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Secondary sourcePainting1917

The Sioux Stole Corn and Burned Lodges of the Hidatsa

Gilbert Livingstone Wilson · 1917

A 1917 ethnographic illustration describing a Sioux raid on a Hidatsa village, part of the world Sacagawea came from.

Records Hidatsa village hardships from a raid, illustrating the world of conflict Sacagawea's people experienced.

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Top: a scanned book page headed 'Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians', page 97, with a highlighted passage about Sioux raiding cached corn and burning lodges around 1877. Bottom: the title page of 'Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians, An Indian Interpretation' by Gilbert Livingstone Wilson, University of Minnesota, November 1917.
Gilbert Livingstone Wilson, illustration in Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians, An Indian Interpretation, 1917, recording an account by Buffalo Bird Woman.

About this source

What it is

An illustration from a 1917 book, 'Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians, An Indian Interpretation,' written by Gilbert Livingstone Wilson. It records an account by the Hidatsa woman Buffalo Bird Woman of a winter when villagers at Like A Fishhook Village found their homes burned and corn stolen by Sioux raiders.

Why it matters

This source comes from decades after Sacagawea's lifetime, but it preserves firsthand Hidatsa memory about conflict and hardship in village life, recorded by Buffalo Bird Woman for Wilson's study. It helps students understand the kinds of dangers and conflicts, such as raids between Native nations, that shaped the world Sacagawea was born into as a Hidatsa captive.

Look closer

  • Whose voice is actually being recorded here — Buffalo Bird Woman's or Wilson's?
  • Why might recording oral histories like this be valuable, and what might be lost in translation?
  • What does this account suggest about relations between different Native nations?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Sacajawea on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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