There were several different men named Spotted Eagle.

The prominent Sans Arc headman Spotted Eagle shows up in the 1886 census records for Cheyenne River Agency, giving his age as 52 (born circa 1834). His age is the same in the 1891 agency census. His son is listed as Spotted Eagle Jr. According to the ration records, this Spotted Eagle shows up at the Standing Rock Agency with a band of 402 people in mid-July 1881. He however disappears from the ration list by late August, presumably he and some of his relatives left for the Cheyenne River Agency. (That is why he does not appear in the Standing Rock Agency census dated September 1881.) Regrettably, the Cheyenne River Agency records are very sketchy -- there are no census records between 1877 and 1886 to confirm that this is what happened. Spotted Eagle does appear in the 1886 census at Cheyenne River Agency.

The older Spotted Eagle that I listed earlier was actually another man, a Hunkpapa who surrendered with Sitting Bull in 1881. He was then sent to Fort Randall with Sitting Bull as a POW in September 1881 and returned with him to Standing Rock in May 1883. By 1885, he is listed in High Bear's band at Standing Rock.

Finally, there is a third Spotted Eagle who lived among the friendly Minneconjou (Little No Heart's band) at Cheyenne River Agency during 1876-77. He also shows up in the Cheyenne River Agency 1886 census.

At the time of his surrender in 1881, Spotted Eagle (Wanbli Gleska) gave his age as 58, suggesting that he was born about 1823. — Ephriam Dickson