WAR SHIRT OF OGLALA SIOUX CHIEF STANDING BEAR

Given to photographer Carl Moon. Never before on the market. Absolute circa 1870 War Shirt that belonged to Chief George Standing Bear, Oglala (Upper Brule) Sioux, aka Spotted Horse, (a member of the Shirt Wearer’s Society) buckskin shirt and bib with buffalo beading, yellow ochre on front and sleeve, having a hole under the left arm, transferred via his eldest son Luther Standing Bear (1868-1935). Unlikely that this was worn at Little Big Horn as it was 100 degrees that day. Most warriors were nearly naked. This would have remained with Standing Bear’s possessions in camp. Cased by Carl Moon circa 1914 with his shop stencil on back of case, was on display in his Sacramento, California studio store, beadwork tells story (red and white hearts, greasy green) slight de-beading at left breast. Case measures 38”h x 32”w x 10”d.George Standing Bear sat in the Council of 1868 Treaty, sat in war council in April 1876 prior to the June 26th Greasy Grass (Little Big Horn) Battle. His teepee was next to Uncle Crazy Horse in the greasy grass encampment. He was a signatory of the Treaty with the Sioux Nation on 27th October, 1876, sent to Spotted Tail Agency, where he witnessed the murder of Crazy Horse. After removal to the Pine Ridge Reservation, he opened the first Indian owned drygoods store in the Pass Creek District and met with enough success to send all his four children to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, beginning with Luther, who became a great proponent of the school.Wendell Grangaard of The Guns of History, Sioux Falls, SD, provided letter certifying this shirt as having been at Little Big Horn, saying he believes accounts by his first and second wives, Lena One Horn and Ellen Her Eagle Blanket. The same band mark on the shirt repeats on his war bonnet.Not to be confused with the Minneconju Stephen Standing Bear or “Mato Najin” (1859-1933), who rode into the battle at age 16 and painted one of the greatest pictographs of the Battle of Little Big Horn circa 1899, brutal in its honesty. He later performed in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and appeared in early movies, ending his days in 1933 on the Pine Ridge Reservation.Pictured in Moon’s book “In Search of the Wild Indians” on page 349 and spoken about on page 425. Also see photo on pg. 349 of Driesel book. With letter from Wendell Grangaard of The Guns of History, Sioux Falls, SD.Binder of research and letters from collector Wendell Grangaard, author of “Documenting the Weapons of the Little Bighorn” (Mariah Press, 2015).Ref: “In Search of the Wild Indian: Photographs and Life Works by Carl and Grace Moon” by Tom Driebe, Maurose Publishing Co., Moscow, Pa. 1997. p. 349.