The over-all layout oi' the lorl eonforiiis. and such mi- 

 nute details as the gai)lc windows and chimneys of the 

 ofticers' quarters on the Iclt of the parade ground and 

 the two-story verandas on the enlisted i^arracks op- 

 posite are absolutely correct.^'' The familiar stables, 

 corral, wood piles, and hay piles — the latