American postcard by AZUSA Publishing, Inc., Englewood, Colorado, no. 99, 2000. Photo: William Henry Jackson, September 1882. Caption: Ute Indians, Exposition Hall, Southern Ute.
The first National Mining & Industrial Exposition, established to promote the economic success within Colorado, was held in Denver at Exposition Hall east of Broadway on the road now known as Exposition Avenue. Pictured is a delegation of Southern Ute with Agent Warren Patten (back row, fifth from right), Thomas White (interpreter), and Sevaro (back row, 6th from left). The silk top hats worn by the Indians were presented to them as gifts.
American postcard by AZUSA Publishing, Inc., Englewood, Colorado, no. 124, 2000. Photo: David Notman, 1885. Caption: Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill.
Sitting Bull made only one tour with William F. Cody's Wild West Show - this photograph was taken during that tour. Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake (1831-1890), better known as Sitting Bull, was a leader of the Hunkpapa Sioux in the United States. In 1876, Sitting Bull led 3,500 Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors against the U.S. 7th Cavalry, led by General George Armstrong Custer, at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. After the battle, Sitting Bull led his tribe to Canada. He remained there until 1880. Due to a food shortage, Sitting Bull surrendered to American troops along with the last refugees at Fort Buford, Montana, in 1881. The US government granted him amnesty. Sitting Bull later toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, where he was a popular attraction.
American postcard by AZUSA Publishing, Inc., Englewood, Colorado, no. 126, 2000. Photo. David F. Barry, 1898. Caption: Annie Oakley, 'Little Sure Shot' (1860-1926).
Annie Oakley joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and toured for 17 years. Many of her shooting records remain unequalled to this day.
American postcard by AZUSA Publishing, Inc., Englewood, Colorado, no. 131, 2000. Photo: J.A. Anderson, 1900. Caption: High Horse, Tasunke Wankatuya, Brulée Sioux Chief (1852-1890).
High Horse was from Two Strikes' camp in the southern part of Rosebud Agency District and often represented his people as an orator.
American postcard by AZUSA Publishing, Inc., Englewood, Colorado, no. 132, 2000. Photo: John A. Anderson, 1900. Caption: Hollow Horn Bear, "Mato He Hlogeco", Brulé Sioux Chief (1850-1913).
A principal war leader during the Plains Wars of the 1860s, and victorious over Lt. Fetterman in 1866. Hollow Horn Bear, son of Chief Iron Shell, was also a respected orator. He is pictured on the 1922 14c stamp.
American postcard by AZUSA Publishing, Inc., Englewood, Colorado, no. 371, 1995. Photo: William Henry Jackson, 1868. Caption: Wa-co-mo, Sac and Fox.
The Sac or Sauk and Fox people have long been known for their cultural independence. Despite the many hardships that they have faced over the years, which included losing the majority of their land and people, they have remained a viable group who are proud of their ancestors and heritage. Originally from the Lake Huron and Lake Michigan area, they are now based in central Oklahoma. The Sauk and Fox were originally two distinct groups. During the 1700s, a French attack on the Foxes caused the two tribes to join forces and form a close alliance, which helped to affect unification. The Sauk and Fox adapted their Eastern Woodland culture to the Midwestern prairies. Seasonal buffalo hunting on horseback for food became important. Their hunting expeditions extended south and west to the Missouri River. The women tended gardens of corn, beans, and squash and gathered edible wild plants, nuts, berries, and tubers in their season.
At the turn of the nineteenth century, the Sauk and Fox numbered about six thousand people. One of the largest Indian villages in North America was Saukenuk, located between the Rock and Mississippi rivers in Illinois. At this time, it included approximately 4,000 Sauk and Fox people. The Treaty of 1804 ceded all this land to the government, ultimately leading to the Black Hawk War in 1832. Black Hawk did not believe this treaty was valid and vowed not to give in to the government. His autobiography was published in 1872. Black Hawk said, "How smooth must be the languages of the whites. When they can make right look like wrong and wrong like right." Mokohoko was a leader when the removal of the Sauk and Foxes from Kansas took place in 1869. Mokohoko and some 200 followers refused to go to Oklahoma.
American postcard by AZUSA Publishing, Inc., Englewood, Colorado, no. 401, 2000. Photo: O.S. Goff, 1873. Caption: Custer, Fellow officers and friends, Fort Abraham Lincoln.
Custer (third from left), donning the "long hair" which became a legend among the Indians he fought and the men he led, poses in front of the Custer home, with many of the officers who fell with him at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
American postcard by AZUSA Publishing, Inc., Englewood, Colorado, no. 414, 2001. Photo: Rodman Wanamaker, 1913. Caption: Hairy Moccasin, Isapi-Wishish, Crow Scout (1854-1922).
