Spotted Tail´s Family

[Dietmar]

Spotted Tail´s Family

We had photos and information of Spotted Tail and his family members in different threads on both message boards over the last years. It´s time to bring it all together here.

Let´s start with Young Spotted Tail or Spotted Tail, Jr., the eldest son. He was as a delegate in Washington with his father in 1877. Here he is with Red Cloud and trader C.P. Jordan, possibly in 1882:

identifications in ink along with the notation Red Clouds War Attitude, photographer and location unknown, circa 1882. Goodyear illustrates this view in his study of the known Red Cloud photographs. Young Spotted Tail stands at center, assuming the position of his assasinated father. Deemed too inexperienced to represent them in Washington, the Brule tribal council appointed White Thunder. Later, in a fit of jealousy, he was killed by Young Spotted Tail. Charles P. Jordan was a well-known frontiersman. He became a licensed Indian trader and ran a trading post on the Rosebud Reservation. He maintained a long friendship with Red Cloud, a relationship solidified when he married Red Cloud's niece, Julia Walks First (see Goodyear 2003: 62-65).
(text from Cowan´s auction site)

The comment above about the killing of White Thunder refers to George Hyde´s book.

Here´s part of a letter addressed to Maj. J. W. Sparks from Gen. Ci. F. Thruston, of Nashville, 1885 (from the Tennessee Historical Society):

Young Spotted Tail, a son of old Spotted Tail, is now the third chief of the nation. He is a fine looking young fellow, and is considered by all the whites in that part of the country a "good Indian,". not a dead one, as the soldiers say. Only dead ones are "good Indians." Young Spotted Tail is a good man, and for peace all the time. To show you he is a man of good sense and of a peaceable turn, under the Indian law and usage he, young Spotted Tail, has the right to kill Crow Dog, because Crow Dog killed his father, but he declines to do so, saying he prefers peace among his people, and that he wants them to become good citizens and learn to make their own living by labor and work, like other people. "When I learned all this, " says Maj. Sparks, "it made a very favorable impression on me in regard to
the young chieftain." He is a splendid looking young Indian, and the Major took a great liking to him. He has a handsome young wife (squaw) and one child, a little hoy about six years old. He was the "fanciest" dressed little prince you ever saw, says Maj. S., and he never left his mother's side when we were there. It made no difference when we saw Mrs. Spotted Tail, this little fellow was with her, holding to her hand. The Major adds: " 1 took such a fancy to the little boy's dress, having a little boy aboul his size myself, that Mrs. Spotted Tail made me a suit and sunt it to my little hoy, and he is now the proudest little fellow in Tennessee. 1 think every boy in Murfrecsboro', of his size, has tried on the suit of clothes. There is not a woman in Tennessee that can do such work. So the ladies here --ay. although it was done 1>\- a wild Indian."

[jinlian]

Dietmar,

I'm not home now (will be back tonight) but I seem to recall that Goodyear in fact didn't identify the young man standing between Red Cloud and Charles Jordan as Spotted Tail jr., and had him instead as an "interpreter".

[grahamew]

Does indeed, Jinlian.

[Dietmar]

Here are some more portraits of Young Spotted Tail (Jr.):

This one´s posted by dickmill in another thread:

Col L.F. Spencer and Spotted Tail Jr.

These three pictures are from the delegation photos made in 1877:







...finally a W.R. Cross photo of Spotted Tail Jr. and his family:


Does anyone know the identification of his wife and child?
Thanks

Dietmar

[grahamew]

Here's a blown up section from a photo taken at the time of the buffalo hunt with Custer, Cody and Grand Duke Alexis, taken by Eaton in 1872. Tempting to think the man in the centre is Spotted Tail (although on the first day, I believe he had come dressed in a suit donated by the government)...

[kingsleybray]

Great photo, Grahame! I hadn't seen this before. It's got to be Spot in the middle of your blowup. Are there more Indians to the left hand side of the image? And can we do any more blowing up?

