LOT North American Auction Company  /  Historic Firearms & Old West Auction  / 

96A

Pine Ridge Indian Judge He Dog Winchester 1873 SRC

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:25.00 USD Estimated At:25,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD
Pine Ridge Indian Judge He Dog Winchester 1873 SRC
Advertising, Firearms, Antiques, Collectibles, Antique Furniture, Native American Artifacts, Navajo Jewelry, Silver, Gold, Montana History Artifacts, Navajo Indian Rugs, Taxidermy Mounts, Slot Machines, Cash Registers, Early Chinese Artifacts.
The lot features a wonderful historic and important Winchester Repeating Arms Co. Model 1873 saddle ring carbine owned and used by He Dog, a notable Indian figure of the 19th Century. The firearm shows a .44-40 caliber, 20 inch round barrel that is marked by the manufacture with patent dates, has the original factory site, and also is marked, “44 W.C.F.” The top rifle tang is marked, “Model 1873” and the bottom rifle tang is marked, “567460 R”. Upon observation of the original factory wood stock and foregrip Togia Lakota sign language carvings and Togia brass track figure markings were found to be original to the firearm. The rifle has been examined and authenticated by renowned historian and Togia language expert, Wendell Grangaard of The Guns of History, Inc. On the left side of the stock is carved in Togia Lakota Sign Language Carvings, “He Dog Judge” along with showing three distinct Togia symbols in brass covered early iron flat top early trade tacks that stand for the “Bad Face Band” of the Oglala Sioux and also the “Soreback Band” mark. The right side is marked in Togia symbols with the same brass tacks with the “Cankahuhan” “He Dog” and “Sore Back Band”. The Cankahuhan or Soreback Band was a break-off of the Red Cloud Bad Face Band. Also on the rifles foregrip where Togia prayer buttons in the same trade tacks on both sides. He Dog was an Oglala Lakota Sioux Native American Indian born in 1840, son to Black Stone and Blue Day. Blue Day, his mother, was sister of Red Cloud a vary notable Indian figure, making He Dog his nephew. His younger brother was Grant Short Bull. By the 1860’s He Dog and his brothers had formed a small Oglala Lakota band known as the Cankahuhan or Soreback Band which was closely associated with Red Cloud’s Bad Face band of Oglala. After the treaty commission failed to persuade the Lakota to give up the Black Hills, an ultimatum was sent to the Northern Bands to surrender to the agencies or be forded in by the army. In March 1876 He Dog married Rock (Inyan) and with part of the Soreback Band, stopped briefly with the Northern Cheyenne encamped on the Powder River in Wyoming Territory. On the morning of March 17, 1876 a column of troops under Colonel Jeseph J. Reynolds attacked. Grant Short Bull, He Dog’s Brother, gave testimony that “This attack was the turning point of the situation” and “If it had not been for that attack by Crook on Powder River, we would have come in to the agency that spring, and there would have been no Sioux War”. Meaning there would have been no Rosebud, Little Bighorn, or other battles. He Dog rode with and participated in the Great Sioux War with his close friend Crazy Horse. The battles he participated in included the Battle of Rosebud, the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Slim Buttes in September 1876 and Wolf Mountain in 1877. He Dog surrendered with Crazy Horse in May 1877 and after Crazy Horse was killed in late 1877, He Dog accompanied the Ogala to Washington, D.C. as a delegate to meet the President. He Dog and his Soreback Band fled into Canada during the winter of 1877-1878. When in Canada they joined Sitting Bull in exile for the next two years. He later surrendered again at Fort Keogh in 1880 and was transferred to the Standing Rock Reservation in 1881, then later transferred to the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1882. He Dog was appointed as an Indian Judge at the turn of the 19th to 20th Century. He bought this rifle to protect himself during his appointment to the judgeship. He lived out his life at his homestead West of the town of Pine Ridge until his death in 1936. Before his death he gave testimony in interviews with a number of historians including Walter Mason Camp, General H.L. Scott, Eleanor Hinman and Mari Sandoz. Included in the lot is a copy of the Crazy Horse Surrender Ledger by Buecker which shows He Dog as the second from the top on the sheet. Along with the copy of the ledger are several pages of the He Dog interviews. The rifle comes with the signed letter describing the piece’s history from Wendell Grangaard along with detailed illustrations showing the markings he has translated. Wendell Grangaard is the foremost knowledge on the Togia language along with the Battle of the Little Bighorn as he is the author of the book, “Documenting the Weapons Used at Little Bighorn” 2015. Wendell was also intricate in the authentication and examination of the historic George Armstrong Custer Captured Sharps Carbine from Chief Black Kettle that sold at auction for $127,000. Comes with documentation including a detailed description authenticating the piece signed by Wendell, along with illustrations showing the Togia language carvings. From the excellent Indian Firearm collection of Steve Livermore of Fort Pierre, South Dakota.
Sign In to Bookmark Lot