CBHMA Book Review
by Rev. Vincent A. Heier
Rubbing Out Long Hair Pehin Hanska Kasota: The American Indian Story
of the Little Big Horn in Art and Word
By Rodney G. Thomas
Spanaway, WA: Elk Plain Press, 2010 Pp. xxii, 338, table of contents, preface, acknowledgements, bibliography, hard cover, $60
I remember the first time I visited the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Before we saw the remarkable art of Michelangelo, our guide showed us a scale model of the ceiling to explain what details we would see.
At first I resented this delay since our group was composed of priests and nuns who well knew the biblical stories depicted. But without that introduction we might have missed all the details that the artist wanted us to experience.
This is the same way that most who have studied the Battle of the Little Bighorn have seen many of the Native American pictographs that present the Indians’ side of these events. Most of these images (no matter how quaint) have been so often incomprehensible that they (like much Indian oral testimony) have been dismissed as useless. However, there has been a recent renewed appreciation of Indian accounts of the battle. In a similar way, new light has been shed on the artwork created by these participants. Until now this study was limited to scholarly publications and hard-to-find volumes.
Now with the publication of the wonderful new book Rubbing Out Long Hair, we are treated to an experience like that of the reviewer before visiting the Sistine Chapel: a new way to look at the details of the battle by Indians on both sides. Author Rod Thomas, who has studied and lectured on the Native American art of Little Bighorn for many years, has compiled known and unknown works in one volume from a variety of sources.
The author begins the study with a good summary of the battle. There are two minor questions regarding endnotes. Thomas states that following the Civil War, General George Custer reverted to his Regular Army rank of second lieutenant. However, Francis B. Heitman (Historical Register and Dictionary of the U.S. Army) states that his last regular rank had been captain before being promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 7th Cavalry.
The note as to the flight of 20-30 soldiers of Company E into Deep Ravine at the end of the fight on the Custer battlefield cites Greg Michno, The Mystery of E Troop. However, Michno claims that this incident took place in Cemetery Ravine, not Deep Ravine, a theory that most students of the battle have rejected.
The author paints an excellent overview of the Indian encampment and those who produced the art of the battle. Assessing diverse estimates of the camp’s population, he argues persuasively that the size of the warrior force did not by itself lead to the defeat of the 7th Cavalry. (Several excellent sources that he consulted have demonstrated that the number of fighting men was exaggerated in the wake of Little Bighorn.)
What explains the outcome of the battle, according to Thomas, is the ability of the available warriors to move suddenly in mass against the soldiers. “It was not necessarily any overwhelming odds,” he argues. “It was not the aggregated number of warriors but the ‘massed’ effects of their movements and weapons with deadly results.”
Indians produced about 200 images of the battle in a variety of mediums. Some were ledger drawings. Others were created on muslin, hides and tipi covers. Another is a petroglyph carved on rock. Indian oral testimony typically relates individual experiences and personal accomplishments. Such is also the case with Native American art.
As analyzed by Thomas, each picture shows more than meets the eye. It conveys details of the battle about which historians have long agreed and confirms more recent information derived from archaeological study and gleaned from Indian accounts.
Many of these images focus upon Major Marcus Reno’s initial attack on the village and his retreat. Some individuals with the troops are easily identified such as the black interpreter Isaiah Dorman. Most accurately depict the various camp circles along the Little Bighorn River and portray Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.
Some of the artists (such as Amos Bad Heart Bull and Red Horse) are well known. (The book contains 41 pictographs drawn by the latter, who “drew a very accurate map” that is also reproduced.) Other artists are more obscure.
The artists depict various vignettes in one picture. Some draw more than one version of the battle or related events that offer variety as to details. Some are more obscure concerning source and meaning.
Yet the author does a masterful job identifying them and their relation to the Little Bighorn battle. He conclusively debunks, through art and testimony, the claim that Lakota warrior White Bull killed Custer.
Many pictures include written narratives either by the interpreters who persuaded the Indians to draw them or by the Indians themselves. These accounts as well as quotes amplify the art. The author acknowledges the limitations of this genre and need to discover more information (and art).
The result is a remarkable new addition to the study of the Little Bighorn that is a companion to Michael Donahue’s book on battlefield maps, Drawing Battle Lines. Despite minor typographical errors, this is a work of great quality. It contains an expansive bibliography, beautiful reproductions and “ledger-type” format.
Even though we may claim to know this story, we can be grateful to Rod Thomas for enabling us to observe as well as understand it with the fresh eyes of its Indian participants.
Rev. Vincent A. Heier