The Battle of the Little Bighorn

Standing Bear/ Mató Nájin

ca. 1920 · Pencil, ink, and watercolor on muslin · The American Wing

On June 25, 1876, a combined force of Cheyenne and Lakota warriors destroyed the command of U.S. Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. His troops had attacked their village of camp circles stretching along the Little Bighorn River in what is now Montana. Sixteen-year-old Steven Standing Bear took part in the battle and observed the chaos depicted here. He created this sweeping representation more than forty years later, combining six conflict episodes into one scene with highly detailed individual warriors and soldiers. Although members of Custer’s troops are known to have worn buckskin jackets, Standing Bear depicted only one figure in the fringed, pale-yellow garment (at center), surely intended to represent Custer himself.

Artist

Standing Bear/ Mató Nájin

Date

ca. 1920

Medium

Pencil, ink, and watercolor on muslin

Culture

Minneconjou Lakota/ Teton Sioux, Native American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of Native American Art, Gift of Valerie-Charles Diker Fund, 2017