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Primary sourceBook1884

Thrilling Scenes Among the Indians

T. M. Newson · 1884

An 1884 book describing Custer's last fight with Sitting Bull, written during Sitting Bull's lifetime.

A contemporary 1884 book describing Custer's fight against Sitting Bull, written while Sitting Bull was still alive.

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Thrilling Scenes Among the IndiansPDF · 254 pages
T. M. Newson, Thrilling Scenes Among the Indians. With a Graphic Description of Custer's Last Fight with Sitting Bull, 1884. Digitized scan, Internet Archive.

About this source

What it is

This is a book by T. M. Newson, published in 1884, containing a description of Custer's last fight with Sitting Bull alongside other stories about Indigenous peoples of the Northwestern states. It survives as a digitized scan from the Internet Archive.

Why it matters

Written while Sitting Bull was still alive, this book shows how the Battle of the Little Bighorn and Sitting Bull's role in it were being retold to a general American readership only a few years after the event. It reflects both popular fascination with and distortion of Native American history in this period.

Look closer

  • What does the book's table of contents, mixing legends and battle accounts, suggest about how the author viewed Native American history?
  • Why might Custer's fight be emphasized over Sitting Bull's own perspective?
  • How reliable is an account written for entertainment rather than historical accuracy?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Sitting Bull (Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake) on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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