Northern Tsitsistas (Northern Cheyenne) Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Photographs
Place:
Fort Laramie (Wyo.)
Kansas
Washington (D.C.)
Date:
1866-1868
Summary:
Alexander Gardner (1821-1882) was a photographer best known for his portraits of President Abraham Lincoln, his American Civil War photographs, and his photographs of American Indian delegations. This collection contains 61 albumen prints that were shot by Gardner circa 1866-1868 and held in General William T. Sherman's personal collection. Photographs depict American Indian tribes and Peace Commissioners involved in the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty; photographs shot along the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division in 1867; and photographs of American Indian delegations visiting Washington, D. C. from 1866-1868.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains 61 albumen prints that were shot by photographer Alexander Gardner circa 1866-1868 and held in General William T. Sherman's personal collection. Among the photographs are depictions that were shot in and around Fort Laramie, Wyoming during the 1868 peace treaty negotiations between the U.S. Government and tribal leaders from several American Indian Northern Plains tribes including Lakota (Teton/Western Sioux), Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke), Northern Tsitsistas (Northern Cheyenne), and Northern Inunaina (Northern Arapaho); survey photographs shot in Kansas in 1867 for the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division (later renamed the Kansas Pacific Railway); and portraits of American Indian delegates in Washington, D.C. including Dakota (Eastern Sioux), Kaw (Kansa), Lakota (Teton/Western Sioux), and Sac and Fox (Sauk & Fox) tribes, 1866-1868. Some of the photographs in this collection, particularly those in Series 2, may have been shot by photographers working with Gardner such as Dr. William A. Bell (1841-1921), William Redish Pywell, and Lawrence Gardner (Alexander Gardner's son).
Arrangement:
This collection is intellectually arranged in three series. Series 1: Fort Laramie, Wyoming, Series 2: Kansas Pacific Railroad, Series 3: Portraits of American Indian delegates, Washington, D.C.
The photographs are physically arranged in eight boxes according to the following: size, conservation work, and series. Within each box they are arranged by photo number. The photographs in boxes 1-4 had conservation work performed by a photo conservator in 2014.
Biographical / Historical:
Alexander Gardner (1821-1882) was a photographer best known for his portraits of President Abraham Lincoln, his American Civil War photographs, and his photographs of American Indian delegations.
Gardner was born in Paisley, Scotland on October 17, 1821 to James Gardner and Jean Glenn. He worked in a number of positions including as a jeweler, journalist, and editor before entering the field of photography circa 1855.
In 1856, Gardner immigrated to the United States with his wife Margaret Sinclair Gardner, his son Lawrence Gardner, and his daughter Eliza Gardner and later that year he began working as a photographer in Mathew Brady's gallery in New York. While working for Brady, it is thought that Gardner invented the "imperial print," a large photograph printed on approximately 21 x 17 inch paper that was often enhanced with hand-coloring and ink. Wealthy politicians and businessmen were among the clients who sat for their photographic portraits in the Brady studio and paid as much as $50- $500 per imperial print (today the equivalent of about $1,000 to 10,000).
By 1858, Gardner was managing Brady's gallery at 352 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. When the U.S. Civil War broke out in 1861, Gardner was part of Brady's photography team that documented battle aftermaths and military campsites for the Union. Gardner left the Brady studio circa late 1862 and established his own studio in Washington, D.C. where he continued photographing the war along with his brother James Gardner, and other former Brady photographers including Timothy O'Sullivan.
During the war he documented the remnants of important battle scenes including the Battle of Antietam (1862) and the Battle of Gettysburg (1863). Gardner published 100 of his Civil War images in the publication Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War. The two volume work included photographs shot by additional photographers including O'Sullivan and John Reekie.
In addition to war photography, Gardner was also a portrait photographer and photographed many civilians, soldiers, and politicians in Washington, D.C. Between the years 1861-1865, Gardner photographed President Abraham Lincoln on seven different occasions, including both inaugurations, as well as studio portrait sittings. On July 7, 1865, Gardner was the only photographer allowed to photograph the execution of four conspirators in the President Lincoln assassination.
In 1866, Gardner along with Antonio Zeno Shindler and Julian Vannerson were contracted to photograph portraits of American Indian delegates visiting Washington, D.C. Between the years 1866 to 1868, Gardner photographed many tribes in his studio including Iowa, Sac and Fox, Kaw (Kansa), Dakota, and Lakota. In 1868, Gardner was hired by the U.S. Government to serve as photographer for the peace talks that took place in Fort Laramie, Wyoming. During this trip, Gardner photographed the Lakota (Sioux), Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke), Northern Tsitsistas (Northern Cheyenne), and Northern Inunaina (Northern Arapaho) tribes. Among the government officials at Fort Laramie that Gardner photographed was General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891). Sherman served as a General for the Union Army during the Civil War and later in 1869 became the Commanding General of the U.S. Army under President Ulysses Grant's administration. A member of the Peace Commission established in 1867, Sherman traveled to negotiate treaties with American Indian Plains tribes.