Eminent warrior and brave, Hairy Moccasin enlisted in Lt. James Bradley's detachment of Indian scouts on April 10, 1876, for service with the 7th Infantry. He also served under General Gibbons, Miles Howard, and most notably, George Custer. Traversing the difficult and dangerous route from the little Rosebud to the valley of the Sioux Camp, it was Hairy Moccasin who, from the Crow's Nest, first observed and reported to Custer the size and position of the hostile encampment within the valley of the Little Bighorn.
American postcard by AZUSA Publishing, Inc., Englewood, Colorado, no. 604, 1994. Caption: Calamity Jane, Martha Jane Canary Burke, Frontierswoman (1852-1903).
Expert with a horse and rifle, and often clad in men's clothes, Jane warned that to offend her was to court calamity. She was associated with the 7th Cavalry and scouted for Lt. Colonel George Custer. During the 1880s, Jane travelled with several Wild West Shows. She enjoyed men and alcohol and led a rip-roaring life from Kansas to Montana.
American postcard by AZUSA Publishing, Inc., Englewood, Colorado, no. 605, 1994. Photo: Ralph Russell Doubleday, 1913. Caption: Sharkey - The Famous Bucking Bull. "You only have to stay on for eight seconds."
Rodeo bulls are huge (2000 pounds or more), unpredictable and mean. After throwing a cowboy into the dirt, these bulls are known to hunt down and hook the unsuccessful rider. More cowboys are injured riding bulls than in other rodeo events.
American postcard by AZUSA Publishing, Inc., Englewood, Colorado, no. 607 2000. Photo: Elliott & Fry, 1887 / The Annie Oakley Foundation, Greenville, Ohio. Caption: Annie's lifelong Motto.
The Annie Oakley Motto
Aim at a high mark and you will hit it.
No, not the first time, nor the second and
maybe not the third. But keep on aiming
and keep on shooting, for only practice
will make you perfect. Finally, you'll
hit the Bull's Eye of Success.
Annie Oakley
American postcard by AZUSA Publishing, Inc., Englewood, Colorado, no. 608. Photo: photographer unknown, 1914. Caption: Pancho Villa and his gasoline charger..
Known as the 'Little Napoleon' of the Mexican Republic, Pancho Villa displays his 'gasolene charger', an Indian motorcycle. In April of 1914, Villa replaced his cavalry with motorcycles for his advance on the city of Torreón.
American postcard by AZUSA Publishing, Inc., Englewood, Colorado, no. 610, 2000. Photo. J.E. Stimson, 1907. Caption: Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, Grand Entry.
The American Wild West became legendary in its own time due to Buffalo Bill's vision, bringing the action and personalities of the Old West to audiences around the world. Cody is credited with inventing both the rodeo and the Wild West Show in North Platte, Nebraska, during a July 4th Celebration amply termed the "Old Glory Blowout". Later that year, the first Wild West Show premiered in Columbus, Nebraska, and performances continued for 31 years until 1913.
American postcard by AZUSA Publishing, Inc., Englewood, Colorado, no. 611, 1998. Photo: John. H. Fouch, 1877. Caption: Yellowstone Kelly, Scout (1849-1928).
Luther Sage "Yellowstone" Kelly captivated the public's imagination through his heroic exploits during the closing campaigns of the Plains Indian Wars. Kelly served as chief of scouts for Colonel Nelson A. Miles of Fort Keogh, Montana Territory, district of the Yellowstone.
Three paintings that capture the spirit of the Wild West
The American West has long captivated artists, inspiring a unique genre of artwork that immortalises the spirit of cowboys and their rugged lifestyle. From the sweeping landscapes to the challenges faced on the open range, these paintings reflect the essence of a time when cattle drives and frontier life defined a nation. Among the most iconic works are those that depict the deep connection between cowboys and their environment, showcasing not just their strength but also their vulnerability. Artists like Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Remington, and Henry F. Farny have left an indelible mark on this genre.
American postcard by Ed. Garamond / Pridemark Press, Inc., Baltimore. 'The Last of the Buffalo' (Albert Bierstadt, c. 1889), Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) was a German American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the westward expansion to paint the scenes. He was not the first artist to record the sites, but he was the foremost painter of them for the remainder of the 19th century. In 1859, Bierstadt travelled westward in the company of Frederick W. Lander, a land surveyor for the U.S. government. In 1863, Bierstadt travelled west again, this time with the author Fitz Hugh Ludlow, whose wife he later married. The pair spent seven weeks in the Yosemite Valley. Throughout the 1860s, Bierstadt used studies from this trip as the source for large-scale exhibition paintings, and he continued to visit the American West throughout his career. The immense canvases he produced after his trips with Lander and Ludlow established him as the preeminent painter of the western American landscape. Bierstadt's technical proficiency, earned through his study of European landscape, was crucial to his success as a painter of the American West and accounted for his popularity in disseminating views of the Rocky Mountains to those who had not seen them.
