Whether he sketched Woman Chief specifically is not established — if he did, the sketches would be one of the only visual records associated with her life.

The Kurz journal’s value lies precisely in its independence from Denig’s account.

The two men had different backgrounds, different purposes in being at Fort Union, and different relationships to the people they observed.

The fact that Kurz’s account of this specific encounter is consistent with Denig’s broader portrait of Woman Chief provides additional credibility to both.

What Mainstream History Did Instead

The absence of Woman Chief from mainstream American historical memory is not simply a case of her story being unknown.