IRON HAWK (Chetan Maza), Oglala Lakota, 1899. Unmounted 9 ¼ x 7 3/8 platinotype. “-Iron Hawk- No1660 Copyright 1900 / F.A. Rinehart, / Omaha.” [in neg.]

A famous survivor of the Battle of Little Bighorn, Iron Hawk was shot through the chest during intense fighting on the long slope below Last Stand Hill, where white marble headstones now spangle the grass. Armed appropriately as he was on that day with a bow and arrows, he also grasps a stone-headed war club, of the type which dispatched many a soldier of the 7th Cavalry. The four arrows worn in his hair are symbolic of other battle wounds, suffered from Indian foes. The upright eagle feather indicates that he not only survived, but triumphed. A cross made of sheet nickel-silver is worn as a tie slide. This is one of the few where we can see the painted backdrop of the studio. [4]