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113-809: On the 27th, after the battle, Half Yellow Face made a special horse travois for White Swan and moved him down the Little Horn valley to the Far West steamship, moored at the junction of the Bighorn River and the Little Horn, so he could get medical care from army physicians. White Swan was treated in a temporary Army hospital at the junction of the Bighorn and Yellowstone rivers. At the Crow encampments on Pryor Creek, other returning scouts reported that White Swan had died, but he survived his wounds. Following

226-562: A Chief of Scouts Lt Charles A. Varnum,. However, the Crow scouts knew the Rosebud country much better than the Arikara because this had been traditional Crow country for centuries. As far back as 1805 records indicated that fur trader Francois-Antoine Larocque had camped with a band of Crows in what was later determined to be Little Bighorn River. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 gave the Crows

339-699: A Sioux warrior. Either from this blow or from other sources, White Swan could not hear and thus was unable to speak in his later life. Eventually, he was awarded a small army pension . In White Swan's later life, he lived at the Crow Agency , after it had been moved in 1884 to its present site in the Little Bighorn valley in Montana , close to the site of the battlefield. When he could no longer be an Army scout, White Swan began to produce drawings that represented key events in his life, including events of

452-416: A days-long standoff at Camden Yards . In New York, striking workers began pelting arriving trains with thrown objects, prompting a response from local police. Pennsylvania saw perhaps the worst violence of the railroad strikes; see Pittsburgh railroad strike of 1877 , Reading Railroad massacre and Scranton general strike . In Chicago, Illinois , striking workers brought freight and passenger trains to

565-641: A large reservation running west from the Powder River that including the river drainages of the Tongue, the Rosebud, and the Little Bighorn river valleys. The repeated aggressive westward incursions of Sioux bands beyond the Powder River in the 1850s and 1860s led to another treaty, the later 1868 Crow Treaty of Fort Laramie, which established a new western boundary for the Sioux/Crow reservations at

678-492: A low ridge east of the valley, and then overwhelmed and killed to the last man. This intense engagement lasted about an hour during the afternoon of June 25, 1876, after which the warriors returned to press the attack on Reno's entrenched position on the bluffs. The next day, June 26, the Sioux continued the attack on the beleaguered Reno contingent, where White Swan lay in the section for the wounded. However, Sioux scouts reported

791-430: A pair of tepee poles across the horse's back and attach a burden platform between the poles behind the horse. This served two purposes at once, as the horses could then simultaneously carry the tepee poles and some additional baggage. Horses, of course, could pull much greater weight than dogs. Children often rode in the back of horse travois. When traveling with a travois, it was traditional for Salish people to leave

904-603: A period sometimes referred to as the Long Depression , most European countries experienced a drastic fall in prices. Still, many corporations were able to reduce production costs and achieve better productivity rates with industrial production increasing by 40% in Britain and by over 100% in Germany. A comparison of capital formation rates in both countries helps to account for the different industrial growth rates. During

1017-745: A permanent demand for expansion. The Suez Canal was opened in 1869. 1875–1890 became "the golden years" of Giovanni de Ciotta in Rijeka. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 was one of the causes of the Panic of 1873 because goods from the Far East had been carried in sailing vessels around the Cape of Good Hope and were stored in British warehouses. As sailing vessels were not adaptable for use through

1130-677: A series of economic setbacks: the Black Friday panic of 1869 , the Chicago fire of 1871 , an outbreak of equine influenza and the Boston fire of 1872 , and the demonetization of silver in 1873 . The decision of the German Empire to cease minting silver thaler coins in 1871 caused a drop in demand and downward pressure on the value of silver, which, in turn, affected the US since much of

1243-452: A standstill, leading to an order from judge Thomas Drummond that such actions were illegal. The United States Marshals Service responded by arresting dozens of strikers. In Missouri, strikers also brought rail traffic to a halt, and at least 18 people died in conflicts. In July 1877, the market for lumber crashed, leading several Michigan lumber companies to go bankrupt. Within a year, the effects of this second business slump reached all

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1356-465: A talented artist. White Swan would have needed income after he had ceased to be an army scout and living at Crow Agency, just a few miles from the site of the famous battle, he found a ready market for this art. The famous battlefield drew visitors, and to a lesser extent so did the Crow Agency. These visitors included military men, government employees and other persons interested in the history of

1469-481: A tepee which had drawings around the lower portion that depicted the Custer battle. A picture of the tepee is at the footnoted citation. In his later life, White Swan was photographed by Frank Rinehart, and by William A. Petzolt. See photos provided above. White Swan's tomahawk and his drawings remain today as a legacy of his time. White Swan's art is now drawing increasing attention from collectors, and they have been

1582-458: Is also referred as "Strikes Enemy" and "White Goose" or Mee-nah-te-hash in the Crow language. From 1870, the Crows had complained about hostile Lakotas encroaching from the east on Crow Indian reservation lands. The Crows requested that the U.S. Army take actions against these Sioux trespassers. From the point of view of the Crow Tribe, in 1876 finally something was going to be done. However

