This cabinet card made by William P. Bliss in the 1870s identifies the subject as the daughter of Black Kettle, the Cheyenne chief who was killed in the Battle of the Washita in 1868. The woman's name is Magpie Woman, and she was married to George Bent, the son of Cheyenne Native American Owl Woman and the American William Bent, founder of Bent's Ford, Colorado. Bliss was a photographer in the 1860s, 1870s and perhaps 1880s who is known to have worked in Kansas, Indian Territory, and New Mexico. Following his discharge from the Army, Bliss opened a photographic business in Topeka in 1864 or 1865. By 1870, he had moved his family to the Wichita area, where he both farmed and worked as a photographer. From there, he went to Indian Territory, first to the Cheyenne Agency at Darlington in late 1874 or early 1875, and soon thereafter to Fort Sill. By 1878 or 1879 Bliss had moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. This cabinet card was an early donation to the Historical Society. Its accession date of March 29, 1878, means the photograph was likely made in the 1874-1877 period. The cabinet card carries no photographer's imprint, but the accession information attributes it to Bliss.
Kansas Memory
Kansas Historical Society
Black Kettle's daughter, Cheyenne, in Indian Territory - 2