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SIOUX CHILD’S MOCCASIN
IDENTIFIED AS HAVING BEEN RECOVERED FROM THE WOUNDED
KNEE CREEK CAMP IN 1890:
This small Lakota Sioux child’s moccasin bears a simple
inscription on the inside of the rawhide sole, “WOUNDED
KNEE CREEK 1890”.
Measuring 5 ½” long, the
moccasin is made of brain tanned buckskin with a rawhide
sole. The moccasin is assembled with, and the beadwork
is applied with sinew. The beadwork consists of a
large solid cross on the instep with a border of
individually applied three line elements. All of the
beadwork is intact with no loose or missing beads. The
inscription was printed by hand in black ink with a very
fine tipped pen, and the ink has turned brown as is
typical of early ink writing. The moccasin shows very
little wear and it likely that it was recovered from a
storage parfleche in one of the lodges rather than being
removed from a child killed during the melee.
That the Sioux encampments were
looted by soldiers, journalists, and civilians is well
documented in the various reports and news articles
written after the incident at Wounded Knee Creek in
1890. This moccasin is the type of item which would
have been taken by a soldier or civilian, and while it
certainly had a mate, it is likely that two souvenir
hunters agreed to share the pair between them, resulting
in them being separated for all time.
That the inscription written in
ink on the interior of the sole identifies the location
of the recovery as “Wounded Knee Creek”, rather than
using the later 20th Century references of
“Wounded Knee”, “Wounded Knee Massacre”, and “Wounded
Knee Battle”, indicates to me that the inscription was
written at the time of recovery or shortly thereafter by
someone who was using the location name utilized by the
army in their after action reports. It is worth noting
that the army reported the events from that terrible
encounter as “Wounded Knee Creek”. The ink has a brown
cast to it, consistent with aged black ink.
This single child’s moccasin
with the association to the last encounter between the
Sioux and the U.S. Army is a very special piece and a
sobering reminder of the cost of settling the American
West. SOLD
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