1695-476: Is an A-frame structure that was used to drag loads over land, most notably by the Plains Indians of North America. The basic construction consists of a platform or netting mounted on two long poles, lashed in the shape of an A-frame ; the frame was dragged with the sharply pointed end forward. Sometimes the blunt end of the frame was stabilized by a third pole bound across the two poles. The travois

1808-648: Is tiring for dogs. The dog travois can be seen in the paintings of Karl Bodmer . By the mid-18th century, the dog travois had given way to the horse travois. According to The Canadian Encyclopedia , "When dogs were replaced by horses, the greater pulling power allowed tipis to increase in size and household goods to multiply." The Native Languages of the Americas website relates that: After horses were introduced to North America, many Plains Indian tribes began to make larger horse-drawn travois. Instead of making specially constructed travois sleds, they would simply cross

1921-572: Is unlikely his wounds were healed by this time. He continued a recovery from his wounds, but suffered disabilities from them for the rest of his life. Although disabled, White Swan managed to remain an Army scout for much of the remaining five years (1876-1881) following the Battle of the Little Bighorn. When the Crow Reservation was further limited in size, the Agency was moved in 1884 from

2034-585: The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut workers' pay for the third time in a year. West Virginia Governor Henry M. Mathews sent the militia, under Colonel Charles J. Faulkner , to restore order but was unsuccessful, largely because the militia sympathized with the workers. The governor called on US President Rutherford B. Hayes for federal assistance, and Hayes dispatched federal troops. That restored peace to Martinsburg but proved controversial, with many newspapers critical of Mathews' characterization of

2147-472: The Bank Charter Act of 1844 would be suspended as they had been in the crises of 1847, 1857, and 1866. The ensuing economic downturn in Britain seems to have been muted – "stagnant" but without a "decline in aggregate output". However, there was heavy unemployment in the basic industries of coal, iron and steel, engineering, and shipbuilding, especially in 1873, 1886, and 1893. From 1873 to 1896,

2260-614: The Grant administration to develop a coherent policy on the Southern states, and the North began to steer away from Reconstruction . With the depression, ambitious railroad building programs crashed across the South, leaving most states deep in debt and burdened with heavy taxes. Retrenchment was a common response of the South to state debts during the depression. One by one, each state fell to

2373-586: The Great Sioux War of 1876 that engulfed the life of White Swan, started because the U.S. Government also had its own larger agenda. Gold had been found in 1873 in the Black Hills on reservation lands granted the Sioux tribe by the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) . The gold strike had been made public in 1874 and by 1875 a full scale gold rush was underway. Motivated by growing unemployment caused by

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2486-481: The Latin Monetary Union in 1873 to suspend the conversion of silver to coins. The American Civil War (1861–1865) was followed by a boom in railroad construction. 33,000 miles (53,000 km) of new track were laid across the country between 1868 and 1873, with much of the craze in railroad investment being driven by government land grants and subsidies to the railroads. The railroad industry

2599-694: The Panic of 1873 ever-increasing numbers of gold seekers poured the Black Hills, establishing mining centers and boom towns. Being on the Sioux Reservation, these towns and mines were completely outside the usual framework of laws and jurisdictions for U.S. Territories, which generated chaotic conditions resulting in, among other things, no reliable base of organized law enforcement owing to the absence of federal law jurisdiction, as well as no federal marshals, courts or judges. Another important factor

2712-485: The Vienna Stock Exchange crashed since it was unable to sustain the bubble of false expansion, insolvencies, and dishonest manipulations. A series of Viennese bank failures ensued, causing a contraction of the money available for business lending. One of the more famous private individuals who went bankrupt in 1873 was Stephan Keglevich of Vienna, a relative of Gábor Keglevich, who had been the master of

2825-877: The demonetization of silver in Germany and the United States, ripples from economic dislocation in Europe resulting from the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), and major property losses in the Great Chicago Fire (1871) and the Great Boston Fire (1872) helped to place massive strain on bank reserves , which, in New York City , plummeted from $ 50 million to $ 17 million between September and October 1873. The first symptoms of

2938-837: The "off reservation" Sioux from crossing north of the Yellowstone River. In furtherance of this mission, on April 9, 1876, Col. John Gibbon went with Lt. James Bradley to the Crow Indian Agency, which was then located on the Stillwater River Drainage in Montana, to recruit Indian scouts. In an embarrassing two-hour council the chiefs of the Mountain Crows expressed their reluctance to help the expedition. They pointed out that Indian warriors traveled light and fast and struck quickly, whereas

3051-591: The 107 Meridian, which ran north-south and generally separated the Rosebud drainage on the east from the Little Bighorn (aka Greasy Grass) drainage on the west. This boundary area was a sort of no-man's land with both Sioux and Crows hunting on it, and warriors from both tribes crossing it to raid and steal horses from each other. The six Crow scouts joined Custer on June 21. "They are magnificent-looking men, so much handsomer and more Indian-like than any we have ever seen, and so jolly and sportive ... " wrote Custer to his wife, Elizabeth B. Custer . He also pointed out why it

3164-482: The 1870s, embracing many economic interventionist policies, including high tariffs, nationalization of railroads, and compulsory social insurance. The political and economic nationalism also reduced the fortunes of the German and Canadian classical liberal parties. France, like Britain, also entered into a prolonged stagnation that extended to 1897. The French also attempted to deal with their economic problems by

