ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM BULLETIN

VOLUME XLVI, NUMBER 1, 1992

Contents

Acknowledgments 3

Howling Wolf: An Autobiography of a Plains Warrior-Artist by Joyce M. Szabo 4

Museum Staff and Publications inside back cover

Publishedtwice ayearby theAllen Memorial ArtMuseum. Oberlin College, Oberlin. Ohio. $15-00 ayear, this issue $7SO; mailed freeto members of the Friends of Art. Back issues available from theMuseum. Indexedin the Art Index and abstracted by BHA (Bibliography of the History of Art) and ARTbibliographies. Reproducedon University Microfilms. Ann Arbor. Michigan. Printed by Austin Printing Company. Akron. Ohio, with vegetable-based inks on recycled paper.

COVER: Detail from page two of Oberlin's Howling Wolf Ledger, "Howling Wolf & Feathered Bear Are Courting Two Girls at the Spring Where They Were Getting Water." Ink, pencil, watercolor, and crayon on paper, 8 x 12 >/4 inches. Allen Memorial Art Musuem. Oberlin College. Gift of Mrs. Jacob D. Dox, 04.1180.

Cover photograph by John Seyfried

(Copyright© Oberlin College. 1992)

ISSN: 0002-5739

This project is partly supported by funds from the Ohio Arts Council. Ohio Arts Council ¥• 2- Acknowledgments In 1904, Helen Finney Cox presented Oberlin College with an album of fifty- seven drawings by a Plains Indian artist. Thus the drawings that are the subject of '^: this issue of the Bi illetin came to Oberlin thirteen years before the existence of the Allen Memorial Art Museum itself. Al­ though included in a small exhibition of Native American art in 1978, they re­ mained largely unnoticed until Joyce M. Szabo published an article in the winter 1984 issue of Art fournal on Howling Wolf, a preeminent Southern Cheyenne warrior-artist, citing our drawings as important early examples of his work. Now assistant professor of art history at the University of New Mexico and the leading authority on Howling Wolf, Szabo was persuaded to examine in detail the ledger-book drawings that are the subject of the current exhibition. As guest curator, she has been generous with her time, talents, and research, and she been a most congenial colleague. It is with particular pleasure that I acknowledge the early interest and col­ laboration of Oberlin anthropologist Edith Swan in the realization of this exhibition. From the moment she saw the works she shared my commitment to bring the drawings to the attention of a wider audience, and she has rede­ signed her course on Native American literature to make use of this rare mate­ rial. William J. Chiego, former director of the Allen, and Ralph T. Coe also provided early encouragement for the project. Our sincere thanks are extended to Mark Lansburgh of Santa Fe for his generous loan of comparative drawings from his private collection. The Joslyn Art Museum has been extraordinarily cooperative in making available to us a sheet dating from Howling Wolfs reser­ vation period, for which we are most grateful. The Ohio Arts Council provided fund­ ing that enabled the complete treatment and rehousing of the drawings;—mea­ sures that will ensure their future as well as allow their current exhibition. Anne F. Moore Director Howling Wolf: An Autobiography of a Plains Warrior-Artist

Nineteenth-century Plains artists who ings are preeminent examples of an art exploits as the main source of imagery. created vivid images of warriors pursu­ form created by Native American artists They do, however, offer significant in­ ing enemies in the heat of battle left on the Plains during the second half of sights into the changing world of Plains invaluable views of their world. As the nineteenth century. These draw­ art through both the variation in subject biographical and often autobiographi­ ings, referred to as ledger drawings matter and the wide-ranging stylistic cal accounts, these drawings expand the because accountants' ledgers were fre­ experimentation that fill the pages. present understanding of the past and quently used as sources of paper, devel­ Howling Wolf (1849-1927), the South­ the Plains warrior's role in that history. oped from a long history of representa­ ern Cheyenne warrior who created these As drawings and paintings, these images tional painting on buffalo hides. Ledger exceptional drawings probably between speak as do any works of art about the drawings were originally heraldic im­ the second half of 1874 and the first third creativity of the people who made them ages testifying to the artist's or illustrated of 1875, was a singularly important and the aesthetic decisions that prompted protagonist's battle encounters and suc­ figure in the history of nineteenth-cen­ them. Small drawing pages allow con­ cesses in horse raids. During the late tury Plains art (fig. 1). He is the only temporary audiences to see a segment nineteenth century, the subject matter of Plains artist known to have created of time as no other historic sources have ledger art gradually shifted to include ledger images in all three phases of that made possible. greater emphasis on genre scenes, espe­ art form: before the reservation era; Fifty-seven drawings of Southern cially courting images of young men during his prison exile at Fort Marion in Cheyenne origin in the collection of the pursuing women. The Oberlin illustra­ Saint Augustine, Florida; and following Allen Memorial Art Museum are vital tions date from the last decades of Plains his return to the reservation. His draw­ documents of both Plains history and an life prior to the reservation era, and they ings tell viewers much about Southern individual artist's career. Oberlin's draw­ reflect the older importance of battle Cheyenne life and history. This is a history made alive and vivid, narrated in visual fashion from a point of view infrequently represented in the existing written historical record. The images are, as well, the work of a skilled artist who created them as any self-conscious artist would—with determined atten­ tion to subject and composition, clarity of message, and constant investigation of new representational possibilities. These drawings belie anthropological views of individual artists as unimpor­ tant, or nonexistent, components of a traditional Plains whole. Such views present an unchanging Plains-art aes­ thetic, frozen in time without the effec­ tive contributions of individual artistic personalities.1 Assessments of Plains art, particularly those of representational painting, frequently attribute alterations in style or pronounced changes in art forms solely to Euro-American influ­ ence, as if Plains artists never explored new artistic directions on their own. The Oberlin drawings by Howling Wolf are the largest-known single body of his work, and they offer new insights into how he developed as an artist—adjust­ ing scenes, exploring landscape, and

Figure 1. Eagle Head, left, and Howling Wolf, right, at Fort Marion in Saint Augustine, Florida, c. 1877. Photograph courtesy of the Saint Augustine Historical Society. 5-

J.D. Cox served as a trustee of Oberlin College from 1875 to 1888 and again from 1889 to 1900. Following his retire­ ment in 1897, the Coxes returned to live inOlierlin. Four years after her husband's death in 1900, Helen Finney Cox gave the drawing book to the college. The drawing book originally con­ tained 120 commercially stamped num­ bered pages, each eight by twelve and one-quarter inches. A variety of colored pencils, inks, and watercolors appear on the lined ledger pages. At some un­ known date, the individual drawings were separated from their binding. Currently fifty-six pages filled with draw­ ings and one incomplete sketch are in the collection of the Allen Memorial Art Museum. The artist generally used only Figure 2. Helen Finney Cox. Photograph Figure 3- Jacob Dolson Cox. Photograph one face of each drawing page; it is the courtesy of the Oberlin College Archives. courtesy of the Oberlin College Archives. even-numbered page that most often bears the illustration. The few instances altering the previous dimensions of led­ became president of the Toledo. Wabash, in which he began a drawing on the ger art. They also provide a view of and Western Railroad. After lieing elected reverse of an already completed page Plains representational art in general as to Congress in 1876, Cox was appointed resulted in signs of ink bleeding through one that did not have to be directed from dean of the Cincinnati Law School in from one side to the other. Presumably, outside to change. As part of their 1880, a post he held until 1896, when he this effect limited his use of drawing cultural position as warriors and hunt­ was named president of Cincinnati Uni­ pages to one face only. ers, artists such as Howling Wolf con­ versity.2 stantly investigated the potential of art In 1897, the Coxes' youngest daugh­ Vivid images of Plains warriors bat­ forms like these drawings, but they also ter, Charlotte Hope Cox, married the son tling their enemies—both Anglo sol­ drew and experimented because they of another national military figure, John diers and other tribal foes—fill the Oberlin were concerned with their perfonuance Pope.3 Briefly the commander of the ledger pages. Many of the drawings as artists. The two roles—warrior and Anny of Virginia during the Civil War, include handwritten captions that iden­ artist—were not separate but rather were John Pope became commander of the tify various participants or describe the interwoven into the whole of Plains life. Department of the Missouri in 1866. A activities represented.6 Such handwrit­ major portion of that department's focus ten captions were frequently added by throughout the late 1860s and the 1870s The History of the was Indian Territory, the area that in­ Howling Wolf Ledger cluded present-day Oklahoma. General Pope remained in his western command Helen Finney Cox, an 1846 graduate of position until 1883.4 At some point Oberlin College and daughter of Oberlin's during that command on the Central second president, Charles Grandison Plains, Pope acquired the ledger draw­ Finney, presented the fifty-seven ledger ings now in the Allen Memorial Art drawings to the college in 1904 (fig. 2). Museum's collection. Her husband, Jacob Dolson Cox, whom she married in 1849, received degrees How the drawings changed owner­ from Oberlin College in 1851 and 1854, ship from John Pope to J.D. Cox is completing course work in both aca­ uncertain. General Pope died in 1892, demic and theological studies (fig. 3). and the drawings probably passed to his In 1859, J.D. Cox became a member son, John Horton Pope, who married of the Ohio State Senate and subse­ Cox's daughter some five years later. quently had a distinguished, although The soon-to-be son-in-law gave the Howling Wolf drawings to J.D. Cox on brief, career as a major-general during 5 the Civil War. He was the twenty-third the occasion of Cox's birthday in 1896. governor of Ohio, holding that office The elder Cox was an avid student of from 1866 to 1867. In 1869, President history and wrote several historical bcx)ks, Ulysses S. Grant appointed him secre­ including four major volumes on the Civil War. The Southern Cheyenne tary of the interior. Cox resigned a year Figure 4. Benjamin Clark, scout. later when he and Grant disagreed over drawing book offered him another view Photograph from the William Tilghman policy decisions. During his later years of history, one recorded from the view­ Collection, Western History Collections, Cox practiced law in Cincinnati and then point of a Plains warrior. University of Oklahoma Library. collectors of ledger drawings during the late nineteenth century, and their accu­ racy is often doubtful. Those in the Oberlin ledger offer a greater likelihood of factual basis because they are in the handwriting of Benjamin Clark (fig. 4), a scout who lived in Indian Territory from \ the 1860s until his death in 1914 and who worked with various military fig­ M ures, including George Armstrong Custer, Nelson Miles, and Philip Sheridan.7 Married to a Cheyenne woman, Clark collected many ledger drawings and frequently passed them on to interested military personnel. Captain John Gre­ gory Bourke was one such enthusiastic collector who obtained hundreds of images through Clark, including an­ other book of drawings by Howling ji y Wolf that is now in the collection of the 8 Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha. Figure 6. Cheyenne drawing from the Summit Springs Sketchbook, captured 1869. A frontispiece inscription captions Photograph courtesy of the Colorado Historical Society. the drawings "Fighting, Hunting and Courting Scenes of the Cheyenne" (fig. of personal apparel, shield designs, and counters. By extension, the numerals 5). While confimiation through this warrior-society emblems confinn the also might have been intended as a legend is reassuring, an examination of Southern Cheyenne heritage of the sub­ record of the year in which the drawings the drawings themselves makes it readily jects. were originally collected.10 apparent that the protagonists whose The brief identifying legend for the encounters are illustrated in the ledger book's contents is accompanied by a Artists on the Plains were, indeed, Southern Cheyenne war­ perplexing pair of letters and numer­ In discussing the role of artists who riors. Among the historically recogniz­ als—RF 75. The positioning of the created heraldic imagery on the Plains, able figures who appear here are Eagle number next to the descriptive caption the male pronoun is employed with Head, a Southern Cheyenne Council "Fighting, Hunting and Courting Scenes some certainty. In Plains society, it was chief; Heap of Birds, also a chief and of the Cheyenne" might suggest that the generally the realm of the male artist to fonner warrior-society headman; and original number of the drawings was 9 render representational images of life Howling Wolf, Eagle Head's son. Items seventy-five. That, however, appears forms, either in symbolic fashion for unlikely. The Oberlin ledger is missing such ritual paraphernalia as shields or sixteen stamped, numbered pages, but lodge covers or in more descriptive if the artist utilized the sixteen missing renditions of the natural world in scenes pages in the same manner as he did the illustrating battle exploits. Women paint­ remainder of the book, only eight of ers were better known for geometric those pages would probably have con­ compositions placed on robes, rawhide tained drawings, bringing the total, count­ containers, and interior linings for lodges. ing the sketch, to sixty-five. Representational imagery drew upon Rather than the number of drawings, a well-developed system of picture writ­ the 75 might refer to the time period of ing that allowed the exchange of valu­ the battle scenes depicted in the ledger. able information between artist and On occasion, collectors indicated the audience. In cryptic fashion, Plains time span covered by the actions shown picture images told the direction to new in Plains ledger drawings. Howling campsites, portrayed the location of Wolfs active career as a warrior came to enemy forces, and even declared amo­ a close with his arrest in the spring of rous feelings through love letters. Em­ 1875, at the end of the Southern Plains ploying basic concepts of schematization, wars. Given the artist's subsequent Plains artists represented the most readily history, the date of the latest battle or identifiable aspects of figures and ob­ other activity illustrated in the book jects to allow rapid recognition with little would, of necessity, be April 1875. After chance of confusion.'' In early nine­ that date, neither Howling Wolf nor the teenth-century examples of representa­ Figure 5. Frontispiece inscription, Oberlin tional imagery, humans are often ren­ Ledger. Allen Memorial Art Museum. other Southern Cheyenne warriors de­ dered with frontal heads and torsos but Oberlin College. Gift of Mrs. Jacob D. Cox, picted would have had the opportunity 04.1180. to engage in such pre-reservation en­ profile legs and feet. Horses have clearly defined legs, generally all four Details of clothing and hairstyle— fully as possible. Artistic license to allow visible, and the animals are rendered in important tribal and personal identifi­ exaggeration did not exist; lying was profile (fig. 6). Overlapping one object ers—were often carefully included. inexcusable in the recounting or record­ with another—placing a human figure Plains artists generally focused more ing of battle exploits.13 on horseback, for example—required attention on these details than on dra­ Drawings and paintings on paper, adjustments. Early examples often in­ matically foreshortened postures or com­ extant from at least the 1860s, devel­ clude a transparent superimposition to plex compositions. The Pawnee male, oped from the practice of recording allow all parts of both the horse and the for example, wore a hairstyle very differ­ heraldic exploits on hide robes (fig. rider to remain visible. ent from that of the Cheyenne or the l6).14 Worn as testimonials to men's Sioux male, while Pawnee moccasins had flared cuffs that stood out in com­ parison to those of the Cheyenne (fig. 7). Great attention was often given to the -3 shield design, body paint, and horse lie accoutrements of illustrated protago­ J^v •^fct nists (figs. 8 and 9). The designs of these fr 1E % 0' protective insignia were often spiritually ••^yp inspired in visions that warriors received. t *$&^T Clear indicators of identity, these per­ sonal insignia were well known to other warriors of the same tribe and were less Figure 7. Oberlin Ledger, page 94, likely to be misinterpreted than attempts "Eagle Head." Figure 11. Oberlin Ledger, page 20. at physical portraiture. Additional iden­ "Pawnees." tification could be provided by a name glyph, generally placed above the ! protagonist's head and connected to the *; figure by a line (fig. 10). r 1 Other elements from the heritage of ifeMi%£*! ? * pictorial shorthand offered indications 4 £ PfcX of time and space. Footprints and ~ hoofprints described previous move­ s . \ **» ments of figures: bullets and arrows flying through the air reported volleys already fired in the heat of action (figs. Figure 8. Oberlin Ledger, page 120. 11 and 12); and a gun, lance, or coup Figure 12. Oberlin Ledger, page 106. stick floating above the head of a figure "Eagle Feather." indicated that the protagonist had al­ ready counted coup on or touched that figure (figs. 13 and 14).12 Occasionally lines emanating from the mouths of figures suggest speech (fig. 15), and partial figures of horses or humans could readily suggest greater forces in a short­ hand manner. Details extraneous to the honors of battle, such as landscape or setting, Figure 9. Oberlin Ledger, page 102, generally were not included in early "Feathered Leg." Plains drawings and paintings. The Figure 13 Oberlin Ledger, page 34. intent of heraldic images was not to fully illustrate a scene, but to tell of brave encounters. These images 'were socially sanctioned, and the deeds portrayed were part of the Plains war-honors sys­ tem. Honesty was required in recount­ ing one's battle exploits or coup, whether verbally in the post-battle gatherings of warrior societies or visually on hide robes or pieces of paper. Drawings created and used within Plains society Figure 10. Oberlin Ledger, page 68, prior to the advent of the reservation Figure 14. Oberlin Ledger, page 118, "Big Man." were, without doubt, portrayed as truth­ "Eagle Feather." 8-

