Veteran William Pollock: Pawnee Artist and Rough Rider
Updated: Aug 31
When William Pollock enlisted in the United States Army in 1898, he was asked to give his occupation. His answer was simple: artist. It was also accurate. Before joining Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, Pollock had studied drawing, published charcoal work in a national magazine, and begun developing a career that could have allowed him to record Pawnee life through his own eyes.
Born in Nebraska in 1870, Pollock was known in Pawnee as Tay-loo-wah-ah-who. He was still a child when the Pawnee people were forced from their Nebraska homeland to Indian Territory, in what is now Oklahoma. He grew up hearing family and community histories about Pawnee leaders, buffalo hunts, and the experiences of earlier generations.
William Pollock, An Artist Before the War
Pollock began drawing while he was young, sketching designs on wagons at the Pawnee Agency. He later attended the federal Haskell Indian Industrial School in Lawrence, Kansas, where he played in the marching band and continued developing his artistic skills. He decorated wagons made at the school with portraits, eagles, and other painted designs.
His ability caught the attention of Arthur Houghton Clark, a professor at the University of Kansas who gave Pollock additional drawing instruction. Clark was impressed enough to send several of his charcoal works to The Outlook, a nationally distributed political and cultural magazine. The magazine published Pollock’s drawings in 1895, introducing his work to readers far beyond Kansas and Indian Territory.
Clark hoped Pollock would use his art to document Pawnee customs and history. Most images of Native people circulating at the time had been produced by outsiders, often with little understanding of the communities they claimed to represent. Pollock had the talent and knowledge to present Pawnee life from within his own culture.
After leaving Haskell, he worked at the Pawnee Agency headquarters and continued painting whenever he had time. One of his paintings, an image of Buffalo Bill Cody, eventually entered the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Although damaged, it appears to be the only surviving Pollock painting held in a public collection.
Joining the Rough Riders
Pollock enlisted in Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory, on May 5, 1898. His military record described him as five feet eight inches tall and named Eagle Chief of Pawnee as his parent or guardian. It also preserved that important description of his occupation: artist.
He was assigned to Company D of the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, the regiment popularly known as the Rough Riders. Pollock was one of eight Pawnee men in the unit, serving alongside Orlando C. Palmer, Calvin Hill, Arthur A. Luther, Joseph Proctor, Clare H. Stewart, Clyde H. Stewart, and William O. Wright.
Their enlistment followed an earlier history of Pawnee military alliances with the United States, especially the service of Pawnee scouts during the nineteenth century. The reasons Native men joined the military were personal and varied, however, and cannot be explained by that history alone. Pollock’s own writings connected his decision to the memory of the Pawnee men who had come before him.
The Rough Riders trained in San Antonio before traveling to Tampa and sailing for Cuba. Even in camp, Pollock continued to draw. His fellow Rough Rider Billy McGinty remembered seeing him sketch during quiet moments and came to know him as both a talented artist and a dependable companion.
“Well, I have learned a little of the soldier’s life; I have learned how to make a charge when the command is given, and how to stand my ground and stay with the boys during the battle, and also that some of the boys had to fall.” —William Pollock, Troop D
Fighting in Cuba
The Rough Riders reached Cuba on June 23, 1898, and entered battle the following day at Las Guasimas. Spanish soldiers fired from concealed positions, using smokeless powder that made them difficult to locate. Company D came under heavy rifle fire, and Pollock’s actions quickly drew the attention of the men around him.
Theodore Roosevelt later called him “one of the gamest fighters and best soldiers in the regiment.” Roosevelt also remembered Pollock as one of the men who led the charges and repeatedly moved closest to the Spanish positions.
Two of Pollock’s comrades later described watching him during the fighting. When the Spanish Mauser bullets became so intense that other soldiers sought cover, Pollock held his position behind a tree and continued firing his carbine. One of the men remembered that he was making every shot count.
Pollock’s own account was more restrained. He wrote about learning how to charge when the command was given, how to stand his ground, and how to remain with the other soldiers during battle. He understood that some of the men beside him would fall.
He did not use the experience to boast about himself. Instead, he wrote that “in the memory of our brave fathers” he would try to follow those who had faced their enemies with courage. His words offer a rare glimpse of the war through the experience of a Pawnee soldier speaking for himself.
Pollock later took part in the advance on the San Juan Heights outside Santiago. Although the Rough Riders were organized as cavalry, they fought on foot in Cuba. They moved alongside other American forces, including the Black soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry, whose actions were essential to the assault.
Coming Home
The campaign made the Rough Riders famous, but Cuba also left many of them seriously ill. Pollock contracted what was then called Cuban fever, identified in the Smithsonian account as malaria. When the regiment returned to the United States, he and other sick soldiers were quarantined at Camp Wikoff in Montauk, New York.
The familiar photograph of Pollock sitting on horseback in his uniform was taken at Camp Wikoff in 1898. In the wider version, he is holding a rifle while rows of military tents fill the background. The photograph was made after the fighting, during a period when Pollock was already suffering from the illness that would follow him home.
After the quarantine ended on September 15, Pollock returned to Pawnee, Oklahoma Territory. His community welcomed him home and honored his service by presenting him with horses at a public gathering. Roosevelt later wrote to Pollock’s family that his conduct had brought honor to the Pawnee people, the Army, and the nation.
Pollock hoped to join Billy McGinty and other Rough Riders appearing in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. He signed a contract for a tour that included an appearance at Madison Square Garden in New York City, but his health continued to decline before he could take part.
On March 8, 1899, William Pollock died from pneumonia complicated by the illness he had contracted in Cuba. He was only 28 years old. His burial in Pawnee included full military honors.
Billy McGinty later remembered him as a fine man and one of the bravest ever to wear an American uniform. Roosevelt’s praise secured Pollock a place in the history of the Rough Riders, but military recognition tells only part of his story.
Pollock had already begun making his way as an artist before the war interrupted his life. His published drawings, surviving paintings, letters, and military record leave an incomplete but compelling picture of what he might have accomplished. They preserve the story of a Pawnee artist who carried his pencils into military camp and continued drawing even as history closed around him.
Plan your Visit
The Museum of Indigenous People is located at 147 North Arizona Avenue in Prescott, Arizona. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM and is closed Sunday.