3277-593: The 7th Infantry to go with the 7th Cavalry, along with five other Crow Scouts who were Half Yellow Face (leader of the Crow Scouts), White Man Runs Him, Goes Ahead, Hairy Moccasin, and Curley. The 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer was ordered by General Terry to follow the trail of the large encampment of "off-reservation" Sioux who lived nomadic lives off the Great Sioux Reservation in present South Dakota. This group

3390-415: The Battle of the Little Bighorn, White Swan continued for five years (1876 to 1881) to serve as a scout with the U.S. Army, though he was disabled from wounds received in the battle, including a severely deformed right wrist and hand, and a wound in his foot/leg which caused him to limp. In photographs, White Swan also had a scar on his forehead where he had been struck with a war club in a separate battle with

3503-475: The Battle of the Little Bighorn. These drawings were bought by visitors to the Crow Agency and the nearby Custer Battlefield, providing White Swan with a welcome source of income. These drawings have now been discovered by collectors and their artistic value has been recognized. They have recently become the subject of collectors, exhibitions, books and university theses, and prints of his drawings are now commercially produced. While living at Crow Agency, White Swan

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3616-550: The Black Hills back to federal control. These bands lived year round in their traditional migratory way on the huge hunting preserve in the “unceded Indian Territory” in Wyoming, Nebraska and South Dakota given the Sioux by Article XVI of the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) which included the vast area extending westward from the Black Hills across the entire Powder River Basin to the crest of the Big Horn Mountains. In

3729-455: The Crow culture. White Swan was known for his artistic abilities. While living at the Crow Agency in the Little Bighorn valley, he made drawings to illustrate key events in his life, including his role in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. At least fifteen drawings have been attributed to White Swan, and others remain to be discovered. Though not signed, his drawings can be identified by the many scenes they share, and by similarities in style with

3842-532: The Democrats in the South, and the Republicans lost power. The end of the crisis coincided with the beginning of the great wave of immigration to the United States , which lasted until the early 1920s. After the 1873 depression, agricultural and industrial groups lobbied for protective tariffs . Conservative politicians such as Otto von Bismarck shifted from classical liberal economic policies in

3955-543: The Little Big Horn , before the battle started he watched the Lakota camp through a handheld telescope with his warhorse standing close by - this recollection would later become a favorite scene of the artist White Swan to illustrate his role in the battle. Over the years since White Swan died, his artistic abilities have been recognized and his drawings have been collected. White Swan has emerged in Crow history as

4068-491: The Little Bighorn on June 25. When Custer struck the trail of the "off-reservation" Sioux, the scouts' count of 400 to 450 lodges in the encampment confirmed army sources of an "off-reservation" nomadic group of about 800 warriors. This compared favorably to Custer's force of about 600 troopers. However this initial assessment on June 21 was made on encampments dating back to May 21, when the Sioux/Cheyenne crossed from

4181-561: The Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the " Long Depression " that weakened the country's economic leadership. In the United States , the Panic was known as the "Great Depression" until the events of 1929 and the early 1930s set a new standard. The Panic of 1873 and the subsequent depression had several underlying causes for which economic historians debate the relative importance. American inflation , rampant speculative investments (overwhelmingly in railroads ),

4294-640: The Suez Canal (because the prevailing winds of the Mediterranean Sea blow from west to east), the British entrepôt trade suffered. When the crisis came, the Bank of England raised interest rates to 9 percent. Despite this, Britain did not experience the scale of financial mayhem seen in America and Central Europe, perhaps forestalled by an expectation that the liquidity-constraining provisions of

4407-631: The Tongue River to the Rosebud Valley. As the scouts followed this trail up the Rosebud, past Lame Deer Creek and then on to the divide with the Little Horn Valley, they found the older trail increasingly joined and overlaid by many newer trails. These newer trails were left by many other bands of Sioux/Cheyenne coming from the reservations to join the original "off-reservation" Sioux for their yearly summer gathering. Although it

4520-545: The U.S. repurchasing the Black Hills back from the tribe. However in Article XII of that treaty any modification of treaty lands required the agreement of 3/4 of the tribe's adult males, and there were large bands of "off-reservation" Sioux (including influential leaders Sitting Bull , Crazy Horse , Crow King , Rain in the Face , Gall and many others) who did not reside on the reservations and who also did not want to cede

4633-461: The United States and several European colonies caused the panic of 1873 and thus a decline in the value of silver relative to gold, devaluing India's standard currency. This event was known as " the fall of the rupee ". In the Cape Colony , the panic caused bankruptcies, rising unemployment, a pause in public works, and a major trade slump that lasted until the discovery of gold in 1886. In

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4746-530: The Vienna Stock Exchange crash. In Berlin, the railway empire of Bethel Henry Strousberg crashed after a ruinous settlement with the government of Romania , bursting the speculation bubble in Germany. The contraction of the German economy was exacerbated by the conclusion of war reparations payments to Germany by France in September 1873. Two years after the foundation of the German Empire,