bravery in battle and their prowess in aligned them with fellow society members. on the left. The artist usually offered, horse capture, the robes were immedi­ Ledger artists, too, drew their images within the confines of the small page, a ate signs of the social position and as socially approved representations of segment of action from a specific battle. prominence of the wearers. Hides filled their accomplishments. The books were Occasionally dozens of figures were with images of racing warriors and cryp­ smaller than hides, but the ledger artist presented in miniature on drawing pages, tic renditions of coup counted were one used his pictorial surfaces, at least during suggesting the turmoil of large battles, means of encouraging warriors to en­ the pre-reservation era, for the same but these panoramic scenes are infre­ gage in such necessary but life-threaten­ reasons that the hide painter did. In both quent (fig. 20). ing actions. Fraternal warrior societies cases, the artist may or may not have were also part of most Plains cultures. been the actual protagonist whose deeds These groups inspired acts of bravery were recorded. Sometimes a more skilled and recognized the accomplishments of artist was asked to render the brave their members through joint war or accomplishments of a fellow warrior, raiding parties and warrior-society gath­ while at other times the warrior-artist erings and ceremonies. Warriors lie- himself recorded his deeds. In some longing to one of the various fraternal instances, hides, as well as the occa­ warrior societies frequently wore spe­ sional lodge cover or interior lodge liner, cific emblems or carried similar staffs, were covered with heraldic images cre­ lances, or riding quirts which visually ated by more than one artist. Ledger books were frequently shared; occa­ sionally the work of more than one artist even appears on a single page. Figure 17. Oberlin Ledger, page 32. Ledger artists, both before and during the reservation era, generally turned the ledger book to draw on the horizontal plane of the pages. By far the most frequently encountered compositional scheme detailed a one-on-one encoun­ ter between the protagonist and his enemy (figs. 17,18, and 19). Most often positioned at the right of the drawing Figure 15. Oberlin Ledger, page 2, page, the warrior, either on foot or on "Howling Wolf& Feathered Bear Are Courting Two Girls at the Spring Where horseback, faced his opponent located They Were Getting Water." Figure 18. Oberlin Ledger, page 64. "Big Wolf

Figure 19. Oberlin Ledger, page 104, "Crow Spits Blood."

Figure 16. Sioux Pictographic Hide Robe. Pigment on buffalo hide, 73"x94". Photography courtesy of National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, 20/1293- Figure 20. Oberlin Ledger, Howling Wolf the coup in 1867 when he was a member of Fort Marion exiles was an implied threat a war party led by a fellow Bowstring to people on the reservations to behave Warrior-Artist Society member. Lame Bull.18 Subse­ well or their leaders would be killed. Howling Wolf, the son of Eagle Head quent brave deeds followed, and Howl­ Both Howling Wolf and his father and Shield, was born circa 1849. Eagle ing Wolf was referred to in government were among those seventy-two South­ Head, or Minimic, was a successful correspondence as a "desperate charac­ ern Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, warrior and leader who rose within the ter" engaged in various raids in 1874 and Comanche, and Caddo captives sent to ranks of Cheyenne leadership to be­ 1875.19 His reputation for bravery grewr Florida, where they remained under the 15 come a council chief by 1874. For as he became a headman in his warrior supervision of Lieutenant Richard H. many years, Eagle Head was a strong society and a leader in Cheyenne cer­ Pratt from May 1875 to April 1878.21 In supporter of peaceful coexistence with emonies in Florida, Pratt worked to lessen the op­ the military and the encroaching Euro- At the end of the Southern Plains pressive atmosphere of the exile and American settlers, but with increased wars in 1875, the federal government allowed the men leeway in their activi­ depredations, including the massacre of arrested the most prominent war leaders ties. He developed a guard unit from his own chief, Black Kettle, at the Battle and chiefs and sent the seventy-two within the ranks of the prisoners; Howl­ of Washita in 1868, Eagle Head turned ing Wolf was appointed one of the 16 supposedly worst offenders to prison in his forces to war. Saint Augustine, Florida. The selection sergeants of the prison guard, his lead­ Like most young Cheyenne men of of those prisoners and the choice of Fort ership position probably established with the 1860s and 1870s, Howling Wolf Marion (originally named San Marco by his fellow exiles by his pre-Fort Marion fought continually to save his people's the Spanish, who built it in the seven­ status as a warrior and warrior-society land and way of life. Within traditional teenth century) as the location for their leader. Several women, including Pratt's Cheyenne culture, a young man at­ internment carried many blatant mes­ wife, volunteered as teachers, and soon tained a position of respect through sages. By taking the men far from home, many of the younger Plains warriors bravery in battle and horse capture. the government hoped to remove their were learning to read and write. Both Howling Wolf and his father were war-oriented influence from the rest of During the second half of the 1870s, members of the Bowstring Society, one the Southern Plains people, who were Saint Augustine was beginning its devel­ of the four fraternal warrior societies of being forced to adjust to reservation life. 17 opment as a haven for tourists. The their people. By the 1870s, the Bow­ Widi these former leaders out of the vicissitudes of the citrus industry made string Society was the strongest propo­ way, the transition might be less difficult the residents of the region turn to the nent of war within Southern Cheyenne for the agents and military personnel in development of railroads, hotels, and society. charge. The prisoners also served as other amenities to draw visitors from Howling Wolf rose within the ranks hostages. Since it was not a custom on both Europe and the United States.22 of his warrior society, first going to war the Plains to take adult males as long- The Fort Marion prisoners became an as a teenager. He counted his initial term captives, the imprisonment of the added draw. After initial fears that the prisoners were dangerous had been allayed, the men were allowed to walk through the streets of Saint Augustine. They worked in local industries, carry­ ing luggage, polishing sea beans, pick­ ing oranges, and selling various hand­ made items to visitors. Among the most saleable were the prisoners' vivid draw­ ings of life on the Plains. The Fort Marion inmates were en­ couraged to draw, both by the tourist audience and by Pratt and the teachers at the fort. Pratt provided drawing materials, which he ordered from New York art supply houses, and the men were prompted to record images of their trip to Florida and their life there. Pratt referred to these drawings as historical picture books.23 He placed images in the classrooms that might serve as inspi­ ration for the men—both religious pic­ tures and images of the technical ad­ vancements of the East Coast, such as trains and ships. Various Fort Marion drawings suggest close scmtiny of those Figure 21. Howling Wolf Fort Marion Drawing, September 1876. Pencil, crayon, and inkillustrations . on paper, 8-V4" x 111/4". New York State Library, Albany, 672. Pratt used many of the drawing books 10-

on the Plains (fig. students in becoming part of the larger 21). Hunting illus­ society.26 Art, as such, seems to have trations, courting had little encouragement at Carlisle, encounters, and where the facilities were more practi­ above all, domestic cally oriented than they had been in scenes of camp life Florida. The creation of drawings in filled Fort Marion Florida had been a temporary measure drawings. Such im­ in Pratt's plan for Indian education. ages were undoubt­ Those men like Howling Wolf who edly what the 1870s did return to the reservation in May of tourists wanted to 1878 found a vastly different life await­ purchase as well. ing them. Prevented from hunting and Fort Marion art sug­ roaming the prairies, the Plains people gests a unique com­ had lost the very foundation of their bination of the de­ fonner life. Men in particular found the sires of Pratt, of the transition to reservation life difficult. No purchasing public, longer could they achieve manhood in and of the captives the tribal sense by counting coup. The themselves, who Figure 22. Howling Wolf Fort Marion Drawing. October 1876. very reasons for the creation of ledger nostalgically ren­ Pencil, crayon, and ink. on paper, 83/4" x 11 lM". Western imagery were gone, as was the admiring dered images of the Americana Collections, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript audience of Fort Marion. Men who had Library. Yale University. New Haven. life they were de­ old war exploits to recount continued to nied. Fort Marion draw ledger-style images, but reserva­ as gifts—some he gave to fort visitors, images also recorded new activities and tion drawings swiftly began to record others he sent to distant humanitarians scenes from Florida itself: views of the social scenes, courting images, and even 27 who might be of benefit to the Plains fort, of shark fishing, and of local archi­ ritual illustrations. However, there people. He worked diligently for the tecture fill various pages of drawing was no internal foundation for such release of the prisoners and their return books (fig. 22). imagery and little encouragement from to their families on the reservations. By In April of 1878, the Fort Marion men the outside for the creation of drawings. emphasizing the industriousness of his were finally released. While Howling By the 1890s, ledger art was difficult to charges in any way possible, Pratt hoped Wolf wanted to remain in the East to find. to encourage their early release, allow­ attend school, repeated problems with Of the Fort Marion men who re­ ing them to begin the transition to new his eyesight prevented further formal turned to their reservation, few are known ways of life that would be productive education. Several of the younger men to have continued drawing. Only Howl­ 24 and helpful to their people at home. did continue their studies, first at Hamp­ ing Wolf and his fellow Southern Chey­ This focus of Pratt's must surely have ton Nomial and Industrial Institute in enne artist Tichkematse or Squint Eyes affected the type of art produced at Fort Virginia, and then at Carlisle Indian are known to have created ledger art on Marion. The subject matter changed School in Pennsylvania. At Carlisle. the reservation and, in each case, the dramatically from what had been cre­ Richard Pratt continued the philosophy known output is small.2H Howling Wolf 25 ated before confinement. Visual he had developed at Fort Marion and filled one twelve-page drawing book, images of war and horse raids gave way encouraged the development of practi­ now in the collection of the Joslyn Art with great speed to genre images of life cal skills that might assist the Indian Museum, with a variety of images that

Figure 23- Howling Wolf Boarke Ledger pages. May 1878-May 1881. Ink and watercolor on paper, each page 7 V2" x 10 '/4". JAM 1991 19. gift ofAlexander M. Maisb in memory of Anna Bourke Richardson. Photographs courtesy of Joslyn Art Museum. 11- suggest a close scrutiny of the history of earning a living on the reservation by name sign—an outlined wolf with lines his people. Social dances, ritual celebra­ tending his fields and performing vari­ suggesting howls emerging from its tions, a treaty, and a trading venture are ous jobs for the Cheyenne and Arapaho mouth—appears on twenty-three of the among the scenes recorded (fig. 23).29 Agency, but the debilitating effects of fifty-six drawing pages (fig. 24). From These drawings differ, both in subject the reservation environment stifled his the earliest identifiable actions of his and in style, from Howling Wolfs pre- desire to adopt the new lifestyle, as it did youth to those just predating the Fort reservation imagery and his Fort Marion for many Plains people.31 After his Marion confinement, Howling Wolf art.30 No longer an active warrior. father's death in 1881, Howling Wolf chronicled the important events of his Howling Wolf drew images recording became a vocal political leader arguing life as a warrior. He also offered visual incidents both of his earlier life and of for the rights of his people. The 1880s testimony concerning the battle exploits activities that had occurred long before and 1890s were particularly turbulent of his father. Eagle Head, and various his birth. He tentatively began to render years for the Cheyenne, marked by other fellow warriors, including Heap of images of the new reservation exist­ repeated food shortages and alterca­ Birds, Sitting Bull, Big Wolf, Big Nose, ence. Gone were the Florida class­ tions with Anglo cattlemen. In the early and Crow That Spits Blood. In many of rooms, the ready supplies of drawing 1900s, Howling Wolf perfonned in a these scenes, Howling Wolf carefully materials, and an admiring—and pur­ modified wild West show in Houston. recorded the details of shield design and chasing—audience; the impetus to draw He died in an automobile accident while other identifying paraphernalia. He, his seems to have vanished as well. Con­ returning from Texas to Oklahoma in father, Heap of Birds, and Sitting Bull are tinuing problems with his eyesight may 1927. Howling Wolf is not known to among those portrayed with the dough­ also have limited Howling Wolfs artistic have created any additional ledger im­ nut-shaped rattle of the Bowstring Soci­ career; by the 1890s, official records ages during the reservation era after the ety (figs. 25 and 26). Eagle Head referred to him as one-eyed. Howling twelve from the Bourke ledger. appears in the ledger with the shield Wolf turned his attention at first to design that both he and his son had the History Revealed by the right to use; Eagle Head's horse is also painted in the dashed-line design of that Howling Wolf Ledger shield (fig. 27). Prior to the early 1980s, it was not The Oberlin ledger largely confonns known that Howling Wolf had created to the expected format of pre-reserva­ heraldic images before his Fort Marion tion ledger art in terms of subjects ex­ confinement.32 A comparison of the plored. Fifty of the fifty-six drawings drawings from the Oberlin collection to depict battles or horse captures. Howl­ other known works by Howling Wolf ing Wolf and his fellow warriors engage confirms that the Southern Cheyenne a variety of enemies. Pawnee people, warrior-artist was responsible for the traditional enemies of the Southern Chey- drawings in the Oberlin ledger. Howl­ Figure 24. Oberlin Ledger, page 30. ing Wolfs authorship is made apparent through close examination of how hu­ mans, animals, and other details are portrayed. Although his drawings changed during different phases of his career, some characteristics remained consistent.33 His style employs firm outlines; rich, decorative color; and care­ ful attention to detail. Clothing is em­ phasized, with hairpipe or bone chok­ ers and breast plates, feathered lances and headdresses, silver concha hair plates, beaded blanket strips, and textile Figure 27. Oberlin Ledger, page 116, Figure 25. Oberlin Ledger, page 6. patterns rendered with fine-line preci­ "Mah nim ik. Eagle Head." sion. Horses are particularly distinctive, with their pointed, mule-like ears, rounded muzzles, and well-proportioned bodies. In format, the artist readily experimented with foreshortening: hu­ mans and horses turn in space. In most of his work, he employed the drawing page—whether an eight-by-twelve-inch page or a much smaller three-by five- inch page—to its fullest extent. The Oberlin ledger provides a vivid Figure 26. Oberlin Ledger, page 22. autobiography of the artist battling his Figure 28. Oberlin Ledger, page 84, "Pawnees." pre-reservation enemies. Howling Wolfs "A Pawnee." 12-

enne people, frequently appear as the and experimental in his approach to the depict additional subject matter. foes, with their distinctive flared-cuff pictorial space. It also seems apparent The handwritten legends on the moccasins and cropped hair (fig. 28). that the Oberlin ledger was not the Oberlin pages identify battle partici­ Other enemies include Ute people, gen­ artist's first attempt at rendering such pants and, often, the particular encoun­ erally depicted wearing fringed leather images. He approached each of the ter. Clark labeled one drawing the Sand shirts (fig. 29), Crow men with long, drawings here as a capable draftsman Creek Massacre (fig. 35), another a fight netted hair coverings (fig. 30), Snake or concerned with fine, even linear bound­ near Fort Wallace (fig. 36), and yet Shoshone (fig. 3D, and Osage (fig. 32). aries. His use of minutely rendered Military personnel are frequently shown details of clothing and paraphernalia engaged in battle with Cheyenne war­ suggests an artist comfortable with the riors, the army clearly indicated through relatively new materials of paper, pen­ blue uniforms and hats (fig. 33). Anglo cil, and ink. His sense of color is strong, men not in uniform also appear (fig. 34). with vivid hues filling the pages and For the Southern Cheyenne people, the multiple attempts at blending colors to 1870s was a time of continual encoun­ fonn new ones. The overall effect of the ters with many enemies, and Howling Oberlin drawings suggests their cre­ Wolf has illustrated a great number of ation by a practiced artist, undoubtedly those battles. recognized as skilled by his fellow war­ riors. The drawings are the work of an The Southern Cheyenne artist did not artist willing to experiment, to explore Figure 34. Oberlin Ledger, page 96. place images in the ledger in chrono­ new representational schemes, and to logical order. Episodes from the sum­ mer of 1874 appear near battle images recalling encounters from a decade ear­ lier. Whether the artist began at the front and drew on succeeding pages or whether he placed drawings randomly throughout the book is unknown, but even a cursory examination confinns that the drawings were all created within a short time. The drawing materials remain the same from page to page, and the style is extremely coherent. The use Figure 3 5. Oberlin Ledger, page 4. of colors and the manner of representa­ "At the Sand Creek Massacre." tion suggest an artist sure of his abilities Figu re 31 • Oberlin Ledger, page 50. "Snake Indian."