American postcard. Picture: 'Halt, Dismount! (Frederic Remington, 1901), Timken Art Gallery, Putnam Foundation Collection.
At 19, Frederic Remington (1861-1909) made his first trip west, going to Montana. In the American West of 1881, he saw the vast prairies, the quickly shrinking bison herds, the still unfenced cattle, and the last major confrontations of US Cavalry and Native American tribes, scenes he had imagined since his childhood. He also hunted grizzly bears with Montague Stevens in New Mexico in 1895. It gave Remington a more authentic view of the West than some of the later artists and writers who followed in his footsteps. His first one-man show, in 1890, presented twenty-one paintings at the American Art Galleries and was very well received. With success all but assured, Remington became established in society. His personality, his 'pseudo-cowboy' speaking manner, and his 'Wild West' reputation were strong social attractions. Remington's painting 'A Misdeal' made its Hollywood debut in John Ford’s Western Hell Bent (1918).
Scott Winterrowd, in his essay 'A Misdeal and the Movies': "In the film’s opening sequence, a writer receives a letter requesting that when writing his next story, he should make the hero, 'a more ordinary man, as bad as he is good. The public is already tired of such men in novels who embody every virtue. Everyone knows such people do not exist.' The author folds up the letter, rises thoughtfully from his chair, and walks over to a framed image of 'A Misdeal'. As he considers the message, the camera moves in on 'A Misdeal' to frame Remington’s composition more closely. The action comes to life with the next intertitle reading, “What happened?” While characters attend to the central figure standing shot and holding his chest, another intertitle reads, 'The Stranger says there was cheating!' Harry Carey’s character, the presumed cheat Cheyenne Harry, then gallops across the dunes in an escape that sets up his storyline as the requested 'good-bad' hero."
American postcard by Ed. Garamond / Pridemark Press, Inc., Baltimore. Picture: The Indian Bear Hunter (Henry F. Farny, 1911), Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
The work of American artist Henry François Farny (1847–1916) was centred on the life of Native Americans in the 19th-century United States. Between 1867 and 1870, he took private lessons from Albert Bierstadt. He used his newfound skills in the service of poster painting and other odd jobs. In 1881, inspired by the developing market for Indian paintings, Farny travelled up the Missouri River, making sketches, taking notes, photographing, and collecting artefacts. On several more trips West, he did the same, until his Cincinnati studio contained enough material for almost any Indian subject he wished to illustrate. About 100 paintings were inspired by Farny's western trips in the 1880s. 'Ration Day at Standing Rock Agency', 'The Song of the Talking Wire', and 'The Last Vigil' are among his most famous. His understanding of the Indian's plight is often apparent in his work.
Three pioneers of the Western
British postcard in the Novelty Series, no. D6-6. Photo: Essanay Films..
American actor, writer, film director, and film producer Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson (1880-1971) was the first star of the Western. Anderson played three roles in the first Western, The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903). He directed and starred in almost 400 Broncho Billy films over seven years.
Broncho Billy was born Maxwell Henry Aaronson in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, in 1880. He was the sixth child of Henry and Esther (Ash) Aronson. His family was Jewish, his father's parents having emigrated to the United States from Prussia, and his mother's from the Russian Empire. He lived in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, until he was 8, when he moved with his family to St. Louis, Missouri. When he was 18, he moved to New York City and appeared in vaudeville and the theatre, supplementing his income as a photographer's model and newspaper vendor. In 1903, he met Edwin S. Porter, a former Edison Studios cameraman. He worked as a model in Edwin S. Porter's one-reeler, Messenger Boy's Mistake (1902) for Edison Studios. Next, Anderson played three roles in Porter's early short film The Great Train Robbery (1903), as a bandit, as a tenderfoot dancer and as the train passenger shot by bandits as he tries to escape. Though a Western, the outdoor scenes were filmed in Milltown, New Jersey. Wikipedia: "At ten minutes long, The Great Train Robbery is considered a milestone in filmmaking, expanding on Porter's previous work Life of an American Fireman (1903). The film used a number of unconventional techniques, including composite editing, on-location shooting, and frequent camera movement. The film is one of the earliest to use the technique of cross-cutting, in which two scenes are shown to be occurring simultaneously but in different locations."
