Stanley J. Morrow (1843-1921), photographer. 131. Spotted Tail (Sin-ta-ga-lis-ka.) Chief of the Brule Sioux - assassinated by Crow Dog. Full-length outdoor group portrait of Chief Spotted Tail with his Wife and Daughter. Albumen stereoview. Yankton, Dakota Territory: Stanley J. Morrow, after 1881. On publisher's cardstock mount with series title "Photographic Gems of the Great Northwest" and imprint to recto. Period inscription to the verso titles the portrait. 

A brilliant and important portrait of Sichangu Lakota chief Spotted Tail (Siŋté Glešká, nee Tȟatȟáŋka Napsíča, circa 1823-1881), a major figure in the late 19th-century political landscape between the United States Government and the Sioux Native Americans. He is pictured here posing in a wrapped blanket next to his wife and daughter, both wrapped in striped blankets. 

Spotted Tail participated in the Grattan Massacre in 1854, but decided not to join in Red Cloud's War in the late 1860s, having determined that the Indians' armed resistance to white encroachment was largely futile. He began speaking and negotiating on behalf of his people, including signing the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, which established the Great Sioux Reservation. Spotted Tail traveled several times to Washington, D.C., mostly in the 1870s, to defend the land and civil rights of his people, meeting with important government officials including Commissioners of Indian Affairs Ely S. Parker and John Quincy Smith, and President Ulysses S. Grant. As referenced by the period inscription, Spotted Tail was shot in the back and killed by Crow Dog, a Lakota sub chief, in 1881 for reasons which have been disputed.

Stanley J. Morrow (1843–1921), an apprentice to Mathew Brady during the Civil War, moved to Yankton, Dakota Territory, in 1868. Outfitting a specialized traveling photographic wagon, Morrow spent over a decade venturing into remote agency posts, military garrisons, and frontier outposts across the Upper Missouri and Black Hills. His stereographic series Photographic Gems of the Great Northwest constitutes one of the most vital photographic documents of Northern Plains Native peoples, early territorial settlements, and frontier military campaigns. This is a premier example of his work. 

[Native Americans, Lakota, Dakota, Sioux, Yankton, Dakota Territory, Upper Missouri, Trade Blankets, Dentalium Ornaments, Beadwork, Material Culture, Plains Indians, Frontier Life, American West] [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Stereoviews, Stereographs, Albumen Prints, Stanley J. Morrow, S. J. Morrow, Frontier Photographers]

Very good condition overall, with even tones and fine clarity. The buff card mount is flat and well preserved, showing only slight softening at the corners and faint age toning.