Prisoner of war

In 1875 Howling Wolf and Eagle Head were among a group of 33 Southern Cheyenne, 11 Comanche

Comanche

The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...

, 27 Kiowa

Kiowa

The Kiowa are a nation of American Indians and indigenous people of the Great Plains. They migrated from the northern plains to the southern plains in the late 17th century. In 1867, the Kiowa moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma...

 and one Caddo

Caddo

The Caddo Nation is a confederacy of several Southeastern Native American tribes, who traditionally inhabited much of what is now East Texas, northern Louisiana and portions of southern Arkansas and Oklahoma. Today the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma is a cohesive tribe with its capital at Binger, Oklahoma...

 imprisoned at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. They were then taken by eight prison wagons to Fort Leavenworth

Fort Leavenworth

Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. and has been in operation for over 180 years...

, Kansas and placed upon a special train to carry them east to imprisonment in the old Spanish fort in St. Augustine, Florida

St. Augustine, Florida

St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...

 renamed Fort Marion by the U.S. Army, along the way one Cheyenne, Suh-tai attempted suicide but was thwarted in his efforts only to be shot and killed attempting to escape.

Artwork

While at Fort Marion Howling Wolf became a proficient artist in what came to be termed Ledger Art

Ledger Art

Ledger Art is a term for Plains Indian narrative drawing or painting on paper or cloth. Ledger art was primarily from the 1860s to about 1900, although some of the old style drawing continues to the 1930s. There is also a contemporary group of accomplished Native American artists who work in the...

, so-called as the drawings were done on paper from accountants ledgers, the most readily available source of paper at the time.

The drawings were evocative of the Native American art traditionally done on buffalo hides by different Plains tribes. The artwork was sold to tourists in St. Augustine who would stop by the fort. Howling Wolf's artwork along with the other Ledger Artists has risen in monetary value through the years and is valued as an expressive eyewitness account of the experiences of the artists and their tribes.

Later life

In addition to becoming an artist Howling wolf was made a sergeant in charge of the Indian guard at the fort a unit made up of the Native American prisoners. While he was at Fort Marion he along with other captives under the tutelage and supervision of Captain Richard Henry Pratt

Richard Henry Pratt

Richard Henry Pratt is best known as the founder and longtime superintendent of the influential Carlisle Indian Industrial School at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.-Military career:...

 received traditional American schooling in diverse subjects such as reading and writing English.

Howling Wolf would spend three full years in captivity before he was released in 1878 and returned to Oklahoma to live upon the Cheyenne reservation. He originally intended to stay in the East to continue his education however his failing eyesight, (treatment for which he sailed to Boston for an operation) prompted his return to the reservation.

In 1881, Howling Wolf became disillusioned with the habits and customs he had adapted of the white European Americans. He returned to wearing native Cheyenne dress and along with other Cheyenne such a Roman Nose

Roman Nose

Roman Nose, a.k.a. Hook Nose , was a Native American of the Northern Cheyenne, and possibly the greatest and most influential warrior during the Plains Indian War of the 1860s...

 became immersed in the use of peyote

Peyote

Lophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...

, as part of Native American ritual.

Death

Howling Wolf died in 1927 in a car accident while on his way home to Oklahoma after performing in a Wild West show in Houston, Texas.

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