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FIG. 30 (above):
Ma-Kpe-Ah-Lou-Tah (Red
Cloud), Great Chief of the
Dacotahs, by Alexander
Gardner.
Washington, D.C., 1872.
Photographed for the trustees of
the Blackmore Museum, Salisbury,
England.
Gelatin silver print in printed paper
mat, from the presentation album
Photographs of Red Cloud and His
Braves, Gibson Brothers, Printers.
Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript
Library, Yale University, call number
WA Photos 394.
One of several images of Red Cloud
taken by Gardner during the 1872
Sioux delegation to Washington,
D.C.
Winnebago, and even the Sioux, where
he had befriended Red Cloud himself.
His “Indian Wigwam” in Omaha was
a popular stop for White Americans
and Indians alike who wished to trade
or purchase a variety of objects. Meyer,
who was also an Indian interpreter
with a basic knowledge of the Lakota
language, proudly advertised himself as
an “Indian Trader and Dealer in Indian,
Chinese, and Japanese Curiosities,” in
addition to specimens of minerals, fossils,
and a vast selection of photographs
of “Indians and Western Scenery”
(Wilson 2004:92–95). Red Cloud was
a guest of Meyer in Omaha, Nebraska, where
they sat together for photographs, including
the two illustrated in Goodyear (2003:26–29).
It is possible that Meyer could have given Red
Cloud the katana as a token of his friendship or
as payment for photographic sittings. However,
this is perhaps the least likely scenario. While
Japanese goods were increasingly traded to the
United States in the second half of the nineteenth
century, swords, which were still highly valued
in Japan, generally came later, and it would be
surprising to fi nd one in such a distant outpost.
Very few are known in collections from this time
period.
As of today, how exactly Red Cloud acquired
his Japanese sword remains a mystery. Records
from Nozu and Meyer are silent on any alleged
presentation of a katana to the Oglala leader,
as are records of the American offi cers who escorted
Nozu to Red Cloud Agency. Similarly,
the whereabouts of the Red Cloud katana after
the chief’s death are unknown, and
only vague recollections of its existence
remain with the descendants of the famous
Oglala. The sword might have
been buried with the old chief in the
Catholic cemetery at Holy Rosary Mission
in Pine Ridge in December of 1909,
or it could have been sold to an interested
buyer by his son Jack Red Cloud,
who shortly after the death of his father
sold for $50 a large silver peace medal
Red Cloud had received from President
Grant in 1871 (Markantes 2004:14–
20).20
Finally, we would like to suggest the
admittedly speculative idea that this Red Cloud
katana may also offer a possible answer to a
rumored example in an unknown Catlin painting.
The missing Catlin Japanese sword and
the Red Cloud katana may actually refer to the
same weapon. D. S. Hartley and T. B. Buttweiler
(1976) explore the long-rumored existence of a
Catlin painting showing “a Japanese war tachi
hanging against the inside wall” of an Oglala
Sioux tipi. We believe this may be simply a product
of modifi cation in retelling of the story of the
same “long knife” that appears in the 1890-1891
Morledge photograph. Possibly this reference to
a Japanese sword inside a Sioux dwelling was
shared verbally in the 1950s–1960s among Japanese
sword enthusiasts and collectors, including
Hartley and Buttweiler. As often happens with
non-written references and recollections, as the
information was passed on without an accompanying
image or specifi c citation, the tribal designation
“Sioux” remained but the dwelling, be-
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