Sharp wrote the following note to Frank Phillips about this portrait: "Great medicine man, contemporary with Sitting Bull and I think a braver and smarter man. Great friend of Buffalo Bill and headed the Indians in his show for years in the United States and Europe. One of the most noted characters in the northwest. Very prominent in Custer’s battles and deserves great credit for his tribal and political diplomacy. A psychologist, a conjurer and priest. Note character and strength in face." (Woolaroc archives)