Figure 36. Oberlin Ledger, page 42, "Fight near Ft. Wallace." Figure 29- Oberlin Ledger, page 46, "Ute Indian." Figure 32. Oberlin Ledger, page 48. "Osage." -»,

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Figu re 3 7. Oberlin Ledger, page 62, "Under Cloud, Howling Wolf Fight with Figure 30. Oberlin Ledger, page 72. Gen. Sully in 1868, 7th Cavy near the "Crow Indians, Heap Birds." Figure 33- Oberlin Ledger, page 76. Present Camp Supply." 13- another a fight with General Sully in American flag.35 Many additional en­ portraits of the artist carrying Bowstring 1868 near Fort Supply (fig. 37; the gagements took place near Fort Wallace Society paraphernalia, then, cannot rep­ caption appears on the facing ledger during the late 1860s and early 1870s.36 resent incidents predating his entry into page). It is very likely that these are During those years, Howling Wolf was that society, which might have come in actual illustrations of those events. an active Plains warrior. 1864. In addition, Howling Wolf de­ Howling Wolf was undoubtedly with While incidents in the Oberlin ledger picted his own first coup or war honor Black Kettle's people at the Sand Creek are not in chronological order, it is in the Oberlin ledger. Page 100 shows Massacre of 1864, when the Colorado possible to suggest times for various the young warrior, then approximately volunteer militia under Colonel John M. events. Episodes identified via captions eighteen years old, raiding a wagon Chivington attacked the sleeping village or through alignment with known his­ train and attempting to cut off the lead of Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho torical events are easy to place chrono­ mare of that train (fig. 38). In early people. In 1864 Howling Wolf was only logically, but other events are also clear twentieth-century correspondence with a teenaged, novice warrior, as yet un­ in temporal reference. Battles in which writer George Hyde, fellow warrior married, and he still would have been Howling Wolf portrayed himself with George Bent described the Lame Bull living with his father's people.34 Battles the special accoutrements of feathered war-party attacks on two different mule with General Alfred Sully were frequent or feathered-and-horned headdresses trains.38 Howling Wolfs actions in what during 1868, the year of the major Battle must be later in his life, close to the was probably the second attack were of Washita where George Armstrong actual time that he created the drawings. specifically detailed by Bent. During the Custer attacked Black Kettle's Southern No Plains warrior would depict himself ensuing battle, Howling Wolf suffered a Cheyenne people while they camped with such socially important insignia wound to the thigh which is graphically under the supposed protection of the prior to his having earned the right to portrayed on page twenty-six (fig. 39). wear them. The young warrior who In both of these instances, which oc­ battles the enemy firing behind his fallen curred during 1867, Howling Wolf is horse in the active swirl of battle on page well dressed with German silver pecto­ six of the ledger (fig. 25) carries the ral and detailed shield, but he does not doughnut-shaped rattle of the Bow­ wear additional signs suggesting leader­ string Society suspended from his raised ship status. In contrast, the warrior who lance but is otherwise clad without engages an Anglo man in a horse-drawn elaborate heraldic insignia. Howling wagon on page nighty-eight is wearing Wolf would first have gone to war as a the eagle-feather war bonnet with horns teenager and, by age fifteen, he would and full feather trailer of an established have been able to join one of the war leader (fig. 40). Cheyenne warrior societies.37 The self- With these initial battles, Howling Figure 38. Oberlin Ledger, page 100. Wolf began the rise in prominence that "Howling Wolf" would ultimately give him the right to lead the Bowstring warriors and their Northern Cheyenne counterparts, the Crazy Dog warriors, into the annual . -i1 • *' I ceremony of the Sun Dance depicted on pages fifty-six and fifty-seven (fig. 41). ?4> MfMts The life-renewal ceremony illustrated in this two-page composition is undoubt­ edly that of the summer of 1874, the last Sun Dance that Howling Wolf would have experienced before his confine­ ment at Fort Marion. That year, the Figure 39. Oberlin Ledger, page 26, Crazy Dog warriors sponsored the Sun "Howling Wolf" Dance, and they and the members of the Bowstring Society would have held places of special honor during the cer­ emony.39 Howling Wolf has depicted himself on horseback, playing a central and much-honored role, leading a group of warriors into the gathering. Ben Clark's caption explains that the grand Figure 41. Oberlin Ledger, pages 56 and entry of the warriors into the Medicine 57. "The warriors making their grand Ixxlge is taking place. That Howling Wolf entry into the Medicine Lodge before was one of the few men who rode into the beginning the dance. They fire first at the sacred Medicine Lodge of the Sun Dance is image hanging from the center pole. One additional testimony to the prominence he Figure 40. Oberlin Ledger, page 98. hand has just arrived and another is had achieved as a warrior.40 "Howling Wolf." approaching the Lodge." 14-

Ledger Draiving as purpose, Howling Wolf liegan to alter top of and behind the gently rolling hills the standard approach to heraldic imag­ on page seventy (fig. 47). The most Aesthetic Exploration ery in the Oberlin ledger. Although the complex landscape is seen on page ten, Beyond its position as an historical majority of the images are presented where a lone warrior, identified by record of battles on the Plains, the against the blank void of the drawing Clark's caption as the Cheyenne Dog Oberlin ledger offers the opportunity to page, several pages suggest the artist's Soldier Tall Bull, single-handedly battles learn much about Plains pre-reservation concern with specificity of place. On his enemies (fig. 48). The Cheyenne art and the aesthetic decisions that Howl­ page seventy-eight (fig. 42), Howling warrior clings to the lush, multi-hued ing Wolf made. The warrior-artist's use Wolf positioned a struggling enemy hillside, his knife held in one raised of the available ledger pages and the within the waters of a clearly depicted hand, amid bullets flying from both range of compositional fonnats he em­ river; a yellow house, with smoke emerg­ directions. Six enemies, apparently Paw­ ployed provide a different image of the ing from its red brick chimney, is also nee men, are fighting the lone Chey­ Plains artist at work than that held in the indicated. The Cheyenne Bowstring enne man from within a gap in the hills. compressed anthropological view of "tra­ warrior Sitting Bull has counted coup on The incident depicted may well be the ditional" art. An examination of Howl­ and is now firing his gun at a man noted 1869 battle at Summit Springs on ing Wolfs work in relation to the stylistic located within the outlined format of a the Platte River, in which Tall Bull fought tenets of Plains representational art in house on page eighteen (fig. 43), and the United States Army under General general suggests his position as a self- Howling Wolf himself attacks a man E.A. Carr and his famous Pawnee scouts conscious innovator. asleep in his bed within the interior led by Frank and Luther North.41 The In pre-reservation ledger art, the artist space separated from the remainder of composition itself is a bold step from the usually rendered his images cryptically the page in figure 44. Big Nose fights standard format of a lone warrior posi- rather than as full illustrations. Only Osage warriors positioned in front of occasionally were indications of locale and behind small green and yellow hills or landscape offered. The Plains ledger (fig. 45); Crow That Spits Blood counts artist focused his attention on recording coup on a fallen Pawnee warrior drawn the important details of battles or horse beside a variegated hill (fig. 46); and raids: the counting of coup, the taking Heap of Birds battles a Crow man, with of horses, and the demonstration of distinctive netted hair covering, within a bravery in the face of all odds. The grassy enclosure (fig. 30). These spatial general absence of details of locale did suggestions might be viewed as tenta­ not indicate a lack of sense of place or tive beginnings which led the artist to geography but was, rather, consistent more daring explorations on other pages. with the cultural basis for the creation of While his foreshortened horse stands these drawings. nearby, Heap of Birds battles three Figure 46. Oberlin Ledger, page 110, Pawnee warriors who are depicted on While maintaining that fundamental "Crow Spits Blood."

. *~* jii' Aii \w *, ¥ • Jfr 1 ^v \ Wgy *4Hi Figure 47. Oberlin Ledger, page 70, Figure 42. Oberlin Ledger, page 78. Figure 44. Oberlin Ledger, page 44. "Pawnees. Heap of Birds." "Arkansas River." 1- /' * .**K Figure 45. Oberlin Ledger, page 82, Figure 48. Oberlin Ledger, page 10, Figure 43- Oberlin Ledger, page 18. "Osages, Big Nose." "Tall Bull, Cheyenne." 75- tioned at the right of the page fighting views predominate. Howling Wolf position, while yet another appears with his counterpart positioned at the left, all readily explored the possibilities opened rear quarters facing the viewer and head placed against an otherwise blank draw­ to him by the use of foreshortening. slightly turned in profile. Some human ing page. Here Howling Wolf has come Horses and riders twist and turn in participants crouch and kneel behind far closer to a fully illustrative scene, space. Some fall in contorted postures, forked gun supports, while others walk, complete with multiple footprints telling others stand in radically foreshortened run, and ride in different directions. of former movements. If this is indeed frontal or rear positions. On page Footprints and hoofprints, flying bullets the Battle of Summit Springs, Howling sixteen, one horse turns its head, keep­ and arrows, and blasting guns, together Wolf has memorialized the famous Dog ing its body in profile, as if to confer with with the panoply of participants, relay Soldier, who met his death at the hands its companion while Sitting Bull counts the intense frenzy of a major battle of the Pawnee scouts pictured in the coup on the wagon driver (fig. 49). within the limitations of a single ledger ravine. Heap of Birds' horse, although depicted page. Investigations of a range of figurative with all four legs visible, has turned Ledger art was traditionally a linear postures also fill the Oberlin ledger. away from the viewer, its foreshortened art form in which outlines were ren­ While standard profile or composite rear quarters placed closer to the viewer dered as carefully, it seems, as the artist while the remainder of the animal's possibly could. The boundary lines of body extends believably into the picture pencil, crayon, or ink are a visible com­ plane (fig. 47). ponent of the art style. Artists seldom On many pages of the Oberlin led­ attempted to cover the contour lines ger, Howling Wolf expanded the gener­ with color to make them merge with the ally understood format of pre-reserva­ remainder of a colored form; the out­ tion ledger art. Warriors generally move lines remain as grids containing areas of from right to left across the page in the color or of the neutral background of the standard format, but Howling Wolf ex­ page itself. Within those boundary lines perimented widely within that design color was added in relatively flat, even scheme. Most of the pages contain two tones. Rarely were attempts made to or three main figures engaged in battle, suggest texture or to superimpose vari­ Figure 49. Oberlin Ledger, page 16, but others, like the panoramic view of ous pencils or inks to fonn additional "Sitting Bull." the artist's father. Eagle Head, engaged hues. In many pages of the Oberlin in a great battle with many warriors, ledger, however, Howling Wolf broke freely investigate multiple posaires within those apparent standards. He frequently one page. (See the detail in figure 50 blended colors into variegated, swirling and the full drawing in figure 20.) Horses hues, and he often experimented with race upward and tumble downward, texture. Dappled horses, deep patches one turns its head toward the viewer of fur, and a wide range of textile while maintaining its body in profile patterns exist in his drawings (figs. 51, 52, and 53). Variety and experimenta­ tion in the application of color fill the ledger's pages. Conveying the Sequence of Events Howling Wolf also employed more stan­ dard elements of the Plains representa­ tional style, but he used them in innova­ tive ways that expand the messages relayed by his drawings. Through the Figure 50. Oberlin Ledger, detail from Figure 52. Oberlin Ledger, page 8. use of hoofprints, previously fired weap­ page 92. ons, blasting guns, and coup already counted, the artist allowed images to become more than static renditions of single moments. His images represent multiple segments of time: they not only stop a moment in time, holding it within the drawing page, but also tell the viewer how the participants reached this point. The result approximates the effect of continuous narrative. Two examples will illustrate the po­ Figure 53- Oberlin Ledger, page 54, tential he explored through such de­ Figure 51. Oberlin Ledger, page 108. "Ute Indian. Cheyenne, Ute." vices. As Howling Wolf moves on 16-

