Gift of Gilbert Meigs and Laurie Meigs in memory of Mary Collins.

Gift of Gilbert Meigs and Laurie Meigs in memory of Mary Collins.

Gift of Gilbert Meigs and Laurie Meigs in memory of Mary Collins.

Gift of Gilbert Meigs and Laurie Meigs in memory of Mary Collins.

Gift of Lillian Pitt.

In this drawing the warrior on horseback is attacking another on foot. The rider carries an eagle feather trimmed shield in his hand that has a center design of a lizard and phases of the moon on the rim. He wears a long eagle headdress. His horse's tail is tied and feathered for war. The figure on the ground turns back and fires his gun at the rider. The bullets can be seen flying beyond the horse's rump. He wears leggings and a loin cloth and carries a powder horn.

Two warriors are battling in this ledger drawing: the left side warrior carries a gun and wears long leggings, a vest and a cap with feathers. The rider on the right wears a short feathered headdress, long shirt, short leggings and tall moccasins. He has thrust a long lance towards his opponent. Even the horses butt heads during this battle. These drawings are done by tearing out paper from ledger books that were used by army and reservation post managers as a substitute for using hides- the traditional medium fro such drawingsfor offical art papers.

This is a muslin tipi liner although often during this period muslins did not actually function as liners but as muslin hangings displayed to tell personal exploits or some were made for trade. This liner does have the marks left by the small weight pebbles usually assicaited with hanging inside a tipi usage. It is a very large sheet composed of two long pieces joined with a seam along the center. The bottom panel is undecorated. The top section is drawn/painted and colored with ledger like drawings of horses, men in various encounters and battles. The drawings are correct, right to left. It might be individual battles from a larger fight so it might be from the big battles in which Rain in the Face is known to have participated or it could be smaller battle engagements such as stealing horses, counting coup on Native and non-Native enemies. Accession notes include the information that the artist Edwin W. Deming was given the liner by Hunkpapa Lakota warrior Rain-in-the-Face during Deming's visit to Standing Rock in 1889 and Deming may have seen him painting all or part of it. Extensive notes are in curatorial files.

The battle scene on this ledger drawing is briefly as follows: The Warrior has been wounded in the chest and is bleeding from his mouth as he lies on the ground. He wears a full length eagle headdress with a non-native styled coat with buttons. His war lance lies alongside of him. His horse is also wounded in the side in front of the saddle and is bleeding from his nose. Five army men are attacking the warrior as they lay on the ground all firing you can see the bullets fly over the rear of the horse and the spurts from their guns. These drawings are done by tearing out paper from ledger books that were used by army and reservation post managers as a substitute for using hides- the traditional medium fro such drawingsfor offical art papers.

The reservation era of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when Native American tribes had ceded their land to the federal government and were confined to set aside tracts of land, created profound cultural changes for the Plains peoples. The masculine artistic tradition of painting warrior's exploits on hide shirts and robes declined but men continued to record their deeds and their changing way of life in paintings and drawings on canvas, muslin, and small notebooks, or ledger books. Many of these works memorialize individual achievements in hunting and warfare. Some ledger books were carried into battle and "captured" on the battlefield. U.S. Army men who had amicable relations with Indian scouts or were guards of Native American prisoners commissioned others. This drawing depicts one warrior scalping another fallen warrior who is dropping his bow and arrows.