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LOT 1148
“Camp of Spotted Eagle, Hostile Sioux Tongue River Valley 1879” Print by L. A. Huffman - The historically
significant lightly hand tinted print shows an expansive Sioux village with a woman in a redcoat in the
foreground, and is marked “Camp of Spotted Eagle, Hostile Sioux Tongue River Valley 1879” in black at the bottom
left of center and the “La Huffman” copyright at the lower right also in black ink. The print is unframed and sits
on a white board backing which measures 24 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches, slightly larger than the print itself. Laton Alton
Huffman (1854-1931) arrived in Miles City, Montana Territory, in 1879 and took the job of post photographer at
Fort Keogh under the legendary General Nelson Miles. This is 1 of 4 known images he made of the camp, making
this one of Huffman’s early photographs. A copy of a hand-written note with “The Huffman Pictures” letterhead
in the top left states: “The Spotted Eagle Village was the last great leather lodge village seen on the Yellowstone.
These lodges were pitched in the fall of 1879 near Fort Keogh, Montana, when the Spotted Eagle band
numbering nearly 2500 people of the Sioux nation surrendered to General Miles. This is the village where Rain-in-
the-Face was also a prisoner of war. General Miles said in later years: This was the last place in America where the
Indians still used buffalo meat for his food, tanned the skins for his Leather Lodges, and the robes for his blanket.”
CONDITION: Very good, the print has clear imagery with a few tiny stains , some wear at the edges, a tear in the
lower left corner, some fading of the ink, and evidence of fading along the top and right edges.
Estimate: 4,000 - 6,000
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