4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 97 



As news concerning the details of the Custer defeat slowly filtered 

 in from the northern plains, newspaper men realized that they had 

 the biggest news story since the Civil War. The fact that the colorful 

 Custer, who had become something of a national idol, was the central 

 figure in the tragic affair, made the story ideal from the standpoint 

 of the journalists. In search of material which could be tied in with 

 the Custer fight, a Washington correspondent learned of the existence 

 of the copy of Sitting Bull's autobiography, then in the Army Medical 

 Museum. Sitting Bull was known to have participated in the battle. 

 Here then was the perfect nucleus for a follow-up story. On July 6, 

 1876, the New York Herald published a highly colored account of 

 the pictographic record, neglecting to note that the autobiography 

 was not the original handiwork of Sitting Bull. The record was cited 

 as proof of Sitting Bull's cruelty, lust for battle and vainglorious 

 boastfulness. This story was a huge journalistic success. It was 

 copied and revamped by newspapers and magazines throughout the 

 United States. Sitting Bull, who heretofore in the public mind had 

 been but one of a group of hostile chiefs resisting the westward ad- 

 vance of the whites, now became Public Enemy Number i and a 

 character of outstanding interest. 



Apparently, an introduction written by Dr. Kimball formerly ac- 

 companied the explanatory index and the Williamson letter of verifi- 

 cation which are now with the pictographic record. 



The news release from Washington of July 6, 1876, as published 

 by the New York Herald says : 



Among the many ghastly souvenirs preserved at the Army Medical Museum 

 of this city is an autobiography of Sitting Bull, gotten up in the highest style 

 of the art of savage picture history, and telling, in fifty-five drawings or 

 sketches, the story of his life down to 1870. Each picture is rudely outlined 

 in ink, the men, horses and other objects being such as children would make. 

 Many of them arc partly filled in with red and blue colors as if Sitting Bull 

 had at some time got possession of f)ne of the red and blue pencils so well 

 known in newspaper offices, and with it elaborated his pictorial efforts. Blood 

 or a wound is indicated by a red blotch with streamers falling down from it. 

 The blue is used generally in indicating the white man's pantaloons. Each 

 picture is made on a sheet of paper eight by ten inches, and is pasted into a 

 book of blank leaves, such as are used for a scrap book. By holding the sheets 

 up to the light it is seen that they are the muster-roll blanks of the 31st United 

 States Infantry, of which Col. de Trobriand was the commandant. The papers 

 probably fell into Sitting Bull's hands at the evacuation of a camp, or, as is 

 more likely, were stolen by him during a visit to some of our outposts. Sitting 

 Bull is not- at all modest in committing to posterity the story of his great deeds. 

 Whether it be the scalping of a soldier in battle or the sly theft of a mule, he 

 brags equally of his prowess in his curious autobiography. This literary work, 

 which is now likely to be famous, fell into the hands of Assistant Surgeon 



