In this black and white studio photograph, Chief American Horse wears an animal hide shirt. There are strips of fabric wrapped around the ends of his hair. He wears both a presidential peace medal and a bear claw necklace around his neck. The photograph was taken at the Rosebud Reservation.
During the Ghost Dance Uprising of 1890, American Horse tried to diffuse confrontations between Indians and whites. In 1891, he led a delegation of Sioux chiefs to Washington, D.C., to try to bring about better treatment of his people. The Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation is located nine miles north of Valentine, Nebraska, in South Dakota.