fans let's work.

[nicolas (carlo)]

That very interesting incident happened the first time Sitting Bull paid a friendly visit to the Crows, in June 1884. Sitting Bull indeed sat stoically through the whole affair, showing the Crows he would not get mad and therefore ending in the Crows lavishing Sitting Bull with horses at the end of the visit.

[nicolas (carlo)]

Re. the photograph: during the 1886 visit, SB took over a hundred visitors with him from Cheyenne River. Add the hundreds of Crows to that mix and I would assume a much larger gathering than depicted here. Also, their clothing is suited for winter, not mid-September, but obviously that is not definitive.

[gregor]

I also don’t have my books at hand. However, Im sure, that Stanley Vestal describes the meeting with the Crows. I am not sure if he mentions a court hearing.

There is a Barry photograph (Sept. or Oct. 1886) “One of Sitting Bull's trials, Standing Rock Agency“ for allegedly instigating the Crow to go to war at the Denver Library.
This photo shows Sitting Bull, Colonel Edwin F. Townsend (12th Infantry), Colonel Barrister and agent McLaughlin. Who was Barrister?

The Barry Photo seems to be the only indication of a "trial". So far, I have not been able to find any other photos or hints about this.

BTW: In Barry’s photographs “Dedication of Standing Rock” (Monument) Sitting Bull and McLaughlin seem to wear the same clothes.
I have a guess that this Council has nothing to do with a criminal trial, but is one of the councils concerning the division or cession of Lakota Lands. But who knows?

[grahamew]

I suspect the same.

[nicolas (carlo)]

Aug 5, 2019 8:29:55 GMT -5 gregor said:

I also don’t have my books at hand. However, Im sure, that Stanley Vestal describes the meeting with the Crows. I am not sure if he mentions a court hearing.

Actually, he does not mention this Crow visit, nor any trial associated with it.
He does go into detail about the 1884 visit (the one were a Crow publicly tried to humiliate SB), which Campbell misplaced in 1886.

[nicolas (carlo)]

Aug 5, 2019 8:29:55 GMT -5 gregor said:

There is a Barry photograph (Sept. or Oct. 1886) “One of Sitting Bull's trials, Standing Rock Agency“ for allegedly instigating the Crow to go to war at the Denver Library.
This photo shows Sitting Bull, Colonel Edwin F. Townsend (12th Infantry), Colonel Barrister and agent McLaughlin. Who was Barrister?

The Barry Photo seems to be the only indication of a "trial". So far, I have not been able to find any other photos or hints about this.

Located here:
digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15330coll22/id/68773

[rodthomas]

Carlo, your note above about Sittng Bull visiting the Crow Agency in 1884 is the first time I've heard of that. What is the source? I saw nothing in researching White Swan nor did I hear of such a visit from any of the elders I consulted about White Swan. Thanks and hope all is well...

[grahamew]

As far as I can tell - largely from Vestal and Utley, but also from Brian Jones monograph, A Battle at Little Big Horn - Sitting Bull made the visit in September 1886 after the Lakota petitioned the Indian Office in order to obtain permission and it went ahead over the objections of the Crow agent, Henry Williamson. This is when the breechclout incident (the Crow was named Crazy Head) occurred and this led to an argument with Shave Head because he felt SB was publicly shamed by the event. Ironically, it also led to an argument with Bull Head because he wanted a particular horse that the Crow gave Sitting Bull but he gave it to Catch the Bear instead.

Sitting Bull was accompanied by about 100 Lakota from Standing Rock and Cheyenne River and they stayed with the Crows about two weeks. The Crows were in the process of going along with the allotment of their land, but then began to object and the agent blamed this on Sitting Bull's interference. If I'm reading Utley correctly, Williamson and other officials called a council and 'included their prime suspect. "Sitting Bull said he did not want his lands allotted yet and had asked the agent to delay."' Williamson noted that several Crow leaders who hadn't previously objected to allotment, changed their minds and Utley says the Crow chiefs were 'convinced by Sitting Bull' and continued to stall on the issue for months after Sitting Bull left.

This was a year before the Sword Bearer 'uprising' so it's feasible that the Barry photo - if it does show Sitting Bull's trial - was actually taken in 1886 (though dating of Barry's work is often hit and miss). The more direct Lakota connection with Sword Bearer was when a group Lakota from Rosebud* went to visit the Crows in June, 1887. A party soldiers under Lt Edwards tried to turn them back, and some of the followers of Sword Bearer tried to intervene before another party of Crows came to protect the soldiers and sent the others packing. Ironically, one of the key participants in the angry group was He Knows his Coups, the son of the same Crazy Head that flipped off his breechclout in front of Sitting Bull's face.



Inspector Frank C. Armstrong, keen to push the allotment of reservations, was tasked with investigating and compiling a report on the Sword Bearer affair and among the causes, referred to Sitting Bull's visit, claiming he had told the Crow that the Lakota had made demands on the government and had got what they wanted. Armstrong suggested Siting Bull be sent to Florida "before he causes more trouble." Utley's sources for this 1886 date include a report by Agent Williamson (dated Sept 27, 1886), US Indian Agent James Howard to CIA (same date) and the McLaughlin Papers.

