John Two Guns White Calf (also known as John Two Guns and John Whitecalf Two Guns) (1872–1934) was a

chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

of the

Piegan Blackfeet The Piegan ( Blackfoot: ''Piikáni'') are an Algonquian-speaking people from the North American Great Plains. They were the largest of three Blackfoot-speaking groups that made up the Blackfoot Confederacy; the Siksika and Kainai were the oth ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. He was born near

Fort Benton, Montana Fort Benton is a city in and the county seat of Chouteau County, Montana, United States. Established in 1846, Fort Benton is the oldest continuously occupied settlement in Montana. The city's waterfront area, the most important aspect of its 1 ...

and was the adopted son of Chief White Calf. After the elder White Calf died in 1902, White Calf became the last chief of the Blackfoot Tribe. He died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

at the age of 63 and is buried in a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

cemetery in

Browning, Montana Browning is a town in Glacier County, Montana, United States. It is the headquarters for the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and the only incorporated town on the Reservation. The population was 1,018 at the 2020 census. The town was named in 188 ...

Promotional career

He became famous for his work promoting the Glacier National Park for the Great Northern Railway. In 1912, he travelled with several other Blackfeet to the 1912 United States Land Show in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to make what was possibly the first publicity trip for the tribe. He also claimed to be the model for the profile on the

Indian head nickel The Buffalo nickel or Indian Head nickel is a copper-nickel five-cent piece that was struck by the United States Mint from 1913 to 1938. It was designed by sculptor James Earle Fraser. As part of a drive to beautify the coinage, five denominat ...

. However, the sculptor, James Earle Fraser, said that the image he used was a composite of several people. In 1971, Walter Wetzel created the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

logo. He used Two Guns White Calf's image as the basis for the logo. The team used the logo until 2020.

References

Piegan Blackfeet people Members of the Methodist Episcopal Church Deaths from pneumonia 1872 births 1934 deaths {{native-american-stub