Chief Pute'
About
My great grandfather, Chief Pute' (1847 - 1920), lived during the days of the Great Lakota Nation. A time when the tribe dominated the Northern Plains and maintained an economy based on the buffalo. This was also during the great councils of the 19th century under the leadership of historical figures such as Tatanka Iyotake (Sitting Bull), Mahpiha Luta (Chief Red Cloud), and Tashunke Witko (Crazy Horse).
Chief Pute' (Lip), a Brule' Sioux of the Wazhazha band, lived in the Black Hills at Bear Butte, a landmark of great spiritual significance to the Lakota and also the site of the grand council of 1857. He later settled on the edge of the Badlands (Pass Creek) and founded the town of Wanblee. At that point he became an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakotas who reside on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. This photograph of him was taken by the Smithsonian in 1909 when he went to Washington D.C. on tribal business as part of a delegation to build a church, school, post office, and trading post in Wanblee.