The William F. Cody Archive: Documenting the life and times of Buffalo Bill

Commentary on "Charging Thunder (or Whirling Hawk)"

This one image by Gertrude Käsebier of Whirling Hawk, who has also been later been identified as Charging Thunder through the research with the Library of Congress, is very distinctive in showing the ornaments and the accessories that he's wearing. Specifically he is wearing medallions, many medallions across his chest, that even on close inspection you can't really discern exactly what they are. But he is adorned in a way that most of the sitters from the Wild West show are not. Many of them have cuffs, earrings, pins or bands around the kerchiefs that they're wearing, but none so heavily adorned as Whirling Hawk. Even the feathers that he wears in his hair are not typical of the other images that Käsebier makes, so thinking about the different pins and the different medallions that they brought with them, this is an excellent example that shows some diversity as well.