This is a fabulous circa 1910 Little Crow Dakota Sioux bi-point quartz stone head war club from the ex-C.M. Russell Museum Great Falls, Montana and John Kleinschmidt collections. The club is marked in fountain pen on the shaft, “by Little Crow 4-23-10”. Little Crow, Mdewakanton Dakota Sioux, was the descendant of Little Crow the war chief who was a leader of the Dakota in a five-week war against the United States in 1862, also known as the Dakota War of 1862, Sioux War, Sioux Uprising or Little Crow’s War. The club shows a bi-point, two-point, stone head carved from quartz having a stippled design and secured to the wooden haft with a bent wood piece wrapped in parfleche rawhide. The haft is wood covered in parfleche rawhide with sinew sewing. The top of the club has tanned hide fringes with sinew sewing that originally had two eagle feathers which had been removed to comply with all laws.
Provenance: From the John Kleinschmidt collection which was on loan to the C.M. Russell Museum from 1987 to 1993 and included in the "The Cowboy West: 100 Years of Photography 1992-1993 exhibit. Catherine A. O'Dell. An attached museum tag reads, "1396-87 O'Dell".
The club shows a well preserved condition and was on display at the Charles Marrion Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana. The club has a quartz head which was thought to impart the user with additional powers or protections. Measures overall without fringes 23-inches long by 4.75-inches wide by 2.5-inches deep. A copy of the C.M. Russell Museum paperwork can be available at request.