Film historians now largely consider The Great Train Robbery to be the first American action film and the first Western. It became the first blockbuster and was one of the most popular films of the silent era until the release of The Birth of a Nation in 1915. Seeing the film for the first time at a vaudeville theatre and being overwhelmed by the audience's reaction, Anderson decided to work in the film industry exclusively. He then began playing a variety of roles until he joined Vitagraph several months later, where he began directing as well as acting in one-reelers, including the hit Raffles, The American Cracksman (1905). Robert S. Birchard in The Encyclopedia of Early Cinema: "Raffles (...) was well received, but he had strong ideas about the pictures he wanted to make and decided to become his own producer." In 1907, Anderson and George K. Spoor founded Essanay Studios ('S and A' for Spoor and Anderson), one of the major early film studios. They began in Chicago, but eventually opened studios in California, where they produced a series of short comedies featuring Ben Turpin. During the same year, Anderson played Broncho Billy for the first time in The Bandit Makes Good. The film was a great success, and Anderson became the first film cowboy star, 'Broncho Billy.' He acted in over 300 short films and played a wide variety of characters, but he gained his enormous popularity from a series of 148 silent Western shorts.
American Artura postcard. Collection: Marle Pilaete. Red Wing: The first Native American film star.
Red Wing was born Lilian St. Cyr on the 13th of February 1884 in Thurston County, on the Native American Winnebago Reservation. She had French Canadians among her ancestors, hence her family name. Orphaned at an early age, she spent several years in boarding schools and graduated from the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1902. In 1905, she married James Young Johnson. As Wild West Shows were all the craze at the time, the couple decided to go into show business. They joined the cast of 'Pioneer Days: A Spectacle Drama of Western Life', a Wild West extravaganza which opened in November 1906 at the Hippodrome Theatre in New York. After it closed in mid-1907, they soon teamed with Luther Standing Bear a.k.a. Chief Charging Hawk and took their show on the road. Lilian St. Cyr and James Young Johnson thus became Red Wing and Young Deer, names that were better suited to their stage performances.
As the 20th Century’s first decade was coming to an end, Red Wing and Young Deer turned to films. Westerns were then in vogue, and people who could play Native Americans were in demand. They got leading roles in The Falling Arrow (1909) at Lubin, and they were hired afterwards by the Bison company. For them, Red Wing was featured in, for example, A True Indian’s Heart (1909), Half-Breed’s Treachery (1909), The Red Girl’s Romance (1910), Perils of the Plains (1910), … Her growing popularity led Bison to churn out a special series of 'Red Wing movies', such as Red Wing’s Gratitude (1909), Red Wing’s Loyalty (1910), Red Wing’s Constancy (1910), For the Love of Red Wing (1910), Red Wing and the White Girl (1910) and The Flight of Red Wing (1910).
After their stay at Bison, the couple signed with Pathé, and Young Deer soon became the manager of their West Coast studios in Ellendale. For Pathé, Red Wing starred in movies such as The Red Girl and the Child (1910), The Yaqui Girl (1910), Silver Leaf’s Heart (1911), The Cheyenne’s Bride (1911), Romance of the Desert (1911), Swiftwind’s Heroism (1912), For the Papoose (1912), A Redskin’s Appeal (1912), The Squawman’s Sweetheart (1912), The Wooing of White Fawn (1912), The Winning of White Dove (1912), General Scott’s Protégé (1913), A Redskin’s Mercy (1913), The Faithless Friend (1913), … Although she had to comply with some Native American stereotypes, she always sought to bring the most authenticity she could to her portrayals. After Pathé had decided to stop producing in the U.S.A. and to turn to distributing, Red Wing got her most famous role in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Squaw Man (1914) at the Lasky Company. Her performance as the self-sacrificing Nat-U-Rich got her very good reviews. She was then featured in the Selig movie In the Days of the Thundering Herd (1914), opposite Tom Mix.
Dutch postcard, no. P. 13730. Photo: M.G.M. Cecil B. DeMille (right) and Chief Little Bison.
Producer-director Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959) made 70 silent and sound films and is seen as a founding father of the American cinema. His first film was The Squaw Man (Oscar Apfel, Cecil B. DeMille, 1914), with Dustin Farnum in the lead role. It was also the first full-length feature film shot in Hollywood. Its interracial love story made it commercially successful, and it first publicised Hollywood as the home of the American film industry. The Squaw Man, based on a play, lacks excitement and real drama. Accounts of the production state that Oscar Apfel handled the technical side of things, whereas DeMille coached the actors.
In comparison, DeMille's first feature as a solo director, The Virginian (1914), is a far more solid production. The principal players from The Squaw Man carried over into The Virginian, including Dustin Farnum as the hero and his wife Winifred Kingston as the first of the Western's crinoline heroine, schoolmarm Molly Wood. A lot of what became cliché in the Western was original here. Owen Wister's novel The Virginian was the first of the adult Western fiction that spawned the careers of such writers as Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour.
Sources: the postcards, Marlene Pilaete (EFSP), Scott Winterrowd (Sir Richardson Museum), Robert S. Birchard (The Encyclopedia of Early Cinema), Michael Dickey (Missouri Encyclopedia), Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri, Rens van Maasakker (ISGeschiedenis - Dutch), Wikipedia and IMDb.
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