113
FIG. 18 (left): Frontal
studio portrait of Long
Knife (Arikara) in partial
military uniform and native
dress and holding a sword,
before 1877.
Black-and-white collodion glass
negative. 7.6 x 10.2 cm.
Marked “Arikara 5” and “718.”
From W. H. Jackson, Descriptive
Catalogue of Photographs of North
American Indians, Washington, D.C.:
Government Printing Office, 1877,
photo 718.
National Anthropological Archives,
Smithsonian Institution, BAE GN
01358A1 06257001.
FIG. 19 (right): Frontal studio portrait of
Tibishko-Biness (Like A Bird, Chippewa/
Red Lake Ojibwa) in native headdress
and holding a saber with bag, before
1877.
Black-and-white collodion glass negative.
17.8 x 22.9 cm.
Marked “Ojibwa 15.”
From W. H. Jackson, Descriptive Catalogue of
Photographs of North American Indians, Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1877, photo 15.
National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian
Institution, BAE GN 00578 06151400.
A member of the Red Lake Ojibwa delegation to
Washington, D.C., Jackson (1877:11} described him
as “a petty chief and brother of Bad Boy. Has often
fought the Sioux as a leading brave. Hunts for a living,
while his family cultivates corn and potatoes. Is a
good speaker and much respected by the Red Lakes.”
His “long knife” appears to be a Model 1840 Light
Artillery (also called “Horse” Artillery) saber, very
similar to an earlier French 1829 model.
FIG. 20 (right): Frontal studio
portrait of Wa-Kan-Ta-I-Shni (alt.
Wancan-Ya-Kea or Wakan-Tanin-
Sni: Lost Medicine, Dakota/
Lakota Hunkpapa) in native dress
with ornaments and holding a
bag and a saber, by Alexander
Gardner, 1872.
Black-and-white collodion glass negative.
17.8 x 20.3 cm.
Marked “Oncpapa 7.”
From W. H. Jackson, Descriptive Catalogue
of Photographs of North American Indians,
Washington, D.C.: Government Printing
Office, 1877, photo 7.
National Anthropological Archives,
Smithsonian Institution, BAE GN 03188A
06525800.
The subject’s model 1812 dragoon saber has
a single feather, probably from a red-tailed
hawk, bound to the knuckle bow.
INDIAN SWORDS
which, as noted below, overlapped with the visit
of Red Cloud to that city.
Of particular interest here is how the Iwakura
Mission may have been associated with another
enigmatic piece of history, namely a Japanese
warrior manikin (fig. 25) seen in archival photographs,
and a partial set of samurai armor
currently within the ethnology collections of the
Smithsonian. This manikin was photographed
by Charles Seaver Jr. in the Smithsonian Castle
in 1873, the year after the Iwakura Mission.
Stamm and Fleming (2010:17) speculate that
“the Japanese presence in Washington, D.C., in
the early 1870s probably resulted in the production
of this manikin to produce a timely exhibit.”
11 Sadly, the warrior manikin itself was “condemned
and disposed of” according to a note
added to the entry for the manikin (or “lay figure”)
in the original handwritten ledger book of
accessions in the Anthropology Department at
the National Museum of Natural History. The
armor worn by the manikin was therefore long
thought to be lost, but portions of that armor
have recently been identified within Smithsonian
collections (fig. 26).12
Coinciding with the Iwakura Mission’s time
in Washington, D.C., was another important
delegation, that of the Oglala Teton Sioux. Led
by the warrior and statesman Chief
Red Cloud, the twenty-six-member
delegation arrived in Washington,
D.C., on May 22, 1872, to great
public interest (Scherer 2014:241),
much like the Japanese Mission.
Interestingly, as apparently happened
with the Iwakura Mission,
the Red Cloud delegation resulted
in Smithsonian exhibitry in the form
of another manikin which was also
photographed, like the Japanese
manikin, in 1873 by Seaver (fig.
27). This manikin represents Red
Cloud himself, and the Smithsonian
fiscal records indicate that it was
created on July 11, 1872, by the
same sculptor, Sidney Moulthrop,