Chief American Horse photographed by Frank A. Rinehart, January 3, 1899. American Horse (1840 - December 16, 1908) was an Oglala Lakota chief, statesman, educator and historian. He was an US Army Indian Scout and a progressive Oglala Lakota leader who promoted friendly associations with whites and education for his people. He opposed Crazy Horse during the Great Sioux War of 1876-77 and the Ghost Dance Movement of 1890, and was a Lakota delegate to Washington. Wild Westing was very popular with the Lakota people and beneficial to their families and communities, and offered a path of opportunity and hope during time when people believed Native Americans were a vanishing race whose only hope for survival was rapid cultural transformation. During a time when the Bureau of Indian Affairs was intent on promoting Native assimilation, Buffalo Bill Cody used his influence with US government officials to secure Native American performers for his Wild West. In 1886, American Horse replaced Sitting Bull as the Indian headliner for the 1886-87 seasons. He was one of six Native American chiefs who marched in the first Inaugural Parade of Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. American Horse died from natural causes in 1908.