This
photo seems to be made much later, maybe 1890s:
There
was a Long Bull acting in Buffalo Bill´s Wild
West show, so this may be him. —
Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
From
the backdrop, this is a photo by Charles H. Carpenter,
working for the Field Museum of Chicago at the Louisiana
Purchase Exposition in 1904. —
Grahame Wood
The
first portrait of Long Bull is by the photographer D.
S. Mitchell, taken in the fall of 1877, presumably at
the Red Cloud Agency in northwestern Nebraska.
Unfortunately, we do not know a great deal about Long
Bull (Tatanka Haska), sometimes also translated as Tall
Bull. He was born about 1841 or 1842. The earliest written
reference to him that I am aware of is the 1874 census
at the Red Cloud Agency, when Long Bull is recorded
as a member of Bad Wound's band (probably the Tasnaheca,
a prominent band within the larger Kiyuksa Tiyospaye.)
He is mentioned at the Red Cloud Agency in the spring
of 1876 by Colonel Merritt and he also appears in the
agency census for November 1876, listed among the Kiyuksa.
His whereabouts during the summer of 1876 however is
not known. Given his membership within the Kiyuksa,
I doubt he was at the Little Bighorn.
Long Bull enlisted as an Indian scout in December 1876
and served until March 1877. He then disappears; his
name is not among the Oglala in the census taken in
the spring of 1877. A man by this name does appear in
the Crazy Horse surrender list, in Crazy Horse's family,
having surrendered at Red Cloud in May 1877. One possibility
is that he was one of the former scouts sent out as
delegates to the hostile village in an effort to persuade
them to surrender. Or this may be another individual
named Tall Bull/Long Bull.
Long Bull lived at the Red Cloud/Pine Ridge Agency for
the remainder of his life, where his name appears in
the census records for 1878-82 and from 1885 forward.
By 1890, he had settled in the Porcupine District, as
a member of the Wacunpa or Roaster Band. This band consisted
of a mixture of various Kiyaksa bands and Brule. A few
members of this band are known to have been at the Little
Bighorn, including the band's leader, Knife Chief (He
was the father of Eagle Bear and Fool Crow who have
left eye witness accounts). Long Bull served in the
Indian Scouts in 1891 after Wounded Knee. After 1898,
he was known in the agency documents as Daniel Long
Bull.
Long Bull, according to one source, married five times.
The only documented marriage was to a woman generally
known as Bright Eyes, who he married about 1876-77.
He had a number of daughters, but I have not been able
to track down any living descendants yet. Long Bull
died Sept. 16, 1928 at Porcupine, South Dakota.
I am posting a better example of his portrait by D.
S. Mitchell, scanned from a stereoview. (Incidentally,
the cdv mentioned above in the Swanson Collection was
later sold to another collector in South Dakota). What
is interesting in this portrait is that Long Bull is
shown wearing a model 1872 enlisted dress army blouse
with sergeant stripes. He also holds a Model 1866 Springfield,
with a cutdown barrel and a stock decorated with tacks.
By the time this photograph was taken, Long Bull was
no longer an Indian scout, but he certainly seems to
be dressed as one. Very curious!
In addition to the later photograph of Long Bull posted
above, there is a second image by the same photographer
(see below). — Ephriam
Dickson
If
our Long Bull is Kiyuksa, he could very well be related
to the Long Bull mentioned in 1865. —
Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
To
further span the visual documentation of Long Bull from
Mitchell's 1877 portrait way into the 20th century,
here's another picture, perhaps the man's last likeness.
It is from a lithographed color postcard published in
1907. I am positive that this is the same Long Bull:
This,
now, looks like the latest of our Long Bull portraits.
There is a larger copy of your photo attached:
—
Hans Karkheck