Hodges Soileau (American, B. 1943) "Sitting Bull" Signed lower right. Original Mixed Media painting on Cold Press Illustration Board.

Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation.

This painting is the original painting which appeared on the Fleetwood Sitting Bull Commemorative Cover postmarked March 31, 1983.

Of all American Indians, none is so well known as Sitting Bull, the outstanding leader and holy man of the Teton Sioux. Born on Grand River in South Dakota in the 1830's (March 31, 1834 is one conjecture), he was of the Hunkpapa subtribe. Like most of his tribesmen, Sitting Bull avoided the whites who came from the East. Then in 1863 and 1864, after the Santee Sioux uprising, soldiers marched on punitive expeditions onto the Dakota plains, and Sitting Bull was forced into military action. A seeker of visions, a singer of songs, an accomplished artist, a warrior and a prophet, Sitting Bull was also one of the first to link the survival of his people with the buffalo. He led his followers westward into the buffalo-rich Powder River country where he joined Red Cloud in driving soldiers from forts along the Bozeman Trail. Then he moved northward to the Yellowstone valley, uniting tribes who defied the reservation system. On June 25, 1876, Custer found Sitting Bull and his followers camped on the Little Big Horn. As a result of the warriors' victory, so many military expeditions were sent in pursuit of the Indians that Sitting Bull fled to Canada. On July 19, 1881, he returned to the U.S., surrendered as a prisoner of war, and was released to join his people on the Standing Rock reservation. On December 15, 1890, during the turbulence of the Ghost Dance movement, he was shot to death when reservation authorities attempted to place him under arrest.

Image Size: 15.25 x 13.5 in.
Overall Size: 21.25 x 19.25 in.
Unframed.
(B06969)

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21.25 x 19.25 in