4859-575: The accumulation of capital not only in Germany but also in England, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Russia. Recovery from the crash occurred much more quickly in Europe than in the United States. Moreover, German businesses managed to avoid the sort of deep wage cuts that embittered American labor relations. There was an anti-Semitic component to the economic recovery in Germany and Austria, as small investors blamed Jews for their losses in

4972-509: The approach from the north of the large army column under Generals Terry and Gibbon. In the late afternoon and evening, the Sioux and Cheyenne ended their siege of Reno and Benteen and hastily broke camp and withdrew south, up the Little Bighorn Valley. The next day, June 27, 1876, Half Yellow Face made a horse travois designed to carry the wounded White Swan in a sitting position, and used this to carry him about 12 miles from

5085-407: The artist, J.H. Sharp knew White Swan as the brother of Curley. In 1894 White Swan was crippled and unable to hear or speak. In 1897 he applied for and received a pension of $ 17.00 a month for his military services. The 1900 census lists White Swan as "widowed" and the only member of his household. White Swan's only other relative was Sage Woman, a half sister on his father's side, which meant she

5198-410: The back. The basic dog travois consists of two aspen or cottonwood poles notched and lashed together at one end with buffalo sinew; the other ends rest splayed apart. Cross-bars are lashed between the poles near the splayed ends, and the finished frame looks like a large letter A with extra cross-bars. The apex of the A, wrapped in buffalo skin to prevent friction burns, rests on a dog's shoulders, while

5311-494: The battle site to the steamer Far West on the Bighorn River so White Swan could get more medical care. White Swan was carried on the Far West about 40 to 50 river miles down the Bighorn to the Yellowstone, where he was left in a temporary hospital facility with some of the less seriously wounded soldiers. Almost immediately after the battle, the three scouts White Man Runs Him , Goes Ahead and Hairy Moccasin left for

5424-460: The course of this move, the Crow scouts skirmished with Sioux scouts. Meanwhile, General Alfred Terry 's column was marching east from Fort Lincoln, in the Dakota territory, and Terry rendezvoused with Col. Gibbon's column opposite the mouth of Rosebud Creek on June 21, 1876. General Terry's command included the 7th Cavalry under General George A. Custer . On June 21, White Swan was detached from

5537-637: The crash. The Neuer Social-Demokrat newspaper of the ADAV published several articles blaming Gerson von Bleichröder for the stock market crash. An October 29 article called Bleichröder "Bismarck's Jew". Soon, more luxury hotels and villas were built in Opatija , and a new railway line was extended in 1873 from the Vienna– Trieste line to Rijeka (Fiume), making it possible to go by tram from there to Opatija. The strong increase of port traffic generated

5650-597: The crisis were financial failures in Vienna , the capital of Austria-Hungary , which spread to most of Europe and to North America by 1873. The panic and depression hit all of the industrial nations. A similar process of overexpansion took place in Germany and Austria-Hungary, where the period from German unification in 1870 and 1871 to the crash in 1873 came to be called the Gründerjahre ("Founders' Years"). A liberalized incorporation law in Germany gave impetus to

5763-463: The depression, the British ratio of net national capital formation to net national product fell from 11.5% to 6.0%, but the German ratio rose from 10.6% to 15.9%. During the depression, Britain took the course of static supply adjustment, but Germany stimulated effective demand and expanded industrial supply capacity by increasing and adjusting capital formation. For example, Germany dramatically increased investment of social overhead capital , such as in

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5876-404: The detachment under Major Reno. The Indian scouts were told to stampede the horse herd on the western margins of the camp. Reno's detachment charged the south end of the village as ordered, but as warriors poured out to defend the village Reno ordered the troops to dismount and form a skirmish line. This outpouring of Sioux warriors frustrated the plan of the scouts to stampede the horse herd, and

5989-495: The deteriorating financial conditions created solvency problems for life insurers. The common factor of the surviving companies was that all marketed tontines . The failure of Jay Cooke's bank and soon afterward of Henry Clews ' set off a chain reaction of bank failures and temporarily closed the New York Stock Exchange . Factories began to lay off workers as the country slipped into depression. The effects of

6102-573: The dollar. The railroad industry in the United States had seen major growth in the decades before 1873, driven in part by strong European interest in bonds issued by railroad companies. The failure of Jay Cooke & Co., heavily invested in railroad bonds, triggered a crisis in the railroad industry. In 1877, steep wage cuts led American railroad workers to launch the series of protests and riots later dubbed Great Railroad Strike . Initial protests broke out in Martinsburg, West Virginia , after

6215-410: The domestic money supply , raising interest rates and hurting farmers and others who normally carried heavy debt loads. The resulting outcry raised serious questions about how long the new policy would last. The perception of US instability in its monetary policy caused investors to shy away from long-term obligations, particularly long-term bonds . The problem was compounded by the railroad boom, which

6328-571: The essence of the Indian warrior tradition based on heroic acts. In addition to his drawings, White Swan's craftsmanship is shown in his personal items, and particularly his tomahawk, pictured (a) in the photo above (which may be enlarged) and (b) further shown and described at this footnoted web source. A tomahawk in the Northern Plains warrior culture could evolve from being a weapon to an item carried primarily to count coup, which transformed

