RED TOMAHAWK        by Frank Fiske

On Dec. 15, 1890, just before daybreak, thirty-nine Sioux Indian policemen entered the camp of Sitting Bull, on the Grand river, with orders to arrest the Chief and bring him to the crossing of Oak Creek, about fifteen miles to the north where they were to meet two troops of cavalry. From here the Prisoner was to be escorted to Fort Yates.

Sitting Bull was the virtual leader of the so-called ghost-dancing Sioux who believed that all white man were about to be exterminated and the good old hunting grounds restored to the Indians so they would be free to hunt, dance and make war on their old enemies, the Rees, forever unmolested by the white people wh wanted them to farm and draw rations instead of drawing the bow for a living.

Bull Head, Shave Head and Red Tomahawk were the ranking members of the police force, and they were bringing Sitting Bull from his cabin when they were attacked by nearly two-hundred hostile Sioux. Bull Head and Shave Head fell at the first shot, but as he went down Bull Head fired into Sitting Bull's side. Red Tomahawk was directly behind the group and carried a small revolver that he had taken from the chief. With this he shot Sitting Bull in the head. Thus Red Tomahawk is given the credit for killing the most famous of Sioux Chiefs, and ending for all time the long standing warfare between the Indians and the white people.

When Red Tomahawk enlisted as a policeman, the government gained a valuable man for in his younger years he had won for himself glory in meeting the hereditary foes of the Sioux far out on the prairies to the west and north. But with the end of Sitting Bull a permanent peace came to abide in the Sioux country and fighting became a lost art.

Residing near Cannon Ball, N D Red Tomahawk often meets famous personages who visit the state before whom he is called to represent his people as a prominent type of the old time Sioux. The silhoette of his profile adorns the road markers of the state in honor of the man who served the government magnificiently.

For these reasons the Hokanson's Store at Fort Yates, N. Dak present this calendar that we may not forget that to be brave, competent and faithful is a trait exemplflied as of the Sioux by Red Tomahawk - who killed Sitting Bull.