Post by Californian on Feb 10, 2020 16:08:49 GMT -5
Frank Bennett Fiske privately published this book in 1933 – a small-format booklet (4x6 inches), 72 pages, illustrated with photographs taken by the author. Frank Bennett Fiske was born at Fort Bennett in Dakota Territory in 1883, his father George Fiske served as an enlisted soldier at that post at that time. Soon after Frank’s birth his father resigned from the military and took up ranching for a while, albeit unsuccessfully. By 1888 he worked in private capacity as a wagon master at Fort Yates. His son Frank lived thereafter his entire life at Fort Yates attending school and boarding school at the agency together with the local Indian children. He thus was able to form lifelong friendships with many Lakotas and also was fluent in their language. Fiske was perfectly situated to gain firsthand knowledge of the events surrounding Sitting Bull’s arrest and murder. Fiske was 7½ years old at the time of Sitting Bull’s death and personally witnessed the troops returning to the post on that fateful day on December 15th,1890 bringing back the dead. Fiske was well acquainted with Red Tomahawk who is credited with killing Sitting Bull, as well as many of the contemporaries that lived through these very tumultuous times at Standing Rock Agency. The booklet in appearance is not particularly sophisticated being rather cheaply printed and put together. It is presumed that less than a couple of hundred copies were made and these were sold by Fiske directly from his photography shop & studio at Fort Yates, either to passing tourists or visitors and also by mail. Only very few copies survive today, nearly all of them are in the collections of public institutions such as museums, universities and libraries. It is believed that probably less than a dozen exist in the possession of private individuals.The booklet is remarkable, for it gives detailed information on the attempted arrest and subsequent murder of Sitting Bull, as well as his burial and what had had happened to his body prior to burial as well as the grave several years afterward. It is based on actual eyewitness accounts by people that were present during these events and whom Frank Fiske knew personally.