6441-434: The events of that year were in themselves comparatively unimportant. Buda , the old capital of Hungary, and Óbuda were officially united with Pest , thus creating the new metropolis of Budapest in 1873. The difference in stability between Vienna and Berlin had the effect that the French indemnity to Germany flowed into Austria and Russia, but the indemnity payments aggravated the crisis in Austria, which had benefited by

6554-446: The fall 1875, the U.S. Government gave up on fair or equitable methods and sent out messengers to each band with an impossible ultimatum — to leave their winter camps in the hunting preserve and immediately return to their agencies in the Dakota Territories by January 31, 1876. When this predictably did not occur, as deep winter restricted travel of migratory bands, in February 1876 the Government directed army columns to converge from

6667-444: The famous battle, or simply interested in the Crow culture. Though White Swan could not serve as a guide or interpreter for visitors of the battle field as the other scouts did, owing to his speech impediment, his art allowed him to provide something unique to visitors who wanted to return home with an illustration that genuinely represented their encounter with Indians of the West. White Swan's art showing his war deeds ideally captured

6780-410: The few for which his authorship is definitely known. In addition to his separate drawings, sources indicate that White Swan, though disabled, created drawings and paintings on pages from accounting ledgers to depict his role in the famous battle. White Swan also drew and painted on larger sheets of muslin canvas, showing multiple deeds from his life. In White Swan's later recollection of the Battle of

6893-409: The firing lines. After Reno's men fled across the river, the now thoroughly aroused and mobilized Sioux and Cheyenne drew back, and then launched a fresh attack to the north on Custer's separate detachment of five companies (about 210 men) who were now firing into the north end of the village. At this point the Sioux outnumbered Custer's men by about 8 to 1. Custer's detachment was first driven back to

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7006-469: The foundation of new enterprises, such as Deutsche Bank , and the incorporation of established ones. Euphoria over the military victory against France in 1871 and the influx of capital from the payment by France of war reparations fueled stock market speculation in railways, factories, docks, steamships; the same industrial branches that expanded unsustainably in the United States. In the immediate aftermath of his victory against France , Bismarck began

7119-484: The historic stone house (the original superintendent's headquarters). According to the National Park Service , this facility contains the finest collection of research materials available on the battle of the Little Bighorn , as well as other related historical events. Visits to the library and to the park historian are by appointment. Travois A travois ( / ˈ t r æ v w ɑː / ; Canadian French , from French travail ; also travoise or travoy )

7232-438: The hospital so that he could continue to get medical treatment and recover. White Swan was sufficiently badly wounded that his recovery was delayed. When he finally returned to his relatives and friends at the Crow village, they said it was like having the dead return. Records show that White Swan was discharged from Army scout duty in September 1876, but reenlisted in the Army for scouting activities in November 1877, through it

7345-414: The item into one possessing spiritual significance. Adornments to White Swan's tomahawk (see item pictured in footnoted source, or in the photo above), probably indicated brave war deeds, and/or instructions of critical spiritual import, received through visions or through the intervention of a spiritual leader/mentor (a "medicine man"). When living at Crow Agency on the Little Bighorn river, White Swan had

7458-473: The large encampment would break up into many smaller bands which would scatter in all directions, thus escaping and avoiding the decisive engagement the army hoped for. Custer accordingly made plans for an immediate attack, and as he proceeded down Reno Creek toward the Little Bighorn Valley, he created four separate detachments, intended to prevent the encampment from scattering, and to strike the village from different directions. Reno with three troops would attack

7571-564: The limelight that later fell on the other surviving Crow scouts, his outstanding bravery during the battle and his artistic ability established an enduring legacy. White Swan was born in approximately 1851 though some sources state his birth date was in 1850 or 1852. He had been raised in the traditional manner of his tribe, and would have acquired warrior status in his early teens through deeds of bravery. White Swan married, but his wife died in 1873, before his enlistment as an army scout. He never remarried. In historical references White Swan

7684-497: The main Crow encampment which was "two sleeps" away on the mouth of Pryor Creek, and Gibbon's other Crow scouts went with them. At the village they reported that both White Swan and Half Yellow Face had been killed. Curly and Half Yellow Face had not gone with the other scouts to the Crow Village, and had returned with Gibbon to the mouth of the Big Horn where White Swan was in the temporary army hospital. On July 4, Col. Gibbon gave Curly and Half Yellow Face leave, but kept White Swan in

7797-427: The management of electric power transmission lines, roads, and railroads, thereby stimulating industrial demand in that country, but similar investment stagnated or decreased in Britain. The resulting difference in capital formation accounts for the divergent levels of industrial production in the two countries and the different growth rates during and after the depression. The discovery of large quantities of silver in

7910-498: The money supply and thus raising interest rates made matters worse for those in debt. Businesses were expanding, but the money they needed to finance that growth was becoming scarcer. Cooke and other entrepreneurs had planned to build the second transcontinental railroad, the Northern Pacific Railway. Cooke's firm provided the financing, and ground for the line was broken near Duluth, Minnesota , on 15 February 1870. The railroad had borrowed more than $ 1.5 million from Cooke & Co, but

