Scenes in the Indian Country: Lakota Indian Running Water with Members of the US Indian Peace Commission at the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty Signing

GARDNER, Alexander (1821-1882, Photographer)

Edité par A[lexander] Gardner. 511 Seventh Street, Washington DC, Fort Laramie, Wyoming, 1868

A propos de cet article

Albumen silver photograph mounted on beige board with letterpressed decorative border joined by print attribution and title caption. Image: (9 1/2 x 13 inches). Sheet: (13 1/2 x 19 inches). Frame: (21 1/4 x 25 1/2 inches). A historically important photograph of a Lakota Indian with two members of the Indian Peace Commission at the pivotal Fort Laramie Treaty signing, taken by the renowned Civil War photographer Alexander Gardner as part of his "Scenes in the Indian Country" series. The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty is one of the most notorious broken treaties by the US Government. In 1868, Gardner was commissioned by the US Government to photograph the peace talks between the federally-appointed Indian Peace Commission, which included General Sherman, and chiefs of the Plains Indians tribes at Fort Laramie in Wyoming. Gardner's series of photographs, Scenes in the Indian Country, from which this present work comes, includes images of Indian tribal leaders who gathered at Fort Laramie to meet with the Indian Peace Commissioners. This series is considered to be among his most poignant works. In the 1860s, Plains Indians found themselves in the middle of the country with white advancement on both sides. New railway lines were cutting through indigenous hunting grounds, which scattered the game necessary for their survival. In an attempt to end conflict, an unprecedented gathering of tribal leaders from the Northern Plains assembled at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, in 1868. With his wagon serving as a darkroom, Gardner photographed scenes surrounding the treaty negotiations between the US Government's Indian Peace Commission and the tribes who agreed to give up land and move to reservations. Gardner's photographs serve as important documents of the indigenous peoples' presence in the West and their lifestyles, which were rapidly being destroyed by Western expansion and the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad. The National Museum of the American Indian has identified the people in Gardner's photograph: "Lakota people and non-Indians at the Fort Laramie treaty signing, 1868. Left to right: unidentified non-Indian man; Leon Pallardy (interpreter); unidentified Native woman; Running Water (Lakota); two unidentified non-Indian men; [Artist and Clerk to the Indian Peace Commission] John D. Howland (standing, in white hat); Peace Commission Secretary Ashton S. H. White (seated, in white hat); and unidentified non-Indian man." However, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in their description of the same photo (P1967.3253) also name "Peter Richard Renshaw, Mrs. Peter Richard (?), and Baptiste Garnier (aka Little Bat)." The US National Archives' description of the Fort Laramie Treaty: "In this treaty [.] the US recognized the Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation, set aside for exclusive use by the Sioux people. In the 19th century, the US drive for expansion clashed violently with Native Americans' resolve to preserve their lands, sovereignty, and ways of life. From the 1860s through the 1870s, warfare and skirmishes broke out frequently on the American frontier. In 1865, a congressional committee studied the uprisings and wars in the American West. They produced a "Report on the Condition of the Indian Tribes" in 1867. This led to an act to establish an Indian Peace Commission to end the wars and prevent future conflicts. The US set out to establish a series of treaties with Native tribes that would force American Indians to give up their lands and move further west onto reservations. In the spring of 1868, a conference was held at Fort Laramie, in present-day Wyoming, which resulted in a treaty with the Sioux (Brule, Oglala, Miniconjou, Yanktonai, Hunkpapa, Blackfeet, Cuthead, Two Kettle, Sans Arcs, and Santee) and the Arapaho. The goal of the treaty was to bring peace between White settlers and the tribes, who agreed to relocate to the Black Hills in the Dakota Territory. All the tribes involved gave up many thousands of acre.

N° de réf. du vendeur 41579

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Scenes in the Indian Country: Lakota Indian Running Water with Members of the US Indian Peace Commission at the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty Signing
• Éditeur: A[lexander] Gardner. 511 Seventh Street, Washington DC, Fort Laramie, Wyoming
• Date de parution: 1868
• Reliure: Albumen Photograph
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Photography
  • Americana & Canadiana
  • Native Americans