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Sitting Bull and the Plains Indian
warriors gathered along the banks of Little Bighorn River did
not panic when camp scouts reported the approach of the U.S.
Cavalry. During a Sundance not long before, Sitting Bull experienced
a vision of a great number of dead Union “soldiers falling
into camp” from the skies. It was a sign, he felt, of a
great victory to come.
“This painting, thanks to
Daniel Long Soldier, has become a far more important piece than
I could have imagined,” artist R. Tom Gilleon enthusiastically
relates. “I had wanted to give an accurate depiction of
the area where Custer met his end and tell some of the Little
Bighorn story from the Indian’s point of view. Daniel’s
Lakota Wicitowa (Lakota Paintings) of real warrior’s exploits,
which I’ve used as the pictographs on the tepees, add a
spirit to the piece that I couldn’t have achieved myself.
“The ribbon of river you
see is the Little Bighorn. From a vantage point such as this,
it would be hard to see the true size of Sitting Bull’s
encampment. On the Plains, American soldiers were used to encountering
villages of 50 to 60 lodges. In a landscape such as this, it’s
easy to see why they would have had trouble seeing just how many
Indians were waiting below.” |