On this date in 1932, a two-day demonstration of Boy Scout activities was held at the Wahpeton Indian School for troops from Richland and Wilkin counties. Physician and author Charles Alexander Eastman, a Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota, served as an advisor in developing the national Boy Scout movement and its Native American Lore component.
In 1931, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops were organized at the school, and two log cabins were built for their activities. The Boy Scout cabin soon became a favorite gathering place for regional Scout events and local groups, including a square dance club. Its chimney was built with stones donated by Scout troops across the country and around the world.
In 1933, the public was invited to an open house at the school, where Shop and Home Economics work were displayed. Featured was an eighteen-foot totem pole constructed by Scouts in Shop class. Motorists often toured the school and stopped to pose for photos beside it.
In 1955, Native artist Woody Crumbo created his most famous painting, Spotted Wolf’s Last Request. Later, the Wahpeton Indian School Boy Scouts received a gift from the Koshare, California, Boy Scout Troop, known as the “White Boy Indian Dancers.” The gift was a signed print of Crumbo’s painting, accompanied by the story of Private First Class Clarence Spotted Wolf of the Fort Berthold Reservation. Many of his relatives were students or staff at the school.
Spotted Wolf was killed in World War II on December 21, 1944. Before his death, he wrote home describing his funeral wishes: if there was a parade, he wanted a soldier carrying the American flag to lead, followed by a cowboy leading his saddled horse to carry his spirit.
Crumbo’s painting captured that vision, mourners surround a traditional funeral scaffold draped in an American flag. Overhead, Clarence and his horse rise into a sky of intricate designs. He looks back over his shoulder, raising the flag high above a dome of clouds. On the ground lie pottery, blankets, beadwork, drums, and childhood toys.
The signed print and its story hung for years in a school hallway after the Scout cabin was repurposed. Later rescued from a trash bin, they were reframed and installed in the Administration Building, where they continue to greet visitors with a powerful visual story.
Dakota Datebook by Lise Erdrich
Sources:
- "EMPTY SADDLE" MEMORIAL SERVICES for Elbowoods Indian soldier killed Dec. 21 in Luxemburg. Richland County Farmer Globe, Wahpeton, ND, February 6, 1945, Page 1
- Indian School Invites Public to Open House. The Richland County Farmer, published in Wahpeton, North Dakota on Friday, May 12th, 1933, Page 1
- Scout Meeting Place. The Richland County Farmer Globe, published in Wahpeton, North Dakota on Friday, March 10th, 1939, Page 1
- Scouts Will Hold 2 Demonstrations. Richland and Wilkin Boys To Gather in Community Nov. 18 and 19. The Richland County Farmer Globe, published in Wahpeton, North Dakota on Monday, November 7th, 1932, Page 1
- An Empty Saddle – Pvt. Clarence Spotted Wolf. Access Genealogy, A Free genealogy Website. https://accessgenealogy.com/native/an-empty-saddle-pvt-clarence-spotted-wolf.htm
- Adobe Gallery online. https://www.adobegallery.com/art/woody-crumbo-spotted-wolfs-last-request-potawatomi-forty-nine-stars
- Woody Crumbo, “Spotted Wolf’s Last Request” (1955), oil on canvas. https://hyperallergic.com/61808/crumbo-spirit-talk-oklahoma-history-center/
