Friendship between Indian agent, tribal chief celebrated with return of war bonnet

PIERRE — Civil War Maj. Cicero Newell and Sicangu Lakota Chief Spotted Tail have been deceased for more than a century, but their friendship has transcended generations of their ancestors.

Now, the fruits of that connection will forever be preserved at the South Dakota State Historical museum in the capital city thanks to the repatriation of tribal artifacts by Spotted Tail’s fifth-generation son.

Relatives of both Newell and Spotted Tail Wednesday participated in a ceremony at Georgia Morse Middle School Wednesday honoring the gift and the lasting relationship between Newell and Spotted Tails’ families.

“This isn’t just about an artifact, its about a story,” South Dakota State Historical Society director Ben Jones said. “We wanted to commemorate this friendship.”

After forming a friendship with Newell in the late 1800s, Spotted Tail gifted Newell moccasins, clothing, various accessories and a war bonnet with feathers commemorating Spotted Tail’s years of legendary military service to the tribe.

While a seemingly unusual relationship for the time, Newell met Spotted Tail while serving as an Indian agent for the U.S. military. Spotted Tail, whose Lakota name was Sinte Gleska, was one of the regional chiefs who signed the Fort Laramie Treaty in 1868, drafted to bring peace between the U.S. government and the warring Sioux and Arapahoe tribes.

The chief learned English while serving a prison sentence for being a leader in a massacre that killed U.S. soldiers more than 20 years earlier. By the time the Fort Laramie Treaty was signed, Spotted Tail had become convinced that armed resistance to white settlement was futile, and he had resolved to transition his people to a new way of life.

Spotted Tail was shot in the back and killed by one of his followers in 1881, but not before he’d given Newell the war bonnet. Newell eventually moved to the West Coast and wrote about his time as an Indian agent in a book called “Indian Stories,” which included a critical assessment of Gen. George Armstrong Custer, who was routed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876.

Passed down from generation to generation as requested by Chief Spotted Tail, the items remained with the Newell family in Washington until 2022. That’s when James Newell contacted the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and managed to get ahold of Chief John Spotted Tail — a direct descendant of his namesake who was working as chief of staff to the tribal chairman at the time.

“When my dad died in 2005, he told me that Cicero had written a book,” Newell said. “I found the book and read it, and about 10 years later I started talking to my son… We decided to give it back.”

Chief John Spotted Tail and his wife, Tamara, wasting no time, packed up their car and made the drive to Washington to take possession of the collection. After bring returning home with it, items were displayed in the tribal college that bears the Lakota name of the deceased chief — Sinte Gleska University.

Now, two years later, the Spotted Tail family, too, decided it was time to find a final and forever place for the items.

The collection will be available regularly for public viewing at the South Dakota State Historical Society museum upon its reopening, slated for late 2025.

“Through cultures we can understand this moment, and know this came from friendship,” said Tamara Stands and Looks Back-Spotted Tail. “In the afterlife when they hear this story, we know they’ll be very happy.”

 

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