horseback toward the left margin of that Howling Wolf carries in the remain­ ered bonnets, appear at the upper limits ledger page thirty-six (fig. 54), he turns der of the action. Howling Wolfs horse of the semicircle, while the other two, to count coup on an enemy who tumbles has moved, as indicated by the hoof­ wearing bonnets with full trailers, ap­ from the horse positioned behind him. prints, from the fallen enemy upon pear toward the lower border of lodges. The artist has altered the standard right- whom Howling Wolf has successfully By tipping the camp circle up and to-left movement of action. Both horses counted coup, to the center of the page, providing a view approximating birds move across the page, but the main where he continues to fire at additional eye perspective, Howling Wolf offers a action turns back to the right. Howling enemies. vision of the entire camp circle and the Wolf has already fired his pistol at the In both these drawings, and in many crowded, festive gathering of the Bow­ 12 enemy and has wounded him; blood others throughout the book, Howling string Society.- Like the energy sug­ spurts from the enemy's chest and mouth. Wolf used representational imagery and gested in the Sun Dance gathering or in The wound was delivered at a point pictographic shorthand in the manner the other panoramic views in the ledger, earlier in the action, for here Howling developed in the heraldic system to the dance scene relays not only the vista but also the electricity of the larger Wolf holds only a lance, which he recount his own and others' activities in gathering. extends in front of and well beyond the battle. The images encapsulate time and enemy's torso. Howling Wolf does have movement, offering in one small page a Obvious disparity in scale appears a gun, but it is securely fastened in his story much larger than that which can be only once in the Oberlin ledger. In an belt. However, the gun where a second framed and rendered as a single illustra­ image illustrating Crow Spits Blood in time in greater detail, firing from behind tion. Through the Plains visual narra­ combat with multiple enemies, the pro­ the enemy. A bullet emerges from the tive, the artist relayed the fourth dimen­ tagonist appears in the right half of the pistol, following the single line drawn sion of time and its passing. drawing, and he and his horse occupy from the larger wedge that relays the fully half of the available page (fig. 57).43 burst of fire. The line of that bullet leads Mounted, with lance raised, he faces ten directly to the enemy's chest. Hoof­ The Representation of prints present the earlier location of the Physical Space protagonist, who, after wounding the Howling Wolf also explored conven­ enemy, rode around to position himself tions that allowed him to extend the in front of him. Other hoofprints along approximation of space represented and the lower border of the page demon­ his participants' positions within that strate the forward movement of both space. Moving action off the edge of a figures. Within the limitation of the page rather than containing the scene small drawing page, Howling Wolf has and all its figures fully within the page is compressed time and space to offer a far one method he employed. He also more complete recounting of his own varied his use of perspective. By doing actions. so, he was able to render larger sections Figure 54. Oberlin Ledger, page 36. The next drawing in the ledger (fig. of space and provide more information 55) shows Howling Wolf fighting Anglo within a single scene. The double-page men. Positioned near the center of the Sun Dance ceremony combines points page, Howling Wolf fires at forces in of view, as one page allows figures front of him; one man on horseback is entering the Medicine Lodge to angle fully presented, while another is only across the pictorial space into the main partially visible. In his left hand Howl­ view of the lodge (fig. 41). Another large ing Wolf holds a riding quirt, a wooden group celebration, a Cheyenne camp sculptural form with incised lines and circle and a warrior-society dance (fig. crosses on its shaft. Pendant sashes, 56), also reflects experimentation with probably of fur and cloth, hang from the spatial suggestion. Frontally placed quirt, and an arm band is attached to its lodges and arbors parallel the upper hand grip. Such objects once had a border of the drawing page, while lodges Figure 55. Oberlin Ledger, page 38. functional purpose as clubs and whips, in profile curve along each side to join but by the 1870s they were used mainly with those lining the lower edge of the as insignia by warriors. Headmen in page. Various lodges carry painted Cheyenne and Arapaho warrior societ­ design fields that suggest the vibrancy of ies often carried such quirts as signs of the Cheyenne village. Members of the their leadership. Howling Wolfs quirt warrior society, each carrying a feath­ appears twice in the drawing in sequen­ ered lance, stand in semicircular forma­ tial episodes. At the right of the pictorial tion inside the camp circle. Fourmounteci space, the form floats without visible dance leaders, including the named human assistance atop the head of a figure of Howling Wolf, wear feathered fallen enemy. Blood is apparent at the headdresses. These are undoubtedly the headmen of the warrior group. Two point of contact between the quirt and Figure 56. Oberlin Ledger, page 52. of them, wearing short, upright feath­ the man's head. This is the same quirt "Warriors Dance War Dance." 17-

Osage (or Pawnee) enemies located on in size; they move in varying postures bers to the top, shows the warrior Mag­ the left side of the page. All of the within their half of the page. The spatial pie, complete with full war bonnet, enemies' guns are trained on the Chey­ incongaiity here can be interpreted in galloping right to left across the page enne warrior, whose horse moves amid various ways. Crow Spits Blood appears (fig. 58). His horse, with tail tied and a flurry of bullets. Flowing blood indi­ protected from the volley of bullets by embellished and feathered scalplock cates that the horse has been wounded the red mantle that flows from his shoul­ suspended from its bridle, follows an­ twice. The ten enemies are much smaller ders; visions on occasion provided Plains other branded horse across the page. warriors with protective garments that The second horse undoubtedly belongs assisted them in battle, sometimes mak­ to the fallen man over whom Magpie ing the wearer either invisible or imper­ rides. Hoofprints show the path taken vious to bullets.44 Crow Spits Blood by the enemy's horse. Howling Wolf may be larger here because his power is has not confined the action within the greater or, perhaps less poetically, he small drawing page. Only the hindquar­ may be closer to the viewer than the ten ters of the enemy's horse are visible, smaller figures. The angle of vision here suggesting that the viewer sees only a may be a diagonal one. slice of the action. Page 115, the next ledger page (fig. 59), shows another Drawings in Their segment of the battle. Here, two horses, the front one clearly branded, pull a Figure 57. Oberlin Ledger, page 112, Original Context multi-colored wagon from within which "Crow That Spits Blood." Ledger books like this, which are no an enemy fires. The floating gun, stock longer intact, require the viewer to at the man's face, suggests that this struggle to reconstruct the original con­ enemy, too, has already had coup text of the images. Often within pre- counted upon him. Hoofprints across i reservation ledgers, consecutive pages the lower boundary of the pictorial referred to the same battle. From page space connect the action from the two v ""X L iJr to page within a book, an artist gave pages. Magpie fought not only the man % visual form to different moments or already fallen on page 114, but also the different participants in one encounter. man on page 115. Pages 114 and 115 are an example of such a compositional scheme in a rare In like manner, page sixty-six, cap­ use of two facing pages within the tioned by Ben Clark, shows a group of Oberlin ledger. Page 114, which would warriors including Howling Wolf and Figure 58. Oberlin Ledger, page 114, have appeared on the left-hand side of Big Wolf returning from Mexico with a "Magpie." the open book turned with its spine on herd of captured horses (fig. 60). The the vertical plane and its stamped num- men and animals traveled through the largely barren section of west Texas and eastern New Mexico known as the Staked Plains or the Llano Estacado during their passage from Southern Cheyenne lands in present-day Oklahoma and Kansas to northern Mexico. On the facing page * • (fig. 61), Howling Wolf offers a more | ' i ' detailed suggestion of some of the ter­ rain through which they passed: horses" • * •>'•' i hoofprints wind through low shrub- i Figure 59. Oberlin Ledger, page 115. covered hills. The journey was a long one, and Howling Wolf has chronicled Figure 61. Oberlin Ledger, page 67. at least a portion of it. Facing pages suggest an obviously unified narrative, but they are rare in Howling Wolfs work and in that of other known pre-reservation artists. Alternate pages, too, can relay the con­ tinuation of action. Page eighty-six shows the Cheyenne warrior Big Nose engaged in battle with a large number of Osage warriors (fig. 62). The warriors, Figure 60. Oberlin Ledger, page 66, rendered in miniature at the left of the "Howling Wolf, Big Wolf. Returning from page, assume a variety of postures as a Raid to Old Mexico across the Staked Figure 62. Oberlin Ledger, page 86. they turn, fire, and fall in the heat of Plains with a Herd of Stock Captured." "Osages. " battle. Howling Wolf gave full play here 18-

to his experimentation with foreshort­ Wolfs position in that life. As noted The Developing Artist ened and turning figures. He has also earlier, a young Cheyenne man could explored a wide range of color varia­ not court a young woman until he had Until recently, the Oberlin drawings tions, including suggestions of mottled proven himself in battle. In the Oberlin were thought to be the earliest-known and textured surfaces. Big Nose has ledger, Howling Wolf has shown that he examples of Howling Wolfs work. In previously counted coup on and has earned that right. By the time he the 1980s another small ledger contain- wounded at least one fallen enemy at filled this ledger with drawings, he was the right of the page, and he is shown married to Curly Hair, his third wife. engaging another in the middle of the The Oberlin drawings reveal an artist page. The next page used as a drawing more polished and self-conscious than surface was page eighty-eight (fig. 63). any other creator of known pre-reserva­ Here Big Nose continues his battle with tion work. Howling Wolfs concern the Osage people, already having with the presentation of carefully drawn, counted coup on two Osage women at complete scenes is readily apparent. His the right. He is shown using his otter- avoidance of nearly half the ledger wrapped lance to wound an Osage man pages as surfaces for illustrations can be to the left. attributed to his desire to present pleas­ Compositional experiments abound ing pictures. Ink outlines in the ledger in the Oberlin ledger, but Howling Wolf bled through from the front of a page to also expands the range of subject matter the back, making the reverse an unat­ typically associated with pre-reserva­ tractive pictorial surface. Howling Wolf tion ledger art. The drawing on page used the reverse of pages filled with two of the ledger is a genre scene similar drawings only five times in the Oberlin to those found in later Fort Marion or ledger. The one sketch in the book was reservation-period drawings (see the left incomplete, presumably because detail in figure 64 and the entire drawing ink seeping through from the other side in figure 15). Howling Wolf and his of the paper was disturbing to the artist companion, Feathered Bear (identified (fig. 65). Howling Wolf also was careful by the name glyph of a bear with to cover his mistakes and false starts as feathers projecting from its back and by completely as possible. The faint out­ Ben Clark's description written on the line of an additional Pawnee warrior is facing ledger page), are shown near a visible in the lower region of the varie­ stream not far from the camp where two gated hills presented in the Tall Bull Figure 64. Oberlin Ledger, detail from page 2. young women have come with their scene (figs. 66 and 48). Howling Wolf, ladles and bags to obtain water. Foot­ however, has deliberately colored over / i* g

