D. C. Smith
CDV Portrait of Crow's Breast, First War Chief of the Hidatsa Tribe, 1870s
Albumen print
4 x 2 1/2 inches overall
Smith's Bismarck, D.T. backmark verso, and the notation "My bosom friend, Crow's Breast."
Smith's Bismarck, D.T. backmark verso, and the notation "My bosom friend, Crow's Breast."
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Handsome portrait of Chief Crow's Breast, shown wearing a Presidential Peace medal and holding a long-stemmed, catlinite bowl pipe in one hand and a plume- topped artifact in the other....
Handsome portrait of Chief Crow's Breast, shown wearing a Presidential Peace medal and holding a long-stemmed, catlinite bowl pipe in one hand and a plume- topped artifact in the other. The photograph was taken by the Dakota Territory-based studio photographer D.C. Smith who, according to an 1873 article in the Bismarck Tribune, "came overland from Sioux City at the solicitation of Gen. Custer to accompany [Stanley's Yellowstone Expedition] but was not allowed to go."
From the “Biographical Dictionary of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara” by Michael W. Stevens (2003):
"Crow's Breast was born about 1820 probably at the Knife River villages near present-day Bismarck, ND. He was a member of the Tamisik clan. Of his early life not much is documented. In the winter of 1856 Sir George Gore from Ireland and Kit Carson are said to have visited Crow’s Breast while hunting in the region of the Upper Missouri. On Sept. 20, 1858 Crow's Breast is documented as holding a Goose Medicine Ceremony at Fort Atkinson to assure the return of the geese in the coming spring. Also in attendance were Poor Wolf, Bear Hunter and other members of the band.
n 1864, Chief Crow’s Breast refused to join the Dakota in their war against the Americans. Crow's Breast was listed as Head Chief representing the Hidatsa on an unratified Treaty dated July 27, 1866. On November 1st, 1866, he warned Capt. William G. Rankin of the 3rd. Battalion, 13th Infantry, Ft. Buford, that a large party of 2500 - 3000 Sioux warriors were on the war path 37 miles south. Crow's Breast at the age of 50 is described as being 'tall, straight, sturdy built and had no gray hair.'"
From the “Biographical Dictionary of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara” by Michael W. Stevens (2003):
"Crow's Breast was born about 1820 probably at the Knife River villages near present-day Bismarck, ND. He was a member of the Tamisik clan. Of his early life not much is documented. In the winter of 1856 Sir George Gore from Ireland and Kit Carson are said to have visited Crow’s Breast while hunting in the region of the Upper Missouri. On Sept. 20, 1858 Crow's Breast is documented as holding a Goose Medicine Ceremony at Fort Atkinson to assure the return of the geese in the coming spring. Also in attendance were Poor Wolf, Bear Hunter and other members of the band.
n 1864, Chief Crow’s Breast refused to join the Dakota in their war against the Americans. Crow's Breast was listed as Head Chief representing the Hidatsa on an unratified Treaty dated July 27, 1866. On November 1st, 1866, he warned Capt. William G. Rankin of the 3rd. Battalion, 13th Infantry, Ft. Buford, that a large party of 2500 - 3000 Sioux warriors were on the war path 37 miles south. Crow's Breast at the age of 50 is described as being 'tall, straight, sturdy built and had no gray hair.'"