Alexander Gardner

Alexander Gardner (1821 - 1882) was born in Paisley, Scotland. In 1856 he came to the United States, and in 1858 he found work in Matthew Brady's Washington, D.C. photography studio. In 1861, Gardner was appointed to the staff of General George McClellan as a photographer. He documented the Civil War battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and the siege of Petersburg. Gardner also specialized in portrait photography, and photographed many civilians, soldiers, and politicians, including President Abraham Lincoln.

In 1866, Gardner, among others, was contracted to photograph portraits of Native American delegates visiting Washington, D. C., including members of the Iowa, Sac and Fox, Kaw (Kansa), Dakota, and Lakota tribes. In 1868, he was hired by the U. S. Government to document the peace talks taking place at Fort Laramie, Wyoming between a Congressionally appointed Peace Commission and Native American tribes of the northern plains. During this time, he photographed members of the Lakota (Teton/Western Sioux), Apsaalooke (Crow/Absaroke), Northern Tsitsistas (Northern Cheyenne), and Northern Inunaina (Northern Arapaho) tribes.

Upon his return from the peace conference, Gardner published his photographs under the title Scenes in the Indian Country. The images were distributed as prints and stereographs, and sets were given to members of the Peace Commission, including General William S. Harney (1800-1889).

Gardner became the official photographer for the Office of Indian Affairs in 1872. He died in Washington, D. C. in 1882.

Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868

The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 was intended to put an end to armed conflict between white settlers heading west on the Bozeman Trail and Native Americans led by Red Cloud of the Oglala Lakota tribe. The terms of the treaty closed the trail and promised demolition of the forts built to protect it. It also set aside extensive reservation lands for the Great Plains tribes, including the Black Hills of South Dakota. However, within nine years of the treaty’s ratification, gold was discovered in the Black Hills and Congress broke the treaty to seize tribal lands.

William S. Harney

William S. Harney (1800-1889), whose set of Scenes in the Indian Country photographs forms the basis for this collection, was a cavalry officer in the United States Army and spent much of his career stationed on the frontier. He fought in the Blackhawk War (1832), second Seminole War (1836-1841), and the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), in addition to several campaigns against American Indians in the West. He retired to St. Louis in 1863 but returned to the frontier as a member of the Peace Commission. He took part in negotiating several treaties, including the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and later oversaw the establishment of three Sioux reservations on the Missouri River.