prints show the paths taken by at least it. The most intriguing example of the '•*•• some of the participants, while the water artist's careful reuse of valuable drawing v \ : itself runs onto the facing page. Speech pages is in a simple right-to-left battle ~-:X V- V.-i' lines emanating from their mouths indi­ scene where the mounted protagonist, 9 cate that both couples are engaged in Howling Wolf himself, carries a shield \?Y" conversation. The drawing itself is a with a flowing feather trailer (fig. 29). j V__ superb example of Howling Wolfs con­ Beneath the precisely delineated feath­ cern with details of personal adornment. ers, the outline of a man is still visible - v The young women are clad in vividly (fig. 67). Howling Wolf carefully hid the hued textiles, dresses, and leggings, and earlier sketch in an attempt to present an Figure 65. Oberlin Ledger, page 58. they wear long hairpipe ornaments. unblemished, aesthetically pleasing il­ Both men are presented with elaborate lustration of a battle encounter. hairpipe breastplates and German silver hairplates, and each is wrapped in a blanket decorated with a beaded strip at midsection. Howling Wolf, carrying an umbrella as a sunshade, has opened his blanket to invite one of the women to share it with him in the custom of Plains courting. That Howling Wolf included such a detailed social scene in a ledger containing primarily images of battle suggests his concern with a wider range of pictorial representation, but the court­ ing scene is also tied to the Plains concept of the warrior life and Howling Figure 63. Oberlin Ledger, page 88. Figure 66. Oberlin Ledger, detail from "Osage, Big Nose, Osage Women." page 10. 19- ing thirty-six drawings of Southern Chey­ unmistakably by Howling Wolf. Exami­ have been elongated beyond reality. enne origin was sold through a gallery in nation of these drawings confirms that The horses' tiny, mule-like faces and Santa Fe, New Mexico. That ledger they predate the Oberlin set. In them the large, pointed ears are without doubt in contained the work of six, possibly artist seems to be working toward com­ Howling Wolfs style, but their propor­ seven, different artists, including Howl­ positions that would reach a more pol­ tions are awkward in comparison to ing Wolf.45 The joint use of drawing ished rendition in the Oberlin ledger. those found in the Oberlin ledger. A books was not uncommon on the Plains; One small drawing, for example, illus­ similar composition in the Oberlin book undoubtedly men who obtained blank trates the general right-to-left organiza­ (fig. 69) suggests an artist more at ease books in raids shared them with other tional scheme found in pre-reservation with depictions of horses as well as with members of the raiding party. The book ledger art—the Cheyenne protagonist, the use of the page and the scale of is undated and its provenance not firmly undoubtedly Howling Wolf himself, pulls figures placed within the available pic­ established, but it bears a frontispiece his lance back to touch the enemy, who torial space. inscription that suggests 1874 as the last turns to fire back at him (fig. 68). It is A buffalo-hunting illustration that date the book was in its original owner's significant that someone—whether the appears in the small ledger (fig. 70) is 46 hands. artist or a subsequent hand—altered the particularly important in establishing Of the thirty-six drawings, eight are appearance of the enemy, adding long, the order of Howling Wolfs work. The flowing hair over the short-cropped hair arrangement is very similar to the image of an Anglo civilian. Given the fact that from the end page in the Oberlin book ledger drawings were sometimes used (fig. 71), but the smaller image is less as evidence against Plains warriors, it is complicated. The Oberlin example pre­ likely that the addition of a non-Anglo sents a horse at ease in full stride, legs hairstyle was a later attempt to disguise extended, movements anatomically the identity of the enemy. f 1 smooth. The racing buffalo also is The detail so evident in the Oberlin effectively rendered, its body bulky and ledger is seen here in the meticulously curved, its fur suggested in textural ^J^l WW WW VL^ Kfc^ rendered, checked pattern of the saddle zones. The smaller drawing is visually blanket, the varying textures of the crowded on the page, the black buffalo's clothing, and the carefully depicted hat, body angular, the horse awkwardly feathers, and lance. The enemy appears positioned. The rider pulls his arm back atop a saddle with stirrups into which in the smaller drawing, yet his face is still his feet, unlike those of the Cheyenne in full profile; in the Oberlin drawing the rider, are placed. Compositionally, the rider turns his head away from the figures astride their horses seem com­ viewer. While the drawing from the pressed to fit the small dimensions of the collaborative book suggests the illusion C page, and the necks of their horses, of three-dimensionality as the rider draws Figure 67. Oberlin Ledger, detail from particularly that of the Cheyenne rider, his right arm back to hold the arrow page 46. against the taut bowstring, the Oberlin rider is more completely suggestive of a man performing these actions while riding in pursuit of his prey. The right ami is presented as a larger muscular ovoid as it pulls toward the viewer in space, the left arm smaller and bent to hold the bow. Howling Wolfs head here is not in full profile but in a three- quarter position that allows the nose and chin to remain visible while also showing the back of his head (fig. 72).

Figure 68. Howling Wolf Drawing from Guthrie Ledger. Ink and watercolor on paper, Figure 69. Oberlin Ledger, page 28. 5 1/2"'x 71/8". Mark Lansburgh Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico. "A Scout." 20-

The hunter's head, shoulders, and back The drawings become another reality, incorporate nature and the elements. form an effectively foreshortened, com­ another history, another entity in their Shields and the symbols they carried as plex posture that gives the illusion of contemporary setting. It is a truism that conceptual emblems of visions suggest movement in three-dimensional space. Native American cultures had no sepa­ a connection with another dimension of In the smaller drawing. Howling Wolf rate word for art, no concept of works time, another segment of space that has presented only one horse, a single like these being important outside their transcends the everyday world. Kinship rider, and one buffalo. While the horse's social function in the way that Euro- extends beyond the present, and ritual back hooves touch the edge of the American societies set art apart from connects the past with both the present ledger, the image is contained within the function. For Howling Wolf and his and the future. Time is persistent and confines of the drawing page. The fellow warriors, ledger drawings were recurrent; the past illuminates the future Oberlin drawing expands this composi­ vital, living documents of personal and and the present. Because George tion into a more visually intriguing im­ tribal history. They were celebratory, Armstrong Custer made false promises age. One buffalo and the hindquarters honoring valiant deeds that were re­ and attacked the Cheyenne and Arapaho of several others race across the page, quired to maintain the social structure. people at Washita in 1868, he and all of and a buffalo calf has fallen in front of The images are visual history that re­ his men were destined to be destroyed the horse and rider. The action of the corded important accomplishments in a eight years later. Because the Sacred Oberlin drawing is too great to be warrior society. They were not a tool for Arrows, one of the most precious ritual contained within the single page; the remembering the past, as Euro-Ameri­ possessions of the people, were stolen animals rush off the edge of the page in can cultures tend to view history, but by Pawnee enemies in 1830 and the the heat of pursuit. The Oberlin draw­ rather a tool for keeping the past alive in second great ritual emblem, the Sacred ing takes the fine composition in the the present. Warriors used heraldic hide Buffalo Hat, was desecrated by an angry smaller book and makes it masterful, robes and ledger drawings as a means of Cheyenne woman in 1872, the misfor­ complete with the dynamic sweep of continuing time already seen into the tunes and struggles faced by the Chey­ movement in space 47 present. The concept of linear time has enne people during the 1850s, 1860s, no application here. Cheyenne history and 1870s were predetermined.48 The Continuing the Past into was alive as warriors retold important concept of time neatly segmented into the Present events using representational imagery. categories of past, present, and future Ledger images taken out of their original All cultures give structure and mean­ setting—removed from their context as ing to time through legend and ritual as pages within a book and placed on well as through oral and recorded his­ gallery walls nearly twelve decades after tory. For Plains people in general, and their creation—cause the contemporary the Cheyenne people in particular, viewer to see each page in a strange multiple times and spaces could be light. Each page exists as a separate present at any one moment. Their composition, framed, set apart, and di­ understanding of their place in the greater vorced from its initially intended reality. whole extended beyond humanity to

Figure 71. Oberlin Ledger, end page.

Figure 70. Howling Wolf Drawing from Guthrie Ledger. Ink and watercolor on paper, Figure 72. Oberlin Ledger, detail from end 51/2" x 7J/8". Mark Lansburgh Collection. Santa Fe, New Mexico. page. 21-

vidual personality like Howling Wolf was not a part of Cheyenne history any obtained the ledger during those few who emerges from the anonymity of this more than the segregation of art from days when he, Howling Wolf, and Ben art presents a new possibility for under­ 49 other vital necessities of life was. Clark—the three main people involved standing and learning about that life and For their creators and users, the inter­ in the early history of the drawing the artist's place within it. The opportu­ nal audience of the 1870s, heraldic im­ book—were all at the same place at the nity is provided for investigating the agery served multiple purposes, but all same time. developing style of an individual artist focused on the maintenance of life and What Howling Wolfs drawings meant on the Plains, for tracking through ex­ roles necessary in that life. Warriors to Pope and subsequently to his son and tant examples the way in which the artist were honored and their social positions J.D. Cox remains speculative. Cox, as explored compositional changes, tenta­ validated through the performance of previously noted, was greatly interested tively at first and boldly in later contexts. brave deeds, and heraldic imagery served in history, and the drawings most likely The ledger images can bring the past to as a socially sanctioned record of those had value as historic records for both life in the present. deeds. History, as Euro-American cul­ Pope and Cox. ture might define it, was a living part of Ledger images continue that role in Joyce M. Szabo the life that encouraged the creation of the late twentieth century. These im­ Assistant Professor of Art History such imagery and celebrated the deeds ages give voice to the long-silent partici­ The University of New Mexico that caused the images to be made long pants of the life of the 1860s and 1870s. after those deeds actually occurred. They allow Plains warrior-artists to The messages relayed by Howling emerge as active participants in their Wolfs images to the intervening audi­ history rather than as people only being ence of army officers and collectors are acted upon. Such drawings help alter ' For a discussion of the limitations of the less certain. New meanings were cer­ the distorted view of the past that Euro- concept of "tradition" as applied to Native tainly applied. As a major military figure American historians have seen as truth. American art, see J.C.H. King, "Tradition in Native American Art," in Edwin Wade, of the nineteenth century, John Pope Howling Wolfs images also help to ed., The Arts of the North American was continually at odds with his superi­ restnicture the anthropological record Indian, Native Traditions in Evolution ors and fellow officers. A staunch and to begin forming an art-historical (New York: Hudson Hills Press, and military man, he recognized that the one. Native art forms such as these have Tulsa: Philbrook Art Center, 1986), contemporary Indian policy was a disas­ all too often been relegated to the pp. 65-104. John Anson Warner's article ter. He was, however, finnly in favor of province of the anthropologist. They "The Individual in Native American Art: assimilation of native peoples into the are cultural products in the sense previ­ A Sociological View," also in Wade (pp. 171-202), offers an important dominant culture. Viewed in today's ously discussed, created as part of the beginning discussion of differing cultural terms, that view is racist, but the alterna­ social structure that is known as nine­ views of the importance of individuality tive view of the day was blatant annihi­ teenth-century Plains life. But they are and how those differences might be lation. Pope appears to have favored also more than that. They are the expressed in art. annihilation of the culture but not of the creation of individual artists working people themselves. In his view the within that culture. Howling Wolf drew 2 Eugene D. Schmiel, "The Career of Jacob events of the era during which the upon the long-established Plains style of Dolson Cox, 1828-1900: Soldier, Howling Wolf drawings were made, the representational imagery and created Scholar, Statesman" (Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1969); Jacob wars of 1874-75, were not caused by his drawings within the socially deter­ Dolson Cox Papers, Box 15, Oberlin Indians but by sporting and professional mined parameters for that art, but he College Archives, Oberlin. buffalo hunters who slaughtered the also emerges as an innovative artist who native food supplies and by Anglos who sought to create art that was aestheti­ 3 Schmiel, "The Career of Jacob Dolson expanded settlements, ignored treaties, cally pleasing to himself and, it might be Cox," p. 444. and forced the Southern Plains people assumed, to his people. He worked and 4 Richard N. Ellis, General Pope and U.S. into battle to save their way of life and reworked drawings; he explored inno­ Indian Policy (Albuquerque: University their very existence. vative figurative movements; he incor­ of New Mexico Press, 1970). porated vivid landscapes into his draw­ Why or under what circumstances ings; and he developed a finely con­ ' Accession Files, 04.1180, Allen Memorial Pope came into possession of the Howl­ trolled draftsmanship and vivid applica­ Art Museum, Oberlin College. ing Wolf drawings is unknown, but it is tion of color to fill intricately detailed probable that the book was given to " Several of the captions actually appear on drawings with information not required Pope in his capacity as the commander the page facing the illustration rather than by the major cultural function of ledger of the Department of the Missouri. Pope's on the main drawing itself. drawings, but certainly required by his departmental headquarters were at Fort own innovative spirit. ' Portrait and Biographical Record of Leavenworth in present-day Kansas, Oklahoma (Chicago: Chapman Publish­ where prisoners from the Southern Plains The artists who created the majority ing Co., 1901), p. 261. Compare the wars were brought for a few days in of nineteenth-century representational handwriting on the Oberlin ledger to that April 1875 just prior to their forced Plains imagery remain anonymous to of Ben Clark found in the Bourke ledger journey to Fort Marion. Benjamin Clark in the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, JAM contemporary viewers. Therefore, they 1991.19. Also see documented examples accompanied the Cheyenne and Arapaho become part of an indistinct anthropo­ of Clark's handwriting in the George Bird prisoners from their agency to Fort logical whole, as if the culture had Grinnel! Collection, Southwest Museum Leavenworth. John Pope may have created these images. The rare indi­ Library, Los Angeles. 22-

