According to Sharp’s sales ledgers, this portrait was sold to Butler in June 1906. (Sharp Papers)

Sharp noted:  “Short Bull, contemporary with tho [sic] younger than Sitting Bull—small in size & I think he had the most remarkable mind of all the Sioux.  He was not only a great Medicine Man, but a clever diplomat and Machiavellian politician.  His twinkling eyes and pleasant expression forever made unfathomable his mind & thoughts to others.”  

Sharp never mentioned Short Bull’s fame as a leader of the Ghost Dance practices. However, he maintained that “Chief Short Bull, a great Chief and medicine man, whom I consider a much smarter man than Sitting Bull and not such a coward….”