Upon returning to Washington, D.C., Gardner published a set of his Fort Laramie photographs in the publication, Scenes in Indian Country. Members of the Peace Commission were given photo portfolios and it is believed that the photos in this collection may have been from General Sherman's personal set. Gardner went on to become the official photographer for the Office of Indian Affairs in 1872.
In his later years, Gardner also was involved in philanthropic causes, such as helping to establish the Masonic Mutual Relief Association which aided widows and orphans of Master Masons. He also founded the Saint John's Mite Association which provided aid to the poor in Washington, D.C.
Alexander Gardner died in Washington, D.C. in 1882.
Related Materials:
Alexander Gardner photographs are housed in many archival and museum repositories. Photographs from the Scenes in Indian Country series are also held in the Newberry Library in Chicago, the Missouri Historical Society, the Minnesota Historical Society, and the St. Louis Mercantile Library in Missouri.
Provenance:
The photographs in this collection were originally owned by General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) and may have been part of a portfolio of photographs that Alexander Gardner gifted to Sherman and other Fort Laramie Treaty peace commissioners. Photographs were then donated to the Museum of the American Indian (MAI) by Sherman's son P(hilemon) Tecumseh Sherman (1867-1941) in May 1932 and by Sherman's granddaughter Eleanor Sherman Fitch (1876-1959) in March 1942.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Thursday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Rights:
Some images restricted: Cultural Sensitivity
Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); William T. Sherman collection of Alexander Gardner photographs, P#####; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Correspondence between Read family members, Thomas Buchanan Read, Mary Pratt Read, Mary Alice Read, and Harriet Denison Butler Read, and notable military, literary, political, and artistic figures, particluarly of the 19th century. Correspondents include Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Edwin Church, William Whiteman Fosdick, Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, Ludwig Knaus, Hiram Powers, Thomas Addison Richards, Randolph Rogers, John Sartain, William Wetmore Story, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, Philip Sheridan, James Garfield, and William Tecumseh Sherman, among others.
Biographical / Historical:
Thomas Buchanan Read was a poet, a portrait and history painter, and sometime sculptor, and worked in the U.S. and abroad.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1979 by Denison L. Burton.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Papers document General William Babcock Hazen's military career, primarily through correspondence, photographs, and publications.
Scope and Contents:
The General William Babcock Hazen Collection, 1856-1905, consists of approximately four cubic feet of material. Collection materials include biographical, correspondence (military and family), documents on the Greely Arctic Expedition, photographs, stereographs, and material on General Hazen's book, A Narrative of Military Service.
Arrangement:
This collection is divided into six series.
Series 1, Biographical Materials, 1885-1867
Series 2, Correspondence and Military Forms 1856-1886 and undated
Series 3, Correspondence to General William Babcock Hazen, 1861-1887
Series 4, Correspondence of Hazen Family, 1858-1909
Series 5, Photographs, 1864-1881
Series 6, Publications, 1865-1886
Biographical / Historical:
General William Babcock Hazen was born September 27, 1830 in West Hartford, Vermont. Four years later, the family moved to a farm outside Hiram, Portage County, Ohio where he attended school with James A. Garfield. Hazen's goal was service in the Army, and he wrote his congressman for admission to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Hazen graduated in 1855, twenty-eighth out of a class of thirty-four.
After graduation, General Hazen was assigned as Brevet Second Lieutenant, Company D, Fourth Infantry, Redding, California. After arriving in California, he was ordered to Fort Lane in the Oregon Territory. Lieutenant Hazen was authorized to establish a command at Grand Ronde and build a blockhouse that became the post Fort Yamhill, located west of Portland, Oregon. On April 20, 1857, he was transferred to Fort Jones, California, and then ordered to join the Eighth Infantry, Fort Davis, Texas. Hazen was transferred to Fort Inge, Texas, to protect a road from San Antonio to Eagle Pass. During a chase, Hazen was wounded by a bullet that was not removed. The lingering effect of the bullet wound would cause him frequent pain.
During the period of service in Texas, Hazen reportedly gained leadership experience, practical military knowledge, and considerable confidence in his own abilities. Following twelve months of convalescence, Hazen was nominated assistant instructor of military tactics at West Point on January 28, 1861. He was promoted to First Lieutenant on April 1861 and captain on May 14, 1861. Colonel James A. Garfield influenced the appointment of Hazen as colonel in command of the newly organized forty-first Ohio Volunteer Regiment. Hazen quickly transformed the regiment's inexperienced personnel into a firmly disciplined body. The intensive training paid large dividends later in the war, and he always held the regiment in high regard.
