Philip White Bird, a Hunkpapa Sioux follower of Sitting Bull in 1876, fought in the Battle of Little Big Horn at Gall. By 1890, however, he was an Indian policeman serving standing rock agent James McLaughlin. In the fierce fighting following the assassination of Sitting Bull, White Bird owed his life to being a metal breast, as the Sioux called the policemen, he narrowly escaped death when a bullet fired by one of Sitting Bull’s Ghost Dancers spanged off his police badge.
“Before I could paint him from life, he carefully combed out his left raid and wrapped it in red blanket cloth. He combed the right side loose and left it flowing.” – David Humphreys Miller, Little Eagle, SD 1940
