Black and white studio photograph of Crow Dog (Sunka Kangi) dressed in a white shirt, scarf tied around his neck, and a blanket or cape draped over his shoulders. The photograph was taken at the Rosebud Reservation.
Crow Dog, born 1832 in Montana, was made police chief at the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota due to his leadership ability. In 1881, he killed the head chief, Spotted Tail, because Crow Dog was convinced the chief was corrupt. Although Crow Dog initially received a death sentence for the murder, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could not try one Indian for killing another on a reservation. Later Crow Dog took part in the Ghost Dance Movement but returned to Rosebud again in 1890 and remained there until his death in 1912. The Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation is located nine miles north of Valentine, Nebraska, in South Dakota.
