MITCHELL S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) A Native-American leader, known as Spotted Tail to whites and as Sinte Gleska to the Lakota, became friends in the 1870’s with an Indian Agent named Cicero Newell, who was a Major in the US Army. As a gesture of that friendship Spotted Tail gave Major Newell a headdress, clothing, moccasins and other accessories.
Major Newell directed his descendants never to throw these items away and never to sell them. His ancestors obeyed him for five generations and then James Newell of Le Center, Washington wondered if there wasn’t a more appropriate place for these artifacts than in a suitcase passed from generation to generation of Newells. So, James Newell began searching for the fifth-generation descendant of Chief Spotted Tail. Newell found him in the form of John Spotted Tail, a resident of the Rosebud Reservation. Newell gave the artifacts to the modern Spotted Tail in 2022. John Spotted Tail recently donated those artifacts to the South Dakota Historical Society.
The original Spotted Tail (Sinte Gleska in Lakota) was one of the leaders who signed the Fort Laramie Treaty in 1868 which was designed to bring peace between the US government and several regional tribes. Sinte Gleska (Spotted Tail) settled with his people on what would be become the Rosebud Reservation and remained a powerful leader until his death in 1881. Sinte Gleska University in Mission is named for him.