Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Tintypes
Chromolithographs
Lithographs
Prints
Pages
Photographs
Newspapers
Woodcuts
Place:
Mexico
Taos Pueblo (N.M.)
California
Oregon
Fort Davis (Tex.)
New Mexico
Fort Snelling (Minn.)
Arizona
Texas
San Juan Pueblo (N.M.)
Zuni (N.M.)
Kansas
Colorado
Date:
circa 1863-1900
Summary:
Scrapbook entitled "Our Wild Indians in Peace and War: Surveys, Expeditions, Mining and Scenery of the Great West," compiled by James E. Taylor, possibly as a source for his own illustrations.
Scope and Contents:
Scrapbook entitled "Our Wild Indians in Peace and War: Surveys, Expeditions, Mining and Scenery of the Great West," compiled by James E. Taylor, possibly as a source for his own illustrations. The album includes photographs (mostly albumen with three tintypes), newsclippings, wood engravings, and lithographs, some of which are reproductions of Taylor's own illustrations and paintings. Photographs depict American Indians, US Army soldiers and scouts, historical sites, forts, and scenery. Some were made on expeditions, including the Hayden and Powell surveys, and created from published stereographs. Many of Taylor's illustrations are signed, and some are inscribed with dates and "N. Y." The scrapbook also includes clippings from newspapers and other written sources relating to illustrations and photographs in the album.
Biographical Note:
James E. Taylor (1839-1901) was an artist-correspondent for Leslie's Illustrated Weekly Newspaper from 1863-1883. Born in Cincinatti, Ohio, he graduated from Notre Dame University by the age of sixteen. Taylor enlisted in the 10th New York Infantry in 1861 and the next year was hired by Leslie's Illustrated newspaper as a "Special Artist" and war correspondent. In 1864 he covered the Shenandoah Valley campaign, and was later one of the illustrator-correspondents at the 1867 treaty negotiations at Medicine Lodge, Kansas. He soon earned the moniker "Indian Artist" because of his vast number of drawings of American Indians. In 1883 Taylor retired from Leslie's to work as a freelance illustrator. Colonel Richard Irving Dodge used Taylor's drawings to illustrate his memoir, "Our Wild Indians: Thirty-three Years' Personal Experience among the Red Men of the Great West" (1882).
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 4605
Related Materials:
The National Anthropolgical Archives holds additional photographs by photographers represented in this collection (including original negatives for some of these prints), particularly in Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 37, Photo Lot 60, Photo Lot 87.
Additional photographs by Whitney, Gardner, and Barry held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 80-18.
Julian Vannerson and James E. McClees photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 4286.
Pywell photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 4498.
O'Sullivan photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo lot 4501.
Additional Hillers photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 83-18 and Photo Lot 87-2N.
Provenance:
Donated or transferred by John Witthoft from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, April 14, 1961.
REEL NOR 1: Correspondence, including letters and cards from Remington to his wife, Eva Adele Caten Remington, and with admirers and associates, including Edwin Austin Abbey, Albert J. Beveridge, Poultney Bigelow, Frederick Stuart Church, Powhatan Clark, Samuel L. Clemens, Royal Cortissoz, Homer Davenport, Richard H. Davis, Gen. George A.Forsyth, Childe Hassam, John Hay, A. Barton Hepburn, Arthur Hoeber, W. D. Howells, Carter P. Johnson, Rudyard Kipling, Daniel S. Lamont, Nelson A. Miles,W.L. Palmer, Howard Pyle, Julian Ralph, Theodore Roosevelt, Owen Wister, Gen. Leonard Wood, admirers and associates; and catalogs.
REEL 902: 11 brief letters from Remington to his friend Julian Ralph, and 1 letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Daniel W. Lord regarding Lord's apparent interest in New Mexico; a poem in Remington's hand; an autographed menu from a dinner of the Authors Club, New York City; and dedications in books written by Remington.
REEL 3470: A photocopy of a letter from Remington to "My Dear Colonel," March 21, 1903.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, sculptor, etcher, and illustrator New Rochelle, New York and Ridgefield, Connecticut.
Provenance:
Material on reel NOR 1 lent for microfilming by the Ogdenburg Public Library and Remington Memorial, 1956. Material on reel 902 lent for microfilming by Mr. & Mrs. Robert Benkert and Louis Fisher, 1974. Material on reel 3470 donated by Mrs. Miles Reber, 1981.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The collection brings together images by well-known Western photographers such as A.F. Randall, John Grabill, C.S. Fly, Stanley Morrow, Ben Wittick and John Choate. Primarily images of famous Indian leaders, as well as other portraits and scenes.
Arrangement note:
Negatives: organized in individual sleeves; arranged by negative number
Prints: organized in folders; arranged by print number
Biographical/Historical note:
General Nelson A. Miles fought for the Union in some of the Civil War's most crucial battles, including Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and the Appomatox campaign. Wounded four times, he rose in rank to become a major general of volunteers and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his personal bravery at Chancellorsville. After the Civil War, Miles played a leading role in nearly every phase of the army's campaign against the tribes of the Great Plains. Three of the greatest Indian leaders---Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, and Geronimo---surrendered to him. In 1874-1875, he was a field commander in the force that defeated the Kiowa, Comanche and Southern Cheyenne along the Red River. In 1876-1877, he led the winter campaign that scoured the northern Plains after Custer's defeat at the Little Bighorn, forcing the Lakota and their allies onto reservations. Then, in the winter of 1877, he drove his troops on a forced march across Montana to intercept the Nez Percé band led by Chief Joseph that had eluded or defeated every unit sent against it over the course of a 1,500 mile retreat from Oregon to the Canadian border.
The 1890 Ghost Dance "uprising" on the Lakota reservations brought Miles back into the field once again. In an effort to restore peace throughout the area, Miles directed troop movements that inadvertently panicked many Lakota bands into leaving their reservations and led both to Sitting Bull's death and to the massacre of Big Foot's band at Wounded Knee. Miles reacted to these developments by working aggressively to implement his longstanding belief that the Lakota should be forcibly disarmed and placed under military control. In his later years, Miles commanded the troops that put down the Pullman strike riots in 1894, and was commander of the army during the Spanish-American War. He retired from service in 1903, confirmed in his belief that graduates of West Point had an unfair advantage in promotion and were on the whole less capable of command than those who rose through the ranks as he had.
Restrictions:
Access is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment.
Rights:
Copyright: National Museum of the American Indian
Citation:
General Nelson A. Miles collection, 1869-1892, National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution (negative, slide or catalog number).
Report of an expedition from Fort Colville to Puget Sound, Washington Territory, by way of Lake Chelan and Skagit River, during the months of August and September, 1882 / made by First Lieut. Henry H. Pierce ... under the orders of Brig. Gen. Nelson A. Miles, commanding the Department of the Columbia
Author:
United States Army Department of the Columbia Search this
Personal recollections and observations of General Nelson A. Miles embracing a brief view of the Civil War, or, From New England to the Golden Gate : and the story of his Indian campaigns, with comments on the exploration, development and progress of our great western empire / copiously illustrated with graphic pictures by Frederic Remington and other eminent artists
Nelson A. Miles, a documentary biography of his military career, 1861-1903 / edited by Brian C. Pohanka in collaboration with John M. Carroll ; foreword by Robert M. Utley
Personal recollections and observations of General Nelson A. Miles, embracing a brief view of the Civil War; or, From New England to the Golden gate, and the story of his Indian campaigns, with comments on the exploration, development and progress of our great western empire; copiously illustrated with graphic pictures by Frederic Remington and other eminent artists
