When people talk about the Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull, they usually think of the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn. They think of the Ghost Dance. They think of the resistance. But rarely does anyone mention the Swiss-American woman who traveled across the country just to paint him. Her name was Caroline Weldon, and she is the most famous painter of Sitting Bull, though her life was far more complicated than just holding a brush.
Honestly, it’s a bit of a mess when you look at the historical record. For years, people got her name wrong, calling her Catherine. They called her his "secretary." Some even whispered she was his lover, a claim that basically ignored the political reality of the 1880s. She wasn't just some hobbyist; she was a member of the National Indian Defense Association (NIDA) and a fierce activist who went to the Standing Rock Agency with a very specific mission. She wanted to help Sitting Bull fight the Dawes Act, which was designed to break up communal tribal lands.
She ended up painting four portraits of him. Only two survived.
The Woman Behind the Canvas
Caroline Weldon wasn't your typical Victorian lady. She was a divorcee. She had a son out of wedlock. In the 19th century, that was enough to make you a social pariah, but Weldon didn't seem to care much about Brooklyn's high society. She was deeply committed to the cause of Native American rights.
When she arrived at Standing Rock in 1889, Sitting Bull actually welcomed her. He gave her a name: Pila-Way-He-Win, which roughly translates to "Woman Walking Ahead." It's a heavy name. It suggests she was seen as someone leading or perhaps someone just slightly out of step with the world around her. She lived in his household for a time, which sparked massive scandal among the white settlers and government agents nearby.
James McLaughlin, the Indian Agent at Standing Rock, absolutely hated her. He saw her as an agitator. To him, she was a "meddlesome woman" who was filling Sitting Bull’s head with ideas of resistance. But Weldon was a realist. She saw the poverty and the starvation hitting the Lakota people. She used her own money to buy supplies. She wrote letters to Washington on Sitting Bull’s behalf. And in between the political maneuvering and the survival, she painted.
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The Portraits: Why These Paintings Matter
You have to understand that Sitting Bull knew the power of his image. He had been a part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. He had seen the cameras. He sold his autograph for a dollar. He wasn't some "primitive" figure unaware of the world; he was a savvy political leader who understood that how the world saw him mattered.
Being the painter of Sitting Bull wasn't just about capturing a likeness. It was about humanizing a man the American press often depicted as a bloodthirsty savage. Weldon’s portraits are different from the stark, often staged photographs of the era. They have a softness.
One of the surviving paintings shows him in a black frock coat. He looks like a statesman. It’s a jarring image if you’re used to seeing him in traditional regalia. It was a statement. He was an equal to the men in Washington who were trying to take his land. The other surviving portrait, which is now held by the State Historical Society of North Dakota, shows him in a more traditional light, wearing a single feather.
The brushwork isn't world-class—Weldon was an amateur—but the intimacy is undeniable. You can tell the subject trusted the artist. That trust is what makes her the definitive painter of Sitting Bull.
The Ghost Dance and the Falling Out
History is rarely a straight line of friendship. Things got dark in 1890. The Ghost Dance movement was sweeping through the Plains, a spiritual resistance that promised the return of the buffalo and the disappearance of the white settlers. Sitting Bull was intrigued. Weldon was terrified.
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She saw the Ghost Dance for what it was: a catalyst that would give the U.S. Army an excuse to intervene with force. She begged Sitting Bull to denounce it. She told him it would lead to his death. They fought. Hard. Eventually, the tension became too much, and Sitting Bull essentially told her it was time to leave.
She left Standing Rock in late 1890. Shortly after, she lost her son, Christie, to an infection on a riverboat. A few weeks later, Sitting Bull was killed by Indian Police during a botched arrest attempt. The very thing she warned him about happened, and she wasn't there to see it.
Other Artists and the Legacy of Sitting Bull’s Image
While Weldon is the most personal painter of Sitting Bull, she wasn't the only one to capture him.
- Enid Yandell: A sculptor who worked on a bust of him.
- H.H. Cross: A prolific painter of Western figures who depicted Sitting Bull multiple times, though often after the fact or from photographs.
- The Photographers: Men like Orlando Scott Goff and David Francis Barry did more to cement Sitting Bull’s image in the American psyche than any painter ever could.
However, Weldon remains the most fascinating because she lived the story. She didn't just see a "subject." She saw a friend and a political ally. Her paintings were found in Sitting Bull’s cabin after he was killed. One of them was reportedly struck by a soldier during the raid, a physical scar on a piece of art that mirrored the violence of the era.
What Most People Get Wrong
People love a romance. Hollywood loves a romance. The 2017 film Woman Walks Ahead starring Jessica Chastain takes some massive liberties with the truth. It suggests a burgeoning love story that most historians, like Eileen Pollack (who wrote the definitive biography Woman Walking Ahead: In Search of Catherine Weldon), say just didn't exist.
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Their relationship was built on mutual respect and shared political goals. Weldon was a grandmotherly figure in many ways, or at least a stern aunt. She was there to work. To paint. To resist. Framing her as a love interest diminishes her actual contribution to the Lakota struggle.
Finding the Real Sitting Bull
If you want to see the work of the painter of Sitting Bull, you have to go to Bismarck, North Dakota. The North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum holds one of the surviving canvases. It’s small. It’s weathered. But when you stand in front of it, you realize you aren't looking at a myth. You're looking at a man who was tired, who was worried about his people, and who sat still long enough for a woman from Brooklyn to try and save his legacy with a bit of oil paint.
The tragedy of Caroline Weldon is that she died in obscurity. She was burned in an apartment fire in 1921, and for decades, her role in history was a footnote. She was the "eccentric" woman. But today, we see her differently. We see her as a witness.
Facts to Remember
- Caroline Weldon (often misidentified as Catherine) was the primary painter.
- She painted four portraits; only two are known to exist today.
- She was an active member of the National Indian Defense Association.
- She predicted the tragedy of the Ghost Dance and Sitting Bull's death.
- One portrait was sold at auction in the 1950s for next to nothing because nobody knew who she was.
Actionable Insights for History Buffs
- Visit the Archives: If you're in the Midwest, visit the State Historical Society of North Dakota. Seeing the brushstrokes in person changes your perspective on the "Wild West."
- Read the Real Source: Skip the movies for a second and grab Eileen Pollack’s biography. It uses actual letters and census records to piece together Weldon's life.
- Check the Provenance: When looking at Sitting Bull "memorabilia" online, be skeptical. Much of it was mass-produced after his death. Weldon's work is rare and verified.
- Support Tribal Museums: The story of Sitting Bull doesn't belong to white painters. Visit the Sitting Bull College on the Standing Rock Reservation to hear the story from the Hunkpapa perspective.
The story of the painter of Sitting Bull isn't just about art. It's a reminder that history is made by people who show up, even when they're told they don't belong. Weldon showed up. She painted. And because of that, we have a window into the soul of one of America’s greatest leaders during his final, most difficult years.
Next Steps for Research
To truly understand the visual history of the Lakota, look into the "Ledger Art" created by Native artists during this same period. While Weldon was painting Sitting Bull in the European style, Lakota artists were recording their own histories in ledger books, providing a vital counter-narrative to the portraits of the time. Comparing these two styles offers a much deeper understanding of how the 19th-century West was seen through different eyes.