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

 

MOVING PICTURES RECORD DRAMA OF SIOUX WAR FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS

FAMOUS Indian fighters, many of whom took part in the actual conflict, re-enacting the scenes of danger through which they went in the old frontier days. The conflict was "fought over again" on the same territory that saw the original conflict. Several tribes of Indians and 4,000 soldiers took part.

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"Buffalo Bill's" famous duel with "Yellow Hand."

COPYRIGHT Made by the COL W F CODY HISTORICAL PICTURES CO.

Fifteen United States army officers, ranging in rank from captain to general, sat quietly in a darkened room in the First National Bank Building yesterday and saw themselves fighting Indians. With entire comfort they say [sic] themselves enduring the hardships of forced marches, of hunger, of thirst, of danger and combat. They saw themselves in motion pictures.

It was the first presentation of the motion pictures of the Sioux war. The war was "fought over again" last Autumn in the same territory where the war originally was fought. In many instances, the fighting was done for the "movies" by the same men who did it in earnest a quarter of a century ago.

Six miles of films were used by the Essanay Company in reproducing the scenes. All of these films will be stored in the government archives at Washington to make history more graphic for the rising generation than ever it was for the school children in the past. Copies of the pictures will be shown to the public in the near future — but the films will be "edited" so that a few miles may be eliminated and so that the whole performance may require only about two hours.

Among those who watched their own actions in the "movies" yesterday were General Nelson A. Miles, Colonel W. F. Cody, General Wheston, General Stewart, General King, General Baldwin, Colonel Schenk, Colonel Baker, Colonel Kingsbury, Colonel McCarthy, Colonel Kimball, Colonel McDonald, Major Bay and Captain Billingsleg.

Four thousand soldiers took part in the scenes photographed and there were several bands of Indians, including those who fought in the original war.

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The death of "Sitting Bull" and above, to right. General Miles.

Banner image: Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming, U.S.A.; Original Buffalo Bill Museum Collection, P.69.118