As brigade and division commander, General Hazen led troops in many important battles and campaigns: Shiloh (Place of Peace), Stones River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, Resaca, Picketts Mill, Jonesboro, Fort McAllister, and Bentonville. On December 13, 1864, Hazen was appointed a major general of volunteers in recognition of long and faithful service and the capture of Fort McAllister. It was after the performance of his troops at Fort McAllister that a friendly relationship developed with General William T. Sherman. With the capitulation of the Confederate armies in spring of 1865, Hazen's division and the Army of the Tennessee left North Carolina where they saw their last fighting. The destination was Washington, D.C., site of a two-day grand review of the victorious Union Armies. On May 19, 1865 Hazen was elevated to commander of the Fifteenth Corps. After a thirty day furlough, he held command of the District of Middle Tennessee until the following summer. In July 1866, Hazen returned west.
In August 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant granted Hazen indefinite leave to observe the Franco-Prussian War. He viewed several battles and personally interviewed Otto von Bismarck and General Helmut von Moltke. Observations and research convinced Hazen that the United States Army was mismanaged and lacked tactical and logistical organization.
Before returning to the Sixth Infantry command, Hazen married Mildred McLean, the twenty-one year-old daughter of prominent Cincinnati Enquirer owner Washington McLean. A son John was born in 1876, but died at the age of twenty-two in 1898.
In June 1877, Hazen was appointed military attaché to the United States Legation in Vienna, Austria, and assigned as military observer of the Russo-Turkish War that had started in April 1877.
In 1878 Colonel Stanley accused Colonel Hazen of perjury and cowardice in the Civil War and requested a court-martial. Colonel Hazen retaliated by formally requesting that Stanley be arraigned by a court-martial on charges of publishing and circulating libelous material against him. On March 19, 1879, General Sherman reluctantly recommended that both generals be arraigned by the same court-martial. The New York Tribune reported "inasmuch as by the decisions of the court-martial Hazen has secured a substantial vindication." Hazen returned to Fort Buford.
While on detached service in Washington, D.C., Hazen actively campaigned for James A. Garfield for president. On August 24, 1880, General Albert James Myer, Chief of the Army Signal Corps, died, opening up a staff position subject to presidential appointment. President Rutherford B. Hayes, after consulting with President-elect Garfield, announced the promotion of Hazen to the rank of brigadier general and appointment as chief signal officer. One of Hazen's lasting legacies in this new role was advancing the development of meteorological science in the Army Signal Corps.
In May 1880, Lady Franklin Bay in northern Canada was chosen as the site for a signal service polar station, one of several conducted by eleven nations for the first International Polar Year (1882-1883). The initial two-year expedition set out in 1881 under the command of Regular Army First Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely, a Civil War veteran from Massachusetts. The twenty-five man party did not get relief from the long winter in 1882, and a second rescue attempt was disrupted by ice. In September 1883, Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln, decided it was too late to send another relief party and they were left to spend a third winter in the Arctic. The demoralized party was forced to march south in search of supplies and landed at Cape Sabine, spending the next eight months in desperate circumstances. In June 1884, rescuers finally reached them and found only Greely and seven others alive. The remaining expedition members froze or starved to death.
Hazen never forgave Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln for his inaction with the Greely Arctic Expedition, and in 1884 Lincoln censured Hazen for his criticism. Hazen replied to Lincoln by letter, which was returned with a warning to keep the matter private. Hazen went to the press and stated in a published account that he wrote such a letter. He immediately found himself ordered before another court-martial, resulting in a reprimand by President Chester A. Arthur for "unwarranted and captious criticism." Greely supported Hazen's position. In 1885, Hazen produced A Narrative of Military Service, a report devoted to the defense of his Civil War record and personal reputation.
Health problems-diabetes and recurring pain from his bullet wound-forced Hazen to obtain a 12-month leave of absence from his military service. On January 13, 1887, he attended a White House reception where he caught a cold. He died on January 16, 1887, at the age of fifty-six.
Provenance:
In 1985, the Smithsonian received from the Estate of Fredrick McLean Bugher, grandnephew of General Hazen's wife Mildred McLean Hazen, manuscripts and letters concerning General Hazen. Part of the collection was rescued by a private individual from a Lorton, Virginia land fill and sold to the Smithsonian in 1987 in two sections. The first section contained material about the career of General William Babcock Hazen as chief signal officer of the United States Army. The second section contained manuscript materials related to Hazen's duties on the frontier and Indian tribes covering the period of 1855 to 1860, and from 1866 to 1880. Also included are family letters and land holdings in the Midwest.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Rights situation uncertain, but most of the collection is probably in the public domain due to its age.
Topic:
Arctic regions -- Discovery and exploration -- 1880-1890 Search this
