White Swan ~ Crow

Diane — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:52:14 +0000

In June 1876, a young warrior named White Swan was one of six Crow scouts assigned to the 7th Cavalry. The outnumbered Crow had aligned themselves with the U.S. government against their traditional enemies, the Sioux and Cheyenne, in exchange for a promise from General George Armstrong Custer of a return to their old way of life, and a return of land stolen from the Crow by other tribes.

History would have been altered had Gen. Custer followed the advise of the Crow scouts who urged him not to lead his forces into the valley of the Little Big Horn. In the ensuing battle, White Swan was severely injured, and after a long recovery, returned to Crow Agency seriously disabled.

In 1894 White Swan, crippled and unable to hear or speak, created a series of drawings on pages from an accounting ledger book to explain his role in the famous battle to his friend, the pastor at the Congregational Church.

— Billy Markland

The photo below is White Swan around 1899 taken at the Crow Agency, Montana, by Arthur M. Tinker, an inspector for the Indian Office and amateur photographer.

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum®

Another photo of White Swan holding his war club:

TMI number 00466, Photograph by F. A. Rinehart, 1898, © Omaha Public Library, 1998

TMI number 00467, Photograph by F. A. Rinehart, 1898, © Omaha Public Library, 1998

Painted at Crow Agency, 1897 by Elbridge Ayer Burbank

Joseph Henry Sharp (1859 - 1953) oil on canvas

Sharp moved to the West, establishing homes in Montana and New Mexico, in order to live among the subjects he wanted to portray. Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Whitney Purchase Fund (18.61)

— Grahame Wood

White Swan was at the battlefield with some of the survivors of the LBH battle on June 25th 1886:

http://sirismm.si.edu/naa/4605/01605403.jpg

American-Tribes.com » Billy Markland

White Swan ~ Crow

— Billy Markland

— Grahame Wood

— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring