In 1862, the year the present work was painted, Henry H. Cross left his portrait studio in Chicago and moved to Minnesota in order to paint portraits of the Native American participants of a deadly massacre of white settlers. This group of Sioux Indians were sentenced to death by President Lincoln for their role in the deadly uprising.
In addition to this important portrait series, Cross painted other works that captured the turbulent clashes between Indians and white groups frequently occurring at this time and, as in Sioux Indian under Attack, the perils that existed in the natural world as well.