North Dakota History Vol 40, No 2, Summer 2016 reprints the trial photo and notes that Sitting Bull and his followers were disciplined by the authorities for their actions on the Crow reservation...

I haven't seen any mention of Rain in the Face or Grass being present during Sitting Bull's visit to the Crow (although it's reasonable to think they might have been there) except on whatever auction site was selling the photos of the dancing. As for the trial, I can find no mention of it other than in connection with the photos and while it's entirely possible and in-keeping with his character that McLaughlin would stage some kind of show trial like this, it may well be some other council, perhaps one from August 1888 to discuss allotment (where, according to Utley, the mounted Rain in the Face was present).




A closer view...



The text with the images on sale at Worth Point states the photos were taken by "S.F. "Dick" Fansler... at the June 1886 celebration held when the Custer Battlefield was made a National Monument." It doesn't look awfully like John Grass to me. The memorial was built in 1881 and its dedication wasn't confirmed until December, 1886, but there was a tenth anniversary of the battle in June 1886 which Gall attended, gave his version of events and accused Curley of being a coward, so this was two months before Sitting Bull visited the Crow... As I've said elsewhere, as far as I know, Fansler was in Ohio until 1889/90 and didn't open his studio until 1892. A better suspect might be Goff - or Barry, who took several photos of the occasion.

In fact, according to Fleming and Luskey, Fansler occupied the same studio at Fort Yates that Barry and, prior to that, Goff used and we all know that some photographers of this period sold - sometimes with permission - the works of others, labeling it as their own, which I assume is what we're seeing here. Later, some of Fansler's own images were sold as the work of Frank Fiske, who was Fansler's apprentice.

Here's another copy of the trial photo:



Some of the other photos from which is patently the same event do not show Sitting Bull and I wonder if the one below shows John Grass, in his capacity as judge, from behind. There are several other men wearing the same type of hat, so this is not a lot to go on, I know, but it is similar to the one he wears in another Barry photo:





Notice, while I'm at it, that this photo also shows Rain-in-the Face, mounted again, but blurred and at the back this time, next to a man who seems to have two cigarettes in his mouth:



Finally, the 'trial' photos would appear to be unrelated to the Dedication of Standing Rock: Sitting Bull is wearing a darker (or dirty) shirt and his leggings have a broad dark stripe - Hudson Bay blanket style across the bottoms, with scalloped edges and he's wearing fairly plain moccasins; in the 'trial' photos, they appear to be blue or red stroud and his moccasins are heavily beaded.



* I wonder if this group was merely visiting the Crow Agency, or were curious about Swordbearer - or maybe they were recruits to his cause, since he tried to recruit Cheyenne, Lakota and Piegan.

[nicolas (carlo)]

Aug 6, 2019 10:45:11 GMT -5 rodthomas said:

Carlo, your note above about Sittng Bull visiting the Crow Agency in 1884 is the first time I've heard of that. What is the source? I saw nothing in researching White Swan nor did I hear of such a visit from any of the elders I consulted about White Swan. Thanks and hope all is well...

I will try to get to my notes this weekend for the source. I suspect the two visits have been ‘married’ over time to become that one visit in 1886.

[rodthomas]

Carlo, thanks and it would appear the two dates have been "melded" as there is NO record at the Little Big Horn College Archives nor in any of several Crow histories that note any date other than 1886. This visit happened three months after the 10th Anniversary celebration and did indeed have a part to play in the "Swordbearer Affair", "the Crow Uprising", "the Crow War", etc. in September and October 1887. My research into White Swan's life included research into this event, one that I noted in the manuscript that is little known, less understood, and needs attention. Cal Cumins has had a book at Upton and Sons for three and a half years awaiting publication about the "Swordbearer Affair." In any case, when Swordbearer called together his followers in somewhat of an open revolt to agency life, the Northern Cheyennes declined to participate and Sitting Bull said he would "support from afar." Now, this whole trial affair has got my interest and look forward to some research on that...meanwhile, hope all is well...

[nicolas (carlo)]

Rod, that is very interesting; when I wrote that the two incidents (SB speech and the Crow Uprising) were not related, I meant to say not directly, as the two incidents occurred a year apart. But I get the connection. Have to admit I haven't researched this episode much yet, so would be very interested in reading your history on White Swan as well as Cummins' upcoming book. Hope I can find the 1884 source soon for you (and that my memory indeed is correct about the year, as you and Grahame have made me think!)

[rodthomas]

Carlos, thanks...the Crow Agency started relocating to its current location in 1884 and the move was not completed until a year later. While there may have been families or larger groups living along the LBH River, there were only those groups for Sitting Bull to have visited. Cal's book is at Upton's for way too long and I'm on my fourth publisher proposal waiting for word. Folks love the narrative but don't want to do the artwork...which oddly enough, is his biography as he recorded it. Not sure how you do a biography of someone and not include his depictions! Oh well...have a great day!