Judge — April 14, 1883 — page 16: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts **Sitting Bull**, the famous Lakota Sioux leader, as the central figure. The cartoon's title indicates it mocks his supposed "reformation and retirement" into farming. The satire appears to lampoon the U.S. government's assimilationist policies toward Native Americans—specifically the pressure to abandon traditional ways and adopt European-American agricultural lifestyles. The visible text references selling "scalps," "arms," and other "warlike stock," treating indigenous culture as mere inventory to be liquidated. The surrounding figures and labels (though OCR text is unclear) likely represent government officials, settlers, or other parties profiting from this forced "civilization" process. The humor is bitterly ironic: it presents cultural erasure as commercial transaction, mocking both the policy's violence and Sitting Bull's supposedly willing participation. This reflects late-19th-century attitudes about Native American assimilation.