Photographs
Cabinet Card Photo by George E. Spence of "Curley Crow Scout" Who Witnessed and Survived Custer's Massacre
c. 1880 Cabinet Card Photograph, waist-up and officially ID'd in printed text within the actual negative as "Curley Crow Scout" who witnessed the Custer Massacre, a.k.a. "Custer's Last Stand" and survived, by the noted photographer "Geo. E. Spence" likely at his Fort Sheridan Studio, Very Fine.
Important orignal image of Indian Scout "Curley" photographed waste-up profile dressed in his buckskin and ornately hand-decorated native attire. Curley was a U.S. Army Indian Scout for the 7th Cavalry under Genral George Armstrong Custer on April 10, 1876. He was later chosen to scout for the Seventh Cavalry during the Little Bighorn expedition in 1876. There is some minor soiling along right edge and surface paper thin loss on the mount bottom lower right well below the image, yet overall this is a very handsome image with nice contrast and detail. Curley, is the English name for "Ashishishe" a Native American of the Crow tribe. Ashishishe, a.k.a. Curley, was born in about 1856 in Montana, the son of Strong Bear and Strikes By the Side of the Water. Curley resided on the Crow Reservation in the vicinity of Pryor Creek and married Bird Woman. He enlisted in the U.S. Army as an Indian Scout on April 10, 1876 and was later chosen to scout for the Seventh Cavalry during the Little Bighorn expedition in 1876, along with fellow Crow warriors White Man Runs Him, Goes Ahead, Hairy Moccasin and others. He witnessed parts of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and his translated account later appeared in several newspapers, as he was thought to be the only surviving witness from the United States Army side of Custer's Last Stand.