° John Gregory Bourke, Diary, photocopy 13 While there was a keen sense of competi­ pieces of paper that already contained vol. 57, pp. 2860-2865, Special Collec­ tion within the system of assessing handwritten tallies or inscriptions. tions, Zimmerman Library, University of warriors' achievements on the Plains, New Mexico, Albuquerque; Bourke counting of coup also served as a social '5 Nineteenth-century Cheyenne political Ledger, Joslyn Art Museum, JAM check on the falsification of such structure was multi-leveled, but a Council 1991.19. The Bourke ledger was accomplishments. Grinnell reported of Forty-Four chiefs was the guiding published in full in Karen Daniels frequent disputes among the Cheyenne as force. Extremely useful and detailed Petersen, Howling Wolf, A Cheyenne warriors recounted their deeds following discussions of Cheyenne organization are Warrior's Graphic Interpretation of His battles. Such disagreements were settled found in Grinnell, The Cheyenne Indians, People, with Introduction by John C. through discussions relaying the various vol. 1, pp. 336-358; Karl N. Llewellyn Ewers (Palo Alto: American West versions of the incident or were tested in and E. Adamson Hoebel, The Cheyenne Publishing Co., 1968). more formal ways, including swearing on Way, Conflict and Case Law in Primitive a pipe or the Sacred Arrows, one of the Jurisprudence (Norman: University of 9 Captions found in the Oberlin ledger most important ritual symbols of the Oklahoma Press, 1941); and John H. identify the following warriors: Howling Cheyenne people. In a dispute over Moore, The Cheyenne Nation, A Social Wolf, Eagle Head, Sitting Bull, Crow assessment of coup, the warrior would and Demographic History (Lincoln: That Spits Blood, Under Cloud, Big Man, make supplications to the spiritual University of Nebraska Press, 1987). Magpie, Heap of Birds, Big Nose, powers, recount the deed, and ask: "If I Feathered Leg, Eagle Feather, Big Wolf, tell a lie, I hope that I may be shot far '" Stan Hoig, The Peace Chiefs of the Feathered Bear, and Tall Bull. It should off." The Cheyenne people held this oath Cheyennes (Norman: University of be noted that the Sitting Bull whose sacred and believed that if a man lied Oklahoma Press, 1980), pp. 157-161. exploits are illustrated in the Oberlin during the ceremony, he or his family ledger was a Southern Cheyenne warrior would soon die. George Bird Grinnell, '' Howling Wolf was interviewed by and was not the same person as the noted The Cheyenne Indians, Their History and anthropologist James Mooney in 1902 Sioux man of that same name. In fact, the Ways of Life, 2 vols. (New Haven: Yale when Mooney was on the Southern Plains warrior who appears in the Oberlin ledger University Press, 1923; reprint ed., collecting information about shields and and who is identified by Clark's inscrip­ Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, lodge covers. Howling Wolf provided tion as Sitting Bull may well be the 1972), vol 2, pp. 32-34. details concerning his own accomplish­ Southern Cheyenne Bowstring warrior The same requirements for authentic­ ments and warrior-society association. actually known as Lame Bull. ity were found with representational James Mooney Field Notes, vol. 5, images on hide robes elsewhere on the pp. 38-38a, ms. 2531, National Anthropo­ '" Who or what RF was remains unan­ Plains. During George Catlin's visit to logical Archives, Smithsonian Institution; swered. There is no indication that the the Mandan people during his 1832 James Mooney, Notes Relating to Oberlin ledger was obtained directly from excursion through the West, the artist was Heraldry, ms. 2538, National Anthropo­ the Cheyenne artist who created it. Thus, given a robe painted by the Mandan chief logical Archives, Smithsonian Institution, the initials may be those of another Four Bears. Upon the receipt of the robe, "Howling Wolf." collector from whom Clark received the Catlin observed: The Cheyenne warrior societies of the drawing book. "(In this country,) of all the countries 1860s and 1870s were the Bowstring The mystery is even more perplexing which I ever was in, men are the most Soldiers, the Crazy Dogs, the Kit Fox because the same two letters and two jealous of rank and of standing; and in a Soldiers, the Dog Soldiers, and the Elk or numerals appear as the frontispiece community so small also that every man's Crooked Lance Soldiers. The Bowstring inscription on another ledger filled with deeds of honour and chivalry are Society was solely a Southern Cheyenne heraldic imagery now in the collection of familiarly known to all; it would not be group, while the Crazy Dogs were the the National Anthropological Archives of reputable, or even safe to life, for a Bowstring warriors' Northern Cheyenne the Smithsonian Institution. This second warrior to wear on his back the represen­ counterpart- For a detailed discussion of ledger (4452-A, volume 1) is also a tations of battles he never had fought; these Cheyenne societies, see Karen Cheyenne ledger and appears to depict professing to have done what every child Daniels Petersen, "Cheyenne Soldier battles from the 1870s. Multiple artists in the village would know he never had Societies," Plains Anthropologist 9 contributed to the ledger, but there is no done." (August 1964): 146-172, and George A. Dorsey, The Cheyenne: Ceremonial indication of any images by Howling Wolf. George Catlin, Letters and Notes on Organization, Field Columbian Museum the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of Publication 103, Anthropological Series '' The discussion of stylistic characteristics North American Indians, 2 vols. (London, 9, no. 2 (Chicago: Field Columbian found in Plains representational imagery 1844; reprint ed., New York: Dover Museum, 1905), pp. 15-29. draws upon conclusions developed in Publications, Inc., 1973), vol. 1, p. 148. Joyce M. Szabo, "Ledger Art in Transi­ The history of the Cheyenne people is tion: Late Nineteenth and Early Twenti­ '4 it is impossible to suggest an exact date complex. By the time of Howling Wolfs eth Century Drawing and Painting on the for the general availability of paper on the birth, the people were geographically split Plains" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Plains. As increased numbers of trading into two groups, Northern and Southern. New Mexico, 1983). posts were established and army The Northern Cheyennes preferred to live personnel and settlers came onto the in the region of the Black Hills and the '2 The counting of coup was a concept Plains during the nineteenth century, they North and South Platte rivers of present- whose specific ranking varied from tribe would have brought accountants' ledgers day Nebraska, South Dakota, and eastern to tribe on the Plains. In general, it was and other sources of paper for their own Wyoming, and the Southern Cheyennes considered braver merely to touch the use. For example, the Cheyennes living preferred the areas of the Arkansas and enemy and then ride or walk away than it in current-day Colorado had repeated Canadian rivers in present-day Kansas, was to kill him. Thus touching the enemy contact with personnel at Bent's Fort, Oklahoma, eastern Colorado, and was counting coup on him. Other which was established by the 1830s. northern Texas. While differences activities were ranked in the order of their Through trade, purchase, and capture, between the two groups continued to importance within specific Plains cultures Plains warriors obtained paper on which grow throughout the second half of the and might include capturing horses or they recorded drawings. Various ledgers nineteenth century, they were still closely killing an enemy in battle. show that Plains warriors often reused united through both civil and ritual means. 23-

'° Mooney, Field Notes, vol. V., pp. 38-38a, 24 Richard H. Pratt, Memo, "Sending Indian made with men from Bent's Fort; they then ms. 2531. Corroboration, in even greater Prisoners to Fort Marion, Florida," box took those gifts to the meeting place for the detail, of Howling Wolfs activities as 19, folder 495, Richard H. Pratt Papers, Alliance of 1840, illustrated on the second part of Lame Bull's war party is found in Western Americana Collections, Beinecke page. Joyce M. Szabo, "Ledger Art as George E. Hyde, Life of George Bent Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale Historic Documents," paper presented at Written from His Letters, ed. Savoie University, New Haven; Pratt, Battlefield Indian Art of the Central Plains, Recursos Lottinville (Norman: University of and Classroom, pp. 167-179. Seminar, Santa Fe, March 31,1990; Oklahoma Press, 1967), p. 270. George manuscript in the collection of the author. Bent was the son of trader William Bent 2' For detailed discussions of the kinds of and the Cheyenne Owl Woman. The Bent subjects explored in Fort Marion art, see 30 While in Boston for medical treatment, children attended schools in Saint Louis, Joyce M. Szabo, "Captive Artists and Howling Wolf met and vacationed with the but both George and his brother Robert Changing Messages: The Paloheimo historian Francis Parkman. Meeting returned to the Plains and fought as Drawing Books at the Southwest Parkman, as well as other experiences members of the Cheyenne tribe during Museum," Masterkey (Spring 1988) 62: Howling Wolf had in Boston and Florida, portions of the 1860s and 1870s; George 12-21; Szabo, "Medicine Lodge Treaty may well have had an effect on Howling Bent and Howling Wolf were both Remembered," American Indian Art Wolfs reservation-era drawings. The members of the Lame Bull war party Magazine (August 1989) 14: 52-59; changes in style and subject matter evident under discussion. Bent's subsequent Moira F. Harris, Between Two Cultures: in the artist's reservation-period works are correspondence with the author George Kiowa Art from Fort Marion (St. Paul, discussed and potential reasons for those Hyde constitutes one of the most important Minn.: Pogo Press, Inc., 1989); and changes offered in Joyce M. Szabo, documentary sources of Cheyenne history Petersen, Plains Indian Art from Fort "Howling Wolf: A Plains Artist in from that era. Marion. Transition," Art Journal (Winter 1984) 44: 367-373," and "Ledger Art in Transition." '" Annual Report of the Commissioner of 2° Pratt, Battlefield and Classroom, Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the pp. 213-281. 3' Petersen, Howling Wolf, and Szabo, Interior for the Year 1878 (Washington, "Plains Art in Transition," offer greater DC: Government Printing Office, 1878), 2' Szabo, "Ledger Art in Transition," biographical detail concerning Howling p. 55; J.D. Miles to William Nicholson, pp. 90-95, 152-161. Wolfs later life. For a detailed history of June 3, 1876, Letters Received by the the reservation era in general, see Donald J. Office of Indian Affairs, Record Group 28 Petersen, Howling Wolf; Candace Greene, Berthrong, The Cheyenne and Arapaho 75, National Archives M-234, microfilm "Artists in Blue: The Indian Scouts of Ordeal, Reservation and Agency Life in the roll 121, N523; J.D. Miles to E.A. Hayt, Fort Reno and Fort Supply," paper Indian Territory, 1875-1907 (Norman: November 1, 1879, Letters Received by presented at Native American Art Studies University of Oklahoma Press, 1976). the Office of Indian Affairs, Record Association, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Group 75, National Archives M-234, September, 1991. 32 The first official acknowledgement of microfilm roll 125,M2213. Howling Wolfs authorship of the Oberlin 2" Figure 23 (the first and second pages of drawings came in Szabo, "Ledger Art in 2" The Bowstring Society had eight leaders, the Bourke Ledger) is the only two-page Transition." one head chief and seven subchiefs. composition among Howling Wolf's 33 Dorsey, The Cheyenne, Ceremonial reservation drawings. The caption, in Ben Stylistic comparisons of Howling Wolfs Organization, p. 26. Clark's handwriting, relates the subject Fort Marion work, his reservation-era illustrated in the left-hand page of the drawings, and the Oberlin ledger are made '' While discussion of the Fort Marion drawing as "The first White men seen by in Szabo, "Howling Wolf and "Ledger Art period can be found in various sources, the Cheyennes, over 100 yrs ago on the in Transition." Due to the subject matter the most important are Richard H. Pratt, Missouri River above the mouth of the and style of Fort Marion art in general and Battlefield and Classroom, Four Decades Cheyenne River in a Sioux Camp. White that of reservation-era art, the Oberlin with the American Indian, 1867-1904, men came from the northwest according drawings do not fall into those time ed. Robert M. Utley (New Haven: Yale to their tradition, Cheyennes with dog periods. Howling Wolfs personal history, University Press, 1964), and Karen travois on right." That identification may and that of the other participants involved Daniels Petersen, Plains Indian Art from not be accurate. The facing page, the in the transfer and ownership of the Fort Marion (Norman: University of second illustration in the ledger, was Oberlin book, preclude the creation of Oklahoma Press, 1971). identified by Clark as a trading venture: these drawings while the artist was in 'The first horses owned by Cheyennes Florida. Howling Wolf suffered from 22 Thomas Graham, The Awakening of St. which they are trading for from the vision problems during his Florida Augustine, The Anderson Family and the Kiowas on the Arkansas or what the internment, underwent eye surgery in Oldest City: 1821-1924 (Saint Augustine: Indians call Flint River the arrow Boston, and returned to the reservation Saint Augustine Historical Society, 1978), indicating the name from its flint head. with good sight only in one eye. The artist pp. 152-153; Joyce M. Szabo, "New Supposed to be over 150 yrs ago. who created the Oberlin drawings was a Places and New Spaces: Nineteenth Cheyennes on right with dog travois, man whose vision did not hamper his linear Century Plains Art in Florida," Archaeol­ Kiowas on left." This second image has control. ogy, Art and Anthropology: Papers in been reinterpreted as the 1840 Alliance Honor of J.J. Brody, edited by Meliha S. which brought peace between the 3^ Young Cheyenne men were not allowed Duran and David Kirkpatrick, Archaeo­ Cheyenne and Arapaho and the Kiowa, even to court young women until they had logical Society of New Mexico, vol. 18 Comanche, and Kiowa-Apache people proven their bravery. John Stands in (1992), pp. 193-201. (Moore, The Cheyenne Nation, pp. 6-7). Timber and Margot Liberty, with Robert The first page, visually united with this Utley, Cheyenne Memories (New Haven: 23 Richard H. Pratt Papers, box 25, folder second page, may also illustrate a more Yale University Press, 1967; reprint ed., 676. Western Americana Collections, specific historic event. It is suggested by Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript this author that what is illustrated on the 1975), p. 292; Llewellyn and Hoebel, The Library, Yale University, New Haven. first page is, in all probability, the trade Cheyenne Way, p. 260. for treaty gifts that the Cheyenne people 24-

