Native American Chiefs, Ca. 1865
Year: 1865
Location: Western U.S.
Of course, we can’t have a photo collage of the Wild, Wild West without include the “Indian” side of “Cowboys and Indians” (though the appropriate word is Native American or indigenous people). This photograph shows Native American chiefs smiling together around 1865. These persons were members of the Ponca Indian Delegation. The Ponca Tribe were the victims of the Trail of Tears, so there is a sense of melancholy in this photograph, knowing what would happen to these courageous warriors and their people.
Native American Chiefs, Ca. 1865
Apache Indian Prisoners, 1886
Year: 1886
Location: Nueces River, Texas
This will come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with history (or has simply caught a passing episode on the History Channel), but Native Americans were treated horribly throughout the Wild, Wild West. This photograph depicts Apache prisoners who were arrested on their way to Florida. This photograph depicts Geronimo, one of the most well-known Native American chiefs of all time. The majority of these prisoners were imprisoned in St. Augustine at Fort Marion, but others were eventually transported to Alabama in the late 1880s.
Apache Indian Prisoners, 1886
