INDIAN SWORDS
117
FIG. 29 (above):
Sword, efu dachi. Blade
signed Kinmichi.
Mino or Kyoto, Japan. Edo
Period, c. 1769.
Steel, shark skin, wood, lacquer,
bronze, gold, silk. L: 100 cm.
National Museum of Natural
History, Smithsonian Institution,
inv. E404,671. Donated by Morris
Calef, 1953.
This sword is similar to but not the
same as the one held by Gah-Gos-
Sha-De-Bay in fig. 28.
to Washington coincided with the 1872 Iwakura
Mission, which might have been the direct or indirect
source of this sword. It would have been a
reasonable gift to the Indian chief if the Mission
met with him directly, or he might have obtained
it from someone else in Washington, who had
obtained a sword from that 1872 mission. This
must be considered a second likely potential
source of the sword.
The third possibility is that Red Cloud might
have obtained the sword through a shop owner
in Omaha, Nebraska, named Julius Meyer.
This was an enterprising young Prussian Jewish
businessman who had immigrated to the
United States to join his brothers and, after the
American Civil War, had set up a curio shop in
Omaha, Nebraska. He often traveled among
the Midwestern and Plains Indians, establishing
friendly relationships especially with Pawnee,
FIG. 28 (left):
Frontal portrait of Gah-
Gos-Sha-De-Bay, called Joe
Broad (Chippewa), in partial
native dress with peace
medal and headdress and
holding a Japanese sword,
by De Lancey W. Gill,
February 1908.
Glass plate negative. 7 x 9”.
National Anthropological Archives,
Smithsonian Museum Support Center,
Suitland, Maryland, BAE GN 00539A2
06145700.
Gah-Gos-Sha-De-Bay stands in
front of a screen in the Smithsonian
wearing a fringed hide tunic and
ribbon-trimmed pants with a heavily
beaded bag over his shoulder. In his
right hand he holds an unusually long
Japanese efu dachi, quite possibly
an example from the Smithsonian
collection employed as a photo prop.
This sword has not yet been located.
note that if indeed
Col. Nozu and chief
Red Cloud ever met
face to face, then customarily
other prominent
Sioux headmen
should also have been present at such an
official gathering, especially since it involved a
foreign visitor. These would likely have included
Young Man Afraid of His Horses (Tašunke
Kokipapi, 1836–1893), Red Dog (Šunka Luta,
1830–1882), Little Wound (Taopi Cikala, 1828–
1901), and the elder, Red Leaf (Wahpe Luta,
1812–1895). Another prominent Lakota, Spotted
Tail (1823–1881), lived some forty miles
to the northeast at his own agency near Camp
Sheridan and was a frequent visitor during those
difficult times. With so many prominent individuals
there, it is odd that Red Cloud alone might
have been gifted such a sword, yet only this one
Japanese sword seems to occur in any historic
record from the region.19
Such a gift becomes odder still when we recall
that Nozu’s primary purpose for visiting Indian
Country was to examine the U.S. military forces
preparing to launch attacks on Indians following
the loss at Little Big Horn. In addition to
the unrest caused among the Sioux by the news
of the Custer battle and the backlash it produced,
further great turmoil was being caused
by the imminent relocation of the agency, the
sequestration of Indian guns and horses, and the
forced relinquishment of the Black Hills. From
that perspective, despite Red Cloud’s status as a
chief, it also seems very unlikely (though not impossible)
that the Japanese dignitary hosted by
the U.S. military would present a samurai sword
to an Indian chief who was at the time under
U.S. military arrest.
Discounting the Nozu scenario, where else
could the famed Oglala chief have gotten such a
unique and unusual “long knife”? There are two
other possibilities; both relate to Red Cloud’s
skills as a negotiator and leader of several Sioux
delegations to Washington, D.C.
We have explored above the possibility that
there may be a connection between the samurai
manikin at the Smithsonian and Red Cloud’s
manikin and also the fact that Red Cloud’s visit