Karl Bodmer painted the portrait of Yankton Sioux chief Wahktageli, or "Gallant Warrior"—called "Big Soldier" by the Missouri traders—at the Sioux agency at Fort Lookout below Fort Pierre, South Dakota, in May, 1833. Reportedly a patient sitter, Wahktageli posed for Bodmer over a two-day period, pausing only occasionally to smoke the pipe-tomahawk pictured in his left hand.

Wahktageli was about sixty years old, and six-and-a-half feet tall. He had painted his face with vermilion for the occasion and wore long strings of blue glass beads in his ears. His moccasin, leggings, and shirt were decorated with strips of dyed porcupine quills. The long fringe on the upper sleeve of this shirt was very likely human hair taken from a slain Mandan. The feathers bound to his head are "coup" feathers representing enemies killed in battle. The silver medallion around his neck is a "peace medal" bestowed upon tribal leaders by US government officials as diplomatic gifts to facilitate white settlement in tribal lands.