3^ Donald J. Berthrong, 77ie Southern 4- The Bowstring Society was known as the generous in allowing the author to work Cheyennes (Norman: University of liveliest of the Southern Cheyenne warrior with them. The author examined the Oklahoma Press, 1963), pp. 289-344. societies. "The members of the society other two Howling Wolf images from the Numerous accounts of the Battle of are distinguished for their gayety, their book when they were in the collection of Washita exist, but a detailed one is found songs, their dances, and the various colors H. Malcom Grimmer of Santa Fe. in Stan Hoig, The Battle of Washita of their dress....They paint their bodies (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, and the trappings of their ponies. This is 4° Inscriptions within the book contain the 1976). the noisiest and the gayest of all the name Robert Allen Guthrie of Topeka, societies." Dorsey, The Cheyenne, Kansas, and the date 1874. Young 3° Berthrong, The Southern Chevennes, Ceremonial Organization, p. 26. Guthrie's educational experience is also pp. 289-405. recorded, presumably by his own hand: 43 This image presents an additional problem "six weeks scoolen to Ben Shoemake, two 37 Dorsey, The Cheyenne, Ceremonial for study. While the human figures do weeks to Mrs. Sharp in Topeka, Kansas, Organization, p. 26. seem to be stylistically in keeping with and one month to Mr. Burns in Great the remainder of Howling Wolfs figures Bend, Kansas." The Guthries moved to 38 Hyde, Life of George Bent, pp. 265, 270. from the ledger, the horse is not. Gone Indian Territory, as an additional are the telltale mule-like ears and rounded inscription notes, probably shortly before 39 Hyde, Life of George Bent, p. 358; Peter muzzle. The horse is stiff and angular; its the inscriptions were made. When the J. Powell, People of the Sacred Mountain, legs are spindly and its head small. The thirty-six drawings were placed in the A History of the Northern Cheyenne rear legs in particular angle back toward book is unknown. However, given the Chiefs and Warrior Societies 1830-1878 the underbelly of the animal, and genitalia superimposition of one sketch over the with an Epilogue 1969-1974, 2 vols. (San are suggested. This type of horse appears Guthrie inscription, it may be logically Francisco: Harper and Row, 1981), in other locations in the ledger (pages 116 assumed that the drawings were added to p. 854. and 118). Within a group of fifty-seven the book after it left Robert Guthrie's drawings, any one artist will vary the possession. 40 The Sun Dance was an annual life- manner of presenting figures, but the Examination of various census renewal ceremony for many groups on the differences in the horses here suggest records has thus far revealed no Robert Plains. Among the Cheyenne people, a more than just chance variation. It might Guthrie in either Topeka or Indian rawhide human effigy, sometimes be that more than one artist worked on Territory. An additional page within the accompanied by a buffalo effigy, was these several pages, with the horses drawn ledger contains a reference to Saint Claire suspended from the central pole of the by someone other than Howling Wolf. in an unnamed state or region. An sacred Medicine Lodge along with other Joint drawings are not unknown on the examination of Illinois census records, offerings of cloth and food. Howling Plains and, indeed, a reverse group effort where there is a Saint Claire County, Wolfs two-page illustration includes is known from another set of Howling reveals that a Ben Shoemake was there in warriors shooting at the human effigy Wolf drawings, now in private hands, 1870. hanging in the lodge. A similar scene is where Howling Wolf clearly drew the included in the Bourke Ledger from the A plausible, if thus far unproven, horse and another artist rendered the reconstruction of the events surrounding Joslyn Art Museum. Petersen, Howling human figures. Wolf, pp. 52-53; George A. Dorsey, The the ownership of this small ledger would Cheyenne, The Sun Dance, Field have young Robert Guthrie in school in 44 The best-known example of belief in the Columbian Museum Publication 103, Illinois in the early 1870s, before he and bulletproof power of clothing was that of Anthropological Series 9, no. 2 (Chicago: his family moved to Kansas. Subse­ the Sioux people during the Ghost Dance Field Columbian Museum, 1905), quently, the Guthries moved to Indian era of the end of the nineteenth century. Territory, probably in early 1874, and pp. 111-118. That belief had tragic results, culminating while in Indian Territory, the book fell in the Wounded Knee Massacre of into the hands of the Southern Cheyenne 41 The fight with Carr's men was singularly December 1890. Other protective warriors who filled it with images of their important in Cheyenne history for it was garments were received in visions by battle, hunting, and courting encounters. here that the then-dominant warrior individuals throughout much of the Plains society, the Dog Soldiers, lost the at various times. The massive intertribal 47 The mere creation of these two buffalo- majority of its men. Subsequently, the war party that waged the Adobe Walls hunting scenes prior to Howling Wolfs Dog Soldiers' position as advocates of battle in northern Texas during the confinement at Fort Marion suggests his war fell to the Bowstring Society. For summer of 1874 against professional innovative character. Hunting scenes accounts of the Dog Soldier battle on the buffalo hunters, and which included became very prominent in Florida Platte River, see Berthrong, The Southern among its participants Eagle Head, Heap drawings, probably as replacements for Cheyennes, pp. 340-344; Hyde, Life of of Birds, and in all probability Howling war-oriented imagery, but they were rare George Bent, pp. 328-340; George Bird Wolf himself, was guided by the during the pre-reservation era. Grinnell, The Fighting Cheyennes (New supposedly bulletproof protection of the York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1915; Comanche holy man Isatai. That 4° Cheyenne oral history on these incidents reprint ed., Norman: University of bulletproof protection also failed. Powell, and their results is very strong. See the Oklahoma Press, 1956), pp. 310-318; and People of the Sacred Mountain, accounts assembled in Powell, People of Grinnell, Two Great Scouts and Their pp. 846-860. the Sacred Mountain, pp. xvii-xviii, 3-15, Pawnee Battalion, The Experiences of 706-719, and 816-820. Frank J. North and Luther H. North, 45 The drawing book was sold through Pioneers in the Great West 1856-1882, Morning Star Gallery in Santa Fe, and 4^ For thought-provoking discussions of and Their Defense of the Building of the individual pages are now in various time and history in the study of Native Union Pacific Railroad (Cleveland: private collections. Six of the Howling American culture, see Calvin Martin, ed., Arthur H. Clark Co., 1928; reprint ed. Wolf pages, including the two illustrated The American Indian and the Problem of with forward by James T. King, Lincoln: here, are in the private collection of Mark History (New York: Oxford University University of Nebraska Press, 1973). Lansburgh of Santa Fe, who has been Press, 1987).

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Museum Staff Visiting Committee Publications Anne F. Moore, Director Joan L. Danforth, Vice Chairman Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin, Beatrice M. Clapp, AdminisUative Andre Emmerich (B.A., 1944) Vols. I-XLV, 1944-1992. Most issues are Secretary Allan Frumkin $7.50 each. Some issues out of print. Sachi Yanari, Acting Assistant Curator Judith Hernstadt Indexes available through Vol. XXX at of Western Art Richard Hunt $1.00 Corinne Fryhle, Acting Curator of Richard W. Levy, Chairman Catalogue of European and American Education Robert M. Light (B.A., 1950) Paintings and Sculpture, Wolfgang Kimberlie G. Fixx, Acting Registrar Robert Menschel Stechow, 1967,359 pp., 278 illus., $10.00. Christine Mack, Acting Assistant Jan Keene Muhlert (M.A., 1967) Registrar Victoire Rankin Catalogue of Drawings and Watercol- ors, Wolfgang Stechow, 1976, 295 pp., Leslie Miller, Membership and Special Reynold Sachs (B.A., 1961) 303 illus, $12.50. Events Administrator Heinz Schneider Scott A. Carpenter, Preparator John N. Stern (B.A., 1939) From Studio to Studiolo: Florentine Elizabeth Wolfe, Intern/Assistant to Evan H. Turner Draftsmanship under the First Medici the Preparator Sylvia Hill Williams (B.A., 1955) Grand Dukes, Larry J. Feinberg, 1991, John Seyfried, Freelance Photographer Nancy Coe Wixom (M.A., 1955) 212 pp., 104 illus, $25.00. Elsie E. Phillips, Custodian Robert Mangold: The Oberlin Window, Marjorie L. Burton, Security Supervisor Collection Committee Geoffrey Blodgett and Elizabeth A. Anthony W. Ball, Security Officer Brown, 1992, 31 pp, 20 illus, S15.00. Christine Diewald, Security Officer Henry Hawley Also available from the museum are Timothy Diewald, Security Officer Susan Kane, Chairman, Art Depart­ photographs, postcards, notecards, nu­ Brent Flood, Security Officer ment merous exhibition catalogues, and slides Michael Gilbert, Security Officer Alfred F. MacKay, Dean of the College of works in the collection. Mark K. Hoyt, Security Officer of Arts and Sciences Louise S. Richards (M.A., 1944) John N. Stern Allen Memorial Art Allen Wardwell Museum Bulletin Members of the Department of Art fac­ Editor: Anne F. Moore ulty also act as advisors to the museum Copy Editors: Anne C. Paine, John in their areas of expertise, and, along Appley, Oberlin College Office of with the staff of the Clarence Ward Art Communications Library, assist the museum's work in Photographer: John Seyfried many ways. Designer: D. Mark Gabel, Oberlin College Office of Communications

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