8023-406: The nation's railroads had failed, and another 60 had gone bankrupt by the first anniversary of the crisis. Construction of new rail lines, formerly one of the backbones of the economy, plummeted from 7,500 miles (12,100 km) of track in 1872 to just 1,600 miles (2,600 km) in 1875, and 18,000 businesses failed between 1873 and 1875. Unemployment peaked in 1878 at 8.25%. Building construction

8136-590: The north end of the village, after which Yellow Face led the horse across the river and up the bluffs to the location where the Reno detachment was digging in, and where they were later reinforced by the other detachments under Captain Benteen and Lieutenant McDougall. This action by Half Yellow Face probably saved White Swan's life. Troopers with Reno later recounted how White Swan, though wounded, wanted to continue fighting, and disabled though he was, tried to crawl back to

8249-453: The north side of the Yellowstone, arriving opposite mouth of the Bighorn River on April 20. Gibbon then moved eastward again along the north bank of the Yellowstone to a camp opposite the mouth Rosebud Creek . The Crow Scouts ranged across (south) south of the Yellowstone, and located the main Sioux village in the process of moving from Tongue River valley to the Rosebud valley in May 1876. In

8362-445: The painting. Reno's scout in Custer battle, wounded many times, picked up in battlefield two days later -- deaf and dumb from stroke of war club in forehead. A good artist in Indian picture-writing. Jolly, good natured and a general favorite. A full brother, and direct opposite in character of 'Curley', Custer's scout." Although White Swan was quite limited in speech, probably owing to his deafness, he could still communicate by using

8475-596: The panic came and became known as the Gründerkrach or "Founders' Crash". In 1865, Keglevich and Strousberg had come into direct competition in a project in what is now Slovakia. In 1870 the Hungarian government, and in 1872 the Emperor-King Franz Joseph of Austria , resolved the question of the competing projects. Although the collapse of the foreign loan financing had been predicted,

8588-604: The panic were quickly felt in New York (where 25% of workers became unemployed) and more slowly in Chicago, Virginia City, Nevada (where silver mining was active), and San Francisco. In New Hampshire, state coffers were so depleted by lost tax revenue the state government turned to private interests including tea and gunpowder manufacturer D. Ralph Lolbert for financial support. The New York Stock Exchange closed for ten days starting on 20 September. By November 1873, some 55 of

8701-604: The periphery, the Ottoman Empire 's economy also suffered. Rates of growth of foreign trade dropped, external terms of trade deteriorated, declining wheat prices affected peasant producers, and the establishment of European control over Ottoman finances led to large debt payments abroad. The growth rates of agricultural and aggregate production were also lower during the Long Depression than the later period. The general demonetization and cheapening of silver caused

8814-466: The process of silver demonetization. The process began on 23 November 1871 and culminated in the introduction of the gold mark on 9 July 1873 as the currency for the newly united Reich, replacing the silver coins of all constituent lands. Germany was now on the gold standard . Demonetization of silver was thus a common element in the crises on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean . On 9 May 1873,

8927-590: The public into silver coins , but it would still mint silver dollars for export in the form of trade dollars . The Act had the immediate effect of depressing silver prices, hurting Western mining interests, who labeled the Act "The Crime of '73", but its effect was offset somewhat by the introduction of a silver trade dollar for use in Asia and the discovery of new silver deposits at Virginia City, Nevada , that resulted in new investment in mining activity. The Act also reduced

9040-542: The right side, showing injured wrist). He also limped from the bullet wound in his leg and/or foot. He was deaf and dumb, reportedly from a blow to his forehead by a war club in a battle with a Sioux warrior, probably at a time different than the Little Bighorn Battle. J.H. Sharp, the noted western painter, came to know White Swan while he was living at Crow Agency, Montana and painting the Crow people. Sharp painted White Swan. He made this note to accompany

9153-406: The royal treasury (1842–1848) and in 1845 had cofounded a financial association to fund the expansion of Hungarian industry and to protect the loan repayments, similar to the 1870 Kreditschutzverband , an Austrian association for the protection of creditors and the interests of its members in cases of bankruptcy. That made it possible for a number of new Austrian banks to be established in 1873 after

9266-403: The scouts, including White Swan and Half Yellow Face began to fight alongside the cavalrymen. They were soon engaged in furious combat with swiftly increasing numbers of Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. At one time, White Swan was faced by six warriors. As more warriors swarmed out of the village, Reno's detachment pulled back into a patch of nearby timber along the river. After taking more losses in

9379-470: The sign language of the Plains Indians. Statements from White Swan's army pension file indicate that his wife had died in 1873, before he enlisted as an Army scout, and he never remarried. The 1885 Census recorded him as living with a widowed aunt named "Strikes By The Side Of The Water". This aunt was the mother of Curley , another Crow Scout, which would make White Swan and Curley cousins, though

9492-522: The site of present-day Absorakee, Montana on the Stillwater River to its present location at present-day Crow Agency in the Little Bighorn Valley, very close to the site of the battle. White Swan also moved to the new agency site. White Swan continued to be limited by his battle wounds. White Swan had lost the lower half of his right hand, and he had a right wrist that was permanently deformed to bend sharply inward. (See photo above taken from

