Frontier photos: 1864 - 1890

A scalped hunter, 1869

Harper's Weekly for January 16, 1869.

Mr. Ralph Morrison, a hunter, was murdered and scalped by the Cheyenne on December 7 in proximity of Fort Dodge.

The officer is Lieutenant Reade, 3rd Infantry. John O. Austin, Chief of scouts, is on the right.

Wm. Soule took the picture within an hour after the killing.

In July of 1864 the freight company had a wagon train leave Fort Leavenworth bound for Fort Union, and Robert McGee, 13, was one of the teamsters working on this wagon train. Because of the dangers on the trail, the wagon train had a US army escort. The wagon train traveled on the Lonesome Trail. Along the way, the group had several minor skirmishes with Indians, but because of the army escort, there were no significant problems.

On July 18, the wagon train arrived in the vicinity of Fort Larned. The teamsters let their guard down, and became careless. They assumed that because of their proximity to the fort, their would be no problems, and they ended up camping about a mile from their army escort. At about 5 in the afternoon, the camp was attacked by 150 Sioux under the command of the chief Little Turtle. The men were caught completely off guard, and the group was slaughtered.

Robert was the sole survivor of the slaughter, and he remembered the details of the ordeal. Robert had been dragged by some of the Indians to Chief Little Turtle. The chief first knocked him down with a lance, and then shot him with a revolver. The chief then shot him through with two arrows, to pin him to the ground, and then scalped him. As each of the Indians passed him, they beat and stabbed him, and then he was left for dead.

The army at the nearby post heard that there were Sioux in the area, so they sent out a patrol to check things out. The patrol reached the scene of the slaughter about 2 hours after it occurred. They were shocked to see the carnage, and even more shocked to see that Robert was still alive. He was taken to Fort Larned, where the post surgeon treated his injuries.
fought in several Indian Wars. (sic). In one of the fights, he shot and killed Little Turtle

Crow prisoners under guard at Crow agency, Montana, 1887

Crazy Head / Knowing his Coos / Deaf Bull / The Bank / Looks with his Ears / Big Hail / Carries His Food / The Rock

Crow Indian Chiefs. Captured at Custer Battlefield, Montana, Nov.7th and imprisoned at Ft. Snelling, Minn. Nov. 15th 1887.

Crazy-Head, Looks-with-his-Ears, Rock, The-Man-that-carries-his-food, Bank, Deaf Bull, Big-Hail-Stone, and Crazy-Head's Son.

Crow Chiefs

1. Pretty Eagle, Principal Chief;2. Bull Nose; 3. Spotted Horse; 4. Enemy Hunter; 5. Plenty Coos; 6. Big Shoulder; and 7. Short Tail Bull