Her memories of affection and respect for the Lakota people inspired her to send a letter to Buffalo Bill requesting permission to photograph Sioux traveling with the show in her studio. In 1898, Käsebier watched Buffalo Bill's Wild West troupe parade past her Fifth Avenue studio in New York City, toward Madison Square Garden. Käsebier spent her childhood on the Great Plains living near and playing with Sioux children. Gertrude Käsebier was one of the most influential American photographers of the early 20th century and best known for her evocative images of Native Americans. Iron Tail and Gertrude Käsebier Photographing the Sioux It was a piece of superb acting, and exceedingly funny.' Iron Tail continued to travel with Buffalo Bill until 1913, and then the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West until his death in 1916. 'Going through all the forms of the game from dealing to antes and betting and drawing a last card during which no word was uttered and his countenance like a statue, he suddenly swept the table clean into his blanket and rose from the table and strutted away. On one of his visits to The Wigwam of Major Israel McCreight, Buffalo Bill asked Iron Tail to illustrate in pantomime how he played and won a game of poker with US army officials during a Treaty Council in the old days. Iron Tail was one of Buffalo Bill's best friends and they hunted elk and bighorn together on annual trips. In France, as in England, Buffalo Bill and Iron Tail were feted by the aristocracy. Iron Tail was an international personality and appeared as the lead with Buffalo Bill at the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France, and the Colosseum in Rome, Italy.

In this respect he always had a smile and was fond of children, horses and friends.' Iron Tail and Buffalo Bill He seldom made a speech and cared nothing for gaudy regalia, very much like the famed War Chief Crazy Horse. He was not a medicine man or conjuror, but a wise counselor and diplomat, always dignified, quiet and never given to boasting. Major Israel McCreight reported: 'Iron Tail was not a war chief and no remarkable record as a fighter. Most biographies incorrectly report that Iron Tail fought in the Battle of the Little Bighorn and that his family was killed in 1890 at Wounded Knee, when in truth it was Iron Hail who suffered the loss. Iron Tail, Indian Squaws and Papooses, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Iron Tail and Iron Hail Ĭhief Iron Tail is often mistaken by historians for Chief Iron Hail (' Dewey Beard'), being Lakota contemporaries with similar sounding names.

Tails of iron statues