9605-520: The soldiers marched slowly with wagons and thus never found the enemy. Fortunately for Gibbon, the young Crow braves did not follow the elders' advice, and sought adventure. On April 10, 1876 some twenty five Crows were enlisted for six months in the 7th Infantry by Lt. James Bradley, chief of scouts, including White Swan and Half Yellow Face. On April 13, 1876, the Crow Scouts went with Gibbon's 7th Infantry force of 477 persons, as they marched down

9718-441: The south end of the village. Custer with five troops would attack the north end of the village, and Benteen with three troops would scout briefly to the south and then join the battle to assist the other detachments; Lt. McDougall's remaining troop would act as rear guard protecting the pack train. As the Battle of the Little Bighorn unfolded, White Swan and the chief Crow Scout Half Yellow Face, along with Arikara scouts accompanied

9831-409: The south, east and west on these "off-reservation" Sioux bands in their remote encampments, with orders to bring them back to their agencies, by force if necessary. One such military column commanded by Col. John Gibbon was instructed to proceed from Ft. Ellis, near present day Bozeman, Montana and march eastward, down the Yellowstone River and take up a position in southern Montana Territory to block

9944-410: The splayed ends drag over the ground ... First Nations women both built the travois and managed the dogs, sometimes using toy travois to train the puppies. Buffalo meat and firewood were typical travois loads. According to The Canadian Encyclopedia , "The dog travois of pre-European times was small, capable of pulling not more than 20 to 30 kg." Travel by dog travois was slower in hot weather, which

10057-516: The strikes as an "insurrection", rather than an act of desperation and frustration. One notable paper recorded a striking worker's perspective that he "had might as well die by the bullet as to starve to death by inches". Within a week, similar protests had erupted in other cities. In Baltimore, Maryland where strikers set fire to buildings owned by B.& O. Railroads and an outnumbered militia guard division opened fire when they were surrounded by rioters, killing 10 and injuring 25 more leading to

10170-599: The subject of exhibits, and the subject of University thesis. and collections. Some of White Swan's works were collected as part of the Paul Dyck collection of Plains Indians art and artifacts, and are now part of the collection at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming. White Swan died on August 12, 1904, at the age of 53 or 54. Having never remarried after the death of his wife when he

10283-523: The supply of silver was mined there . As a result, the US Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1873 , which changed the national silver policy. Before the Act, the US had backed its currency with both gold and silver and minted both types of coins. The Act moved the United States to a de facto gold standard , which meant it would no longer buy silver at a statutory price or convert silver from

10396-401: The timber, Reno ordered a retreat out of the timber and across the river and up onto the bluffs on the east side of the valley. By the time Reno had ordered the retreat across the river, White Swan had suffered severe bullet wounds in the right hand or wrist and in the foot, knee or leg (reports differ), and also could not hear, either from being hit on the head with a war club or because a rifle

10509-485: The tipi poles behind at the camp "for use by the next tribe or family to camp there." A horse travois can be made with either A-frame or H-frame construction. The travois served the Native Americans in a number of ingenious ways. Before the use of horses, Blackfoot women made a curved fence of dog travois’ tied together, front end up, to hold driven animals enclosed until the hunters could kill them. When

10622-836: The trail, causing deep, parallel tracks to mark the earth," which are still visible today. Remains of travois tracks can also be seen at the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site . There is archeological evidence to support the thesis that travois were used in other parts of the world before the invention of the wheel . Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain . In Britain,

10735-520: The type of territory where the travois was used (forest floors, soft soil, snow, etc.), rather than roadways, wheels would have encountered difficulties which would have made them less efficient. As such the travois was employed by coureurs des bois in New France 's fur trade with the Plains Tribes. It is possible for a person to transport more weight on a travois than can be carried on

10848-664: The way to California. The depression ended in the spring of 1879, but tension between workers and the leaders of banking and manufacturing interests lingered on. Poor economic conditions also caused voters to turn against the Republican Party . In the 1874 congressional elections , the Democratic Party assumed control of the House for the first time since the Civil War. Public opinion made it difficult for

10961-451: The western margins of the Little Bighorn Valley, some 15 air miles away. These large horse herds indicated an unexpectedly large Sioux/Cheyenne encampment. The encampment itself was out of sight on the valley floor. The Crow scouts questioned the wisdom of attacking such a large encampment. However, Custer was focused on his concern that his force had been detected that morning by Sioux scouts, and he feared that if he did not attack at once,

11074-520: The women put up a tipi, they placed an upright horse travois against a tipi pole and used it as a ladder so they could attach the two upper sides of the lodge cover with wooden pins. A travois leaned against a branch of a tree functioned as a simple burial scaffold for a dead Crow baby tied to it. What today is known as the Lewis and Clark Trail-Travois Road , and Montana's Lewis and Clark Pass were areas heavily traveled where travois "were dragged over

11187-595: Was 23, White Swan left no direct descendants to carry on his name or his legacy. White Swan was buried at the Little Bighorn National Cemetery in the section set apart for veterans. See the photos which indicate his grave marker and his grave site. The White Swan Memorial Library at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument also houses the office of the park historian, and is located in