Kingsley

[dickmill]

Dietmar:
Having looked for photos of Spotted Tail Jr. for several years, the last one you posted (with wife and child) is one I haven't seen -- and I wonder weather or not it's him (I would expect higher cheekbones -- but a single view can be deceiving.) Do you have a reference for this? Although Spotted Tail Jr. had children enumerated in censuses in the mid-1880's, most died very young. The child in the photo looks "older" than one would expect of Spotted Tail Jr.'s children. Spotted Tail Jr. died in June of 1888 of TB.
I'm traveling for a week, so I may be tardy in replying.
Dick

[Dietmar]

Dick,

the photo is part of a series from photographer W. R. Cross. I found it a while ago at an auction site: Here it is with the other three pictures:


from the original description:
Spotted Tail; Spotted Tail`s Family
Spotted Tail junior, his squaw and papoose; Spotted Tail`s Girls (Chimp & Sky, Elk Teeth Ornaments around the shoulders)

[Dietmar]

mmmh...just a try:

[grahamew]

Here's the full picture. The Indians appear to be only in this section. I'll try and remember where I found it and see if I can blow up the sections to the right and left, but I think the view Dietmar posted is pretty much it. I think it was from the NYPL, but I'm not sure...

[Dietmar]

Friends,

Descendants of Chief Spotted Tail and his son William Spotted Tail had put together this website as a project, which – in my humble opinion – is a must-see:

joncournoyer.com/projects/spottedtail/about.html

There is a video with interviews of:
Mary-Jane Spotted Tail, Great granddaughter of Spotted Tail and Iron Shell,
Sylvan Spotted Tail, Great grandson of Spotted Tail,
Christine Blue Horse, Great granddaughter of Spotted Tail and
Harriet Sitting Bear, great granddaughter of Spotted Tail:

joncournoyer.com/projects/spottedtail/watchvideo.htm

Please watch the video…watch the video!

Dietmar

[Dietmar]

Some photos of William Spotted Tail:


seated left to right: William, Chief Spotted Tail, Pollock
standing left to right: Oliver, Max
Carlisle, June 1880


William Spotted Tail with Buffalo Bill´s Wild West Show by Nate Salsbury


William Spotted Tail later in life

[Dietmar]

There´s a bit on Young Spotted Tail here:

www.nebraskahistory.org/museum/collect/treasures.htm


Young Spotted Tail and an unidentified female from D. Charles Brisol's scrapbook


Turtle Bone Necklace

Donation information indicates that this turtle bone necklace belonged to Young Spotted Tail, a son of the Brule Lakota Chief Spotted Tail. Young Spotted Tail was held briefly at Fort Niobrara after he murdered his rival, White Thunder, in 1884. Little is known of his life or whereabouts afterwards. This necklace, and the accompanying photograph, was donated as part of the collection of D. Charles Bristol, also known as "Omaha Charley" a trader who, starting in the 1870s, would exhibit his collection of Native American materials. By the 1890s Bristol was traveling extensively with his own Wild West show, Omaha Charley and his Wandering Band of Sioux. It is currently unknown how Bristol came into the possession of this necklace and photograph. It is possible that Young Spotted Tail toured with or met Bristol in the 1890s and Bristol obtained the items directly, or perhaps he obtained them from a third party.
Source: D. C. "Omaha Charlie" Bristol, Homer, Nebraska

[Dietmar]

Here is the photo of Young Spotted Tail from the current Cowan´s auction:


Spotted Tail, Jr.



I´m not sure about the photographer, but it looks as if it has been taken around the same time as the first photograph in this thread (with Red Cloud).

[dickmill]

"Little is known of his life or whereabouts afterwards. " (caption under the turtle bone necklace) George Hyde also makes this statement in "Spotted Tail's Folk" (maybe that's where the statement above came from.)

Actually, this isn't quite true. Spotted Tail Jr. was on the reservation during the tenure of Agent George Wright (1882-1886) and Col L.F. Spencer, my ancestor (1886-1889.) Spotted Tail Jr. died in June, 1888 of consumption. He was baptised in the Episcopalian church 3 weeks before he died and was buried near his father in the Spotted Tail cemetery. His marker is still there. Agent Spencer recorded Spotted Tail Jr.'s last will and testament, a document which is in a collection in Denver. There are also newspaper articles written about Jr.

Jr. is often confused with William and vice-versa; often they are stated as being the same person, which, of course, isn't true. Part of the problem is that Jr. is sometimes referred to as "Young Spotted Tail" and historians more familiar with William have taken that designation and attributed it to William -- and then the error multiplies. For example, Jr. caused a lot of trouble at the Crow Dog trial and historians/authors reading about "Young Spotted Tail" in newspaper accounts have replaced "Young Spotted Tail" with "William" in their own writing.