THE YEAR WAS 1901, 25 years after Custer’s defeat at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in eastern Montana. JOSEPH WHITE BULL (Ho tu a hwo ko mas, a/k/a Ice and Ice Bear) was a Northern Cheyenne holy man who had fought at the Battle.
Miles City (Montana) photographer L.A. Huffman accompanied historian Olin D. Wheeler, right, as he traveled to interview battle participants. Center was Bill Rowland, known as Long Knife among the Cheyenne, who served as interpreter. You can zoom (or click on a PC) to better see the intricate bead/quill work on White Bull’s wrist guards, vest, pants, and moccasins … regalia worn only for important events. It’s unlikely that his dust goggles had prescription lenses. N.B.: White Bull was Cheyenne, not Sitting Bull’s Sioux nephew known by the same name.
— at Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation.
