After the Húŋkpa’ti′la's headman Stone Knife's death in 1797, Old Man Smoke was the head chief of one of the major, prominent and most dominant and largest seven Lakota divisions: the Teton Húŋkpa’ti′la (The Camp at the End of the Circle), later on, better known as the Oglala Lakota Sioux Nation from around 1797–1800 to 1864.
When Smoke's rival cousin Bull Bear tried to overthrow him as the main chief in 1834, he did not succeed.
Instead he became the first chief of the Eastern Oglalas, when Smoke separated the tribe into two divisions, Kiyaska and Itéšiča bands.
In fact it wasn't like any other chief's headdress it was amazingly detailed and designed with the finest and longest eagle feathers available.
When Chief Smoke stood or walked in full headdress, there was a magnificent train of eagle feathers trailing or dragging on the ground for many feet behind him.
Big Mouth and Blue Horse were twin brothers and they were born in the same year as their cousin Chief Red Cloud, 1822.
Colonel Henry Schell, stationed at Fort Laramie removed the body of Chief Smoke and sent to the Smithsonian Institution Museum.