This is an original silver gelatin photograph of one of Sihasapa (Blackfoot) Sioux Chief John Grass Charging Bear six wives at Fort Pierre-Chouteau in the 19th Century by Photographer Floyd O'Brien of Redfield, South Dakota. Marked on the back in fountain pen ink, “Taken at the agency “Fort Pierre” The old lady is 88? years old and is one of 6 wives of Chief Black Foot” as well as stamped by the photographer, “Floyd O’Brien Redfield, S.D.” John Grass (1837-1918) also known as Mat?ó Wat?ákpe or Charging Bear was the chief leader of the Sihasapa or Blackfoot Sioux. The Blackfoot Sioux were likely the last of the Teton Sioux to migrate from the woodlands into the Dakotas and were closely connected to the Hunkpapa and Sans Arc bands. John Grass was known as the Chief of the Black Foot Sioux and was baptized at three by the peripatetic Jesuit Father Pierre-Jean De Smet. Eagle Horn noted that Grass had several wives, knowing of at least 5. He married Cecelia Walking Shield around 1867 and her sister Amanda (they were also referred to as Shell Woman, Red Cloth and Mrs. John Grass). He married Campeska Imanipiwin-Walking on Shells Woman. Also noted to having a child / married with Little Eagle. Chief John Grass was a member of the White Horse Riders Society, he fought in the Battle of the Little Big Horn, was at Fort Rice when Gall was stab by a bayonet in 1865. The original silver gelatin photograph has a fancy boudoir card border and the clear image shows an old woman with walking stick, dressed in Buffalo check trade clothe with several women behind her in front of a doorway at Fort Pierre-Chouteau. Floyd O’Brien was a photographer at Redfield, South Dakota which was first settled in 1878 and incorporated in 1883. Provenance: From the Jim Aplan Piedmont, South Dakota collection. The image itself is clear and well kept with the boudoir card having some worn corners and some staining. Measures overall 6.5” by 5.5”. U6.