IMPERIAL PHOTOGRAPH OF RED TOMAHAWK ( The Man Who Killed Sitting Bull )

[Shotgun Steve]

(ca 1831-1931) Lakota Indian Policeman, anonymous 6 x 7" albumen photograph mounted on larger cardstock, showing him in the uniform of a Lt. in the Indian Police. With an inked title on recto and a paper label on verso with inked Fort Yates, N.D. Jan 13" 89.

In the wake of the Ghost Dance messianic movement which swept the Sioux Reservations in late fall and early winter of 1890, James McLaughlin, the Indian Agent posted at Standing Rock Agency ordered the arrest of Sitting Bull, fearing that he would flee the reservation and incite an insurrection. Along with his commanding officer Lt. Bull Head, Sgt. Red Tomahawk was part of a 42 man party sent by McLaughlin to arrest the Hunkpapa Chief. When hostilities erupted and Bull Head was killed, Red Tomahawk assumed command, and fired the bullet that killed Sitting Bull.