Assiniboine Warrior, 1831

Painting by George Catlin of an Assiniboine man named Wi-jn-jon or Pigeon's Egg Head, in traditional dress, 1831. Catlin first painted Wi-jn-jon as the he was en route to Washington the painter recalled that he appeared for his portrait sitting plumed and tinted [... ] dressed in his native costume, which was classic and exceedingly beautiful. Wi-jn-jon returned home to the northern Plains eighteen months later a decidedly different man -- dressed apparently in a general's uniform and sharing what to his fellow tribesmen were astonishing accounts of the white man's cities. They eventually rejected his stories as ingenious fabrication of novelty and wonder, and his persistence in telling such lies eventually led to his murder. For Catlin's rendering of Wi-jn-jon in uniform, see image BV1082

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Assiniboin Assiniboine Pigeon Plains Siouan Sioux

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