HOME

• White Swan (Apsáalooke, about 1851-1904)
• Montana
• About 1890
• Watercolor, ink, and pencil on unbleached muslin
• Native Arts acquisition funds, 1968.336

Indigenous peoples living in the Great Plains region depicted their war victories in pictograms on their tipis and personal items. While such illustrations were commonly painted on animal hides, this example is painted on muslin. This is because animal hides were in scarce supply due to the limited land on which they were forced to live by the United States government in the late 1800s. This painting presents White Swan’s autobiographical account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn (June, 1876) between the United States Army and Indigenous tribes. The Battle of the Little Bighorn is the most famous battle in the history of American and Indigenous peoples warfare, with a Indigenous peoples victory over United States forces. White Swan was an Apsáalooke scout hired by the U.S. Army’s Seventh Cavalry Regiment to guide them to a Lakhˇóta, Cheyenne, and Arapaho camp. He depicts the circumstances of the time in several scenes. In the upper-right section, White Swan is overwatching the battle with a telescope. Directly below, a bugler has rescued the wounded White Swan, while the scene in the lower-right shows himself attacking an enemy. The upper-left illustrates him attacking enemies while surrounded. The lower-left depicts the moment he is attacking an enemy in the battle.