Amos Bad Heart Bull.Amy Beach
Amos Bad Heart Bull was an Oglala Lakota artist and historian, born around 1869 into a prominent family with deep ties to Lakota history. His father, also named Bad Heart Bull, was a renowned band historian, and his relatives included noted warriors like Crazy Horse, who resisted U.S. encroachments on Lakota territory. Although Amos was too young to participate in the Sioux Wars, he witnessed significant events, including the Battle of Little Bighorn. From 1890 to 1891, he worked as a scout for the U.S. Army, during which he began documenting Oglala history through pictography in a ledger book. His extensive collection of over four hundred drawings captures the rich narrative of Oglala social and political life, religious practices, and warfare, showcasing a level of detail and action unprecedented in previous works. Amos Bad Heart Bull passed away in 1913, and his artwork was preserved through his sister, Dollie Pretty Cloud, leading to its study by scholars in later years. The original ledger, however, was buried with her in 1947, leaving a photographic record as the only remaining trace of his unique contribution to Oglala history.
Subject Terms
Amos Bad Heart Bull
- Born: c. 1869
- Birthplace: Present-day Wyoming
- Died: 1913
- Place of death: Unknown
Tribal affiliation: Ite Sica band of Oglala Lakota (Sioux)
Significance: Amos Bad Heart Bull kept an extensive pictographic history of the Oglala Lakota that spanned the last half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth
Amos Bad Heart Bull was born into a noted Oglala family. His father, also called Bad Heart Bull, was a band historian who kept a historic record in pictographic form. His uncles, He Dog and Short Bull, and cousin Crazy Horse were noted warriors active in opposing United States encroachments on Lakota lands. Born about 1869 in the final years of the traditional Lakota lifestyle, Amos Bad Heart Bull was too young to take part in the Sioux Wars (1864-1876) but was present at many of the battles, particularly Little Bighorn. His father and older male relatives were prominent warriors in these battles.
From 1890 to 1891, Amos Bad Heart Bull served with his uncle Short Bull as a scout for the United States Army at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. During this time he purchased a ledger book from a clothing store owner in Crawford, Nebraska, and began to record the recent history of the Oglala Lakota in the traditional Plains art genre of pictography. Because his father was dead, Bad Heart Bull’s primary informants for this work were his uncles Short Bull and He Dog. Bad Heart Bull’s drawings convey an extensive narrative history of Oglala social and political history, religious ritual and ceremony, methods of warfare, and battles. This extensive record of over four hundred drawings is unique in its scope and in its intent to be a complete historic record. Artistically, Bad Heart Bull provided greater action, realism, and attention to detail than previous artists of this genre.
Amos Bad Heart Bull died in 1913, and his manuscript passed to his sister Dollie Pretty Cloud. In 1926, a graduate student at the University of Nebraska, Helen Blish, studied and photographed the manuscript in A Pictographic History of the Oglala Sioux. This photographic record is all that remains. The original ledger was buried with Dollie Pretty Cloud in 1947 at her request.