Bad Heart Bull, Amos (ca. 1868-1913). Noted
Oglala LakotaThe Oglala Lakota or Oglala Sioux live in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota bordering Nebraska and 50 miles east of Wyoming, the second-largest reservation in the United States. The reservation has broadly three parts, pine covered hills and ridges, grassy plains and a desert area...
artist and historian. Also known as Amos Bad Heart Buffalo.
Born about 1868 or 1869, Amos was the son of Bad Heart Bull (
Tȟatȟáŋka Čhaŋtéšiča) and his wife Red Blanket (
Tȟašína Lúta Wiŋ). Amos' father was a brother of the headman
He DogHe Dog . A member of the Oglala Lakota, He Dog was closely associated with Crazy Horse during the Great Sioux War of 1876-77.-Biography:...
and a nephew of the famous Oglala chief
Red CloudRed Cloud , was a war leader of the Oglala Lakota . One of the most capable Native American opponents the United States Army ever faced, he led a successful conflict in 1866–1868 known as Red Cloud's War over control of the Powder River Country in northwestern Wyoming and southern Montana...
. Known as Eagle Bonnet (
Waŋblí Wapȟáha) as a young man, Amos grew up living the traditional life of the Oglala.
Bad Heart Bull, Amos (ca. 1868-1913). Noted
Oglala LakotaThe Oglala Lakota or Oglala Sioux live in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota bordering Nebraska and 50 miles east of Wyoming, the second-largest reservation in the United States. The reservation has broadly three parts, pine covered hills and ridges, grassy plains and a desert area...
artist and historian. Also known as Amos Bad Heart Buffalo.
Early years
Born about 1868 or 1869, Amos was the son of Bad Heart Bull (
Tȟatȟáŋka Čhaŋtéšiča) and his wife Red Blanket (
Tȟašína Lúta Wiŋ). Amos' father was a brother of the headman
He DogHe Dog . A member of the Oglala Lakota, He Dog was closely associated with Crazy Horse during the Great Sioux War of 1876-77.-Biography:...
and a nephew of the famous Oglala chief
Red CloudRed Cloud , was a war leader of the Oglala Lakota . One of the most capable Native American opponents the United States Army ever faced, he led a successful conflict in 1866–1868 known as Red Cloud's War over control of the Powder River Country in northwestern Wyoming and southern Montana...
. Known as Eagle Bonnet (
Waŋblí Wapȟáha) as a young man, Amos grew up living the traditional life of the Oglala. His family belonged to an Oglala camp known as the Soreback Band. He was eight years old when Custer's column attacked the large Indian village in the famous
Battle of the Little BighornThe Battle of the Little Bighorn —also known as Custer's Last Stand and in the parlance of the Native Americans involved, the Battle of Greasy Grass Creek—was an armed engagement between a Lakota–Northern Cheyenne combined force and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army...
.
At the end of the
Great Sioux War of 1876-77The Great Sioux War of 1876-77 was a series of battles and negotiations between the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and the United States between 1876 and 1877.-Background:...
, the Bad Heart Bull family surrendered at the
Red Cloud AgencyThe Red Cloud Agency was an Indian agency for the Oglala Lakota as well as the Northern Cheyenne and Northern Arapaho, existing from 1871 to 1878.- Red Cloud Agency No. 1 :...
on April 18, 1877, several weeks before
Crazy HorseCrazy Horse was a respected war leader of the Oglala Lakota, who fought against the U.S...
. Following the killing of Crazy Horse in September 1877, the family stampeded with other northern Oglala to the nearby Spotted Tail Agency. The family then fled north with other Oglala, eventually joining
Sitting BullSitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux holy man, born near the Grand River in South Dakota and killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation during an attempt to arrest him and prevent him from supporting the Ghost Dance...
in Canada. The Bad Heart Bull family probably returned to the U.S. with other Oglala who surrendered at
Fort KeoghFort Keogh is located on the western edge of Miles City, Montana. Originally a military post, today it is a United States Department of Agriculture livestock and range research station. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places...
in 1880. They were transferred to the Standing Rock Reservation in 1881 and the following spring, sent home to join the rest of the Oglala at the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Becoming an Artist
As a young man, Amos Bad Heart Bull showed interest in the history of the Oglala and began to draw pictures depicting their traditional lifeways and history. In 1894, he enlisted in the U.S. Army as an Indian scout, serving at
Fort RobinsonFort Robinson is a former U.S. Army fort and a present-day state park. Located in the Pine Ridge region of northwest Nebraska, it is west of Crawford on U.S. Route 20.- History :...
with his uncle Short Bull, Grant. During this time, he purchased a ledger book from a clothing dealer in nearby
Crawford, NebraskaCrawford is a city in Dawes County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,107 at the 2000 census. It was incorporated in 1886 and was named for the late Captain Emmet Crawford who had previously been stationed at nearby Fort Robinson.-Geography:...
and began to draw a series of pictures.
Returning to Pine Ridge after serving his enlistment, Amos married and made his living as a small cattleman. His only daughter, Victoria, was born in 1909 but died four months later. He received his land allotment on the Pine Ridge Reservation along Black Tail Creek northwest of Oglala, South Dakota, near other members of the Soreback Band. His wife died in 1910 and Amos died on August 3, 1913.
Bad Heart Bull Manuscript
At the time of his death, Amos' sketchbook was given to his younger sister, Dolly Pretty Cloud, who later allowed a young graduate student from the University of Nebraska, Helen Blish, study it for her master's thesis. When Dolly died in 1947, the original ledger was buried with her. Hartley Burr Alexander, Blish's professor, however had fortunately had the drawings photographed in the thirties. Those images were published in
Sioux Indian painting ... With introduction and notes by Hartley Burr Alexander, 1938 by Szwedzicki in Nice France. In 1967, the original prints of the photographs were used by the University of Nebraska Press to publish Blish's study and figures of Amos Bad Heart Bull's drawings.
In the years that have followed the manuscript's publication, scholars have come to view the Amos Bad Heart Bull manuscript as a very important contribution to Lakota history and culture.
Translation of his name
The English translation of his Lakota name is incorrect. The literal meaining of the word čhaŋtéšiče is "he has a bad heart" but the idiomatic meaining is "he is sad." Hence the true meaning of Tȟatȟáŋka Čhaŋtéšiče is Sad Bull. Lakota names were frequently translated literally (and thus incorrectly) rather than idiomatically.