Limited Edition Print
Limited Edition Print on Canvas
24″ x 36″ | $530
Five years after the momentous June day in 1876, Red Horse, a chief of the Sioux Indians, conveyed in sign language to a U.S. Army surgeon a detailed account of the events surrounding George Custer’s defeat on the Little Bighorn. Red Horse had played a prominent role in the battle, so in addition to his narrative, Dr. Charles McChesney, the surgeon who took his testimony, also persuaded the Sioux chief to draw a series of pictographs of the battle.
The drawings behind Red Horse’s portrait are part of those 41 ledger drawings created in 1881. This particular drawing shows the height of the battle. As Red Horse described it, “The Sioux charged the different soldier’s and drove them in confusion; these soldiers became foolish, many throwing away their guns and raising their hands, saying, ‘Sioux, pity us; take us prisoners.'”
Although Red Horse, along with the large Sioux and Cheyenne camps, were the victors that day, they still suffered in the fighting. The pictograph of the fallen Sioux warrior in the upper right hand corner shows that they too had casualties as Red Horse recalls, “Now the Sioux had many killed. The soldiers killed 136 and wounded 160 Sioux.”
