Wild West shows in Lancashire England

[oglallah]

I am writing two articles for our local (Wigan and Leigh) historical and Heritage Centre and as I have had a lifelong passion (obsession) with the American West I thought I would combine the two fields of study. The first article is about the Lancastrians who fought and died at the Little Bighorn with Custer and the second follow-up is about those warriors who had fought in the battle and went on to visit England with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Exhibition. I know that Black Elk wrote of being lost in Manchester before he was able to rejoin the tour at Liverpool.
The show visited Wigan and also Leigh in September and October respectively in 1904 and I am trying to establish if any Lakota, Cheyenne or Arapaho (or even Crow) participants in the Little Bighorn battle featured in the entertainment or were part of the troupe that visited the 2 towns. I would be eternally grateful for any info or nudges in the right direction. 

[oglallah]

A toughie eh!

[grahamew]

Have a look at this site and contact Tom Cunningham: www.snbba.co.uk/
There's also here, of course: codyarchive.org/
As I'm sure you're aware, there are any number of links on the internet to newspaper articles which have rehashed the story of the Lakota in Manchester and Salford. Might also be worth trying to contact author Alan Gallop who wrote a book about the Wild West Show in Britain

[oglallah]

I am in the process of moving house at the moment and as a result of the stress I am not quite with it. Thank you for your sound advice and nudge in the right direction (which I will follow).

[Gary]

Tom is certainly your best bet. The account of Black Elk's stay in Europe from 'Black Elk Speaks' is not wholly accurate. Tom has published 'Black Elk, Mexican Joe & Buffalo Bill - The Real Story', which is available from lulu.com.

[gwilym]

Iron Tail is believed to have been at the Little Big Horn. Others are a problem - a few are old enough but the majority would not have been born till after the battle. I am working on the 1904 visit to Chester and slowly working my way through the Lakota show Indians.