Rare Old Find Sioux Chief Red Cloud Rppc Real Photo Post Card Native American
This rare and original, 1920’s Real Photo Postcard / Photo is in excellent condition. The Image is clean, and crisp with sharp focus, strong contrast and rich tonality. There is no soiling, staining, tears, edge chips, edge wear or damage except for the fact that the back of the Postcard has black, paper mounting tape affixed around the edges (see the scans below). With a quality matting and framing, the Image will display beautifully. The Image is titled in the negative “Chief Red Cloud” and also carries the mark of the publisher – the O’Neill Photo Company of O’Neill, Nebraska – in the negative. It pictures the elder Sioux Warrior wearing western style clothing with a trade blanket draped over his shoulders and another over his lap. The blanket on his lap has a simply fantastic, Sioux beaded blanket strip attached. This portrait was originally taken sometime around 1909 and was here, republished in the 1920’s as a Real Photo Postcard by the O’Neill Photo Co. It is a full figure, seated portrait of Red Cloud. Mahpiua Luta (Red Cloud) (1822 – December 10, 1909) was a very strong war leader and a chief of the Oglala Lakota. He led as a chief from 1868 to 1909. After signing the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), he led his people in the important transition to reservation life. Some of his US opponents mistakenly thought of him as overall chief of the Sioux (Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota). The large tribe had several major divisions and was highly decentralized. Bands among the Oglala and other divisions operated independently, even though some individual leaders such as Red Cloud were renowned as warriors and highly respected as leaders. Red Cloud had no hereditary title of his own but emerged as a natural leader and spokesman of his people through the force of his own character and through bravery in battle. Determined to protect the Native Americans’ prime hunting grounds, Red Cloud in 1865 led the opposition of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho when the U. Government began to build and fortify a road from Fort Laramie, in present Wyoming, by way of the Powder River to Montana. He intercepted the first contingents of army construction troops on the Bozeman Trail that summer, holding them prisoner for more than two weeks. Thereafter, he refused all offers to negotiate and relentlessly attacked workers along the route. The two-year harassment came to be known as Red Cloud’s War and did not end until the United States agreed to abandon all posts and to desist from any further effort to open the road. When the garrisons had finally been withdrawn and the forts burned, Red Cloud signed the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie (April 29, 1868), laid down his arms, and allowed himself to be settled on the Red Cloud Agency, in Nebraska. The Photograph measures approx. 3 1/2″ by 5 1/2″ and features an early, divided Postcard back with an “DOPS” Stamp Box that dates the Photograph to the 1920’s. Each of the Photograph Postcards in this collection have black mounting tape around the edges of the back side attesting to the fact that they were apparently mounted in an album at some time in the past. Very Rare and original, 1920’s Real Photo Postcard / Photograph of the Great Oglala Lakota Sioux War Leader Mahpiua Luta (Red Cloud). A very rare and wonderful, 1920’s Real Photo Postcard / Photograph of the Great Oglala Lakota Sioux War Leader Mahpiua Luta (Red Cloud) and a fantastic addition to any collection!