11300-571: Was also the mother of Curly , another Crow scout, and he and Curly were known in the Crow Agency community as brothers, though their personalities were said to be the opposite of each other. He died in 1904, leaving no direct descendants. He is buried in the National Cemetery at the Little Bighorn Battlefield at a location described below. Although his early death and his inability to hear and speak left him out of

11413-504: Was dragged by hand, sometimes fitted with a shoulder harness for more efficient dragging, or dragged by dogs or horses (after the 16th-century introduction of horses by the Spanish). A travois could either be loaded by piling goods atop the bare frame and tying them in place, or by first stretching cloth or leather over the frame to hold the load to be dragged. Although considered more primitive than wheel -based forms of transport, on

11526-435: Was fired close to his ear (reports differ). The soldiers' retreat from the timber disintegrated into a rout, and the Sioux closed in on the now disorganized mass of retreating troopers, killing the stragglers and the disabled. Back in the timber, Half Yellow Face got the wounded White Swan on a horse and shielded by the timber, waited until the mass of Sioux warriors had turned their attention to Custer's column, now approaching

11639-472: Was following. Custer tended to disregard the Crow scouts' intelligence that more and more Indians were gathering together. On the early morning of June 25, 1876, White Swan and other Crow Scouts ascended a high point on the divide between the Little Bighorn River and Rosebud Creek. From this lookout point (which later became known as the "Crow's Nest") the scouts saw very large horse herds on

11752-459: Was from another Crow tribal clan than White Swan, since clan relations are passed down through mothers. These facts indicate that White Swan lived in a more isolated fashion than he would have otherwise done, had he had a larger base of Crow relatives, either by blood or by clan. He died leaving no direct descendants and there were no indication of adoptive children, further indicating a limited group of close Crow relatives, by blood or clan, unusual in

11865-594: Was halted, wages were cut, real estate values fell, and corporate profits vanished. In 1874, Congress passed "the Ferry Bill" to allow for the printing of currency, increasing inflation and reducing the value of debts. The bill was vetoed by President Grant. The following year, Congress passed the Specie Resumption Act of 1875 , which would back United States currency with gold. Backing American currency with gold helped curb inflation and stabilize

11978-410: Was important to get them connected to the U.S. Army, "I now have some Crow scouts with me, as they are familiar with the country." Charles A. Varnum spelled it out in his reminiscences, "These Crows were in their own country." Since this was their ancestral homeland, the Crow scouts were relied on to undertake important scouting assignments for Custer in the days after June 21 leading up to the Battle of

12091-528: Was incapable of paying it back. An expanding funding gap became harder to resolve due to the Credit Mobilier scandal . Due to the financial crises in Europe, Cooke could not sell the securities abroad. Just as Cooke was about to swing a $ 300 million government loan in September 1873, reports circulated that his firm's credit had become nearly worthless. On 18 September, the firm declared bankruptcy. Many US insurance companies went out of business, as

12204-589: Was making an annual westward spring migration from their camp on the Powder River valley to the Tongue and then to the Rosebud Valley, and on to the Little Bighorn. Custer was ordered to locate the encampment of these "off-reservation" Sioux on the Rosebud Creek, or in the adjacent Little Bighorn Valley, around 20 miles (30 km) inside the eastern border of the Crow Indian reservation. The six Crow Scouts shared duties with 26 Arikara (Ree) Scouts, under

12317-399: Was not appreciated at the time, these late arriving bands of Sioux/Cheyenne swelled the encampment from 400 to about 960 lodges, able to field close to 2000 warriors. Custer's prior experience in pursuing other Indian bands indicated that an Indian group would scatter if they knew they were being pursued. Custer used the Crows to check these trails to rule out a dispersal of the encampment he

12430-419: Was painted by the artist J.H. Sharp , who knew him and described him as "Jolly, good natured and a general favorite." White Swan was also photographed by Frank Rinehart, and by William A. Petzolt, producing photos included in this article. White Swan's wife had died when he was only 23 before he became an army scout, and he did not remarry. He lived for a time with an aunt, "Strikes By The Side Of The Water" who

12543-425: Was the economic impact of the panic of 1873 which had left workers unemployed and the dollar devalued by a return to a de facto gold standard, augmenting a national priority for continued and increasing production from gold mines in the Black Hills. The U.S. Government had tried unsuccessfully in 1875 to bring the Sioux living on the reservations to a conference to consider modifying the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty by

12656-418: Was the largest employer outside agriculture in the US and involved large amounts of money and risk. A large infusion of cash from speculators caused spectacular growth in the industry and in the construction of docks, factories, and ancillary facilities. Most capital was involved in projects offering no immediate or early returns. A period of economic overexpansion arose from the northern railroad boom before

12769-631: Was then in its later stages. In September 1873, the US economy entered a crisis. In September 1873, Jay Cooke & Company , a major component of the country's banking establishment, found itself unable to market several million dollars in Northern Pacific Railway bonds. Jay Cooke 's firm, like many others, had invested heavily in the railroads. Some investment banks were then anxious for more capital for their enterprises, US President Ulysses S. Grant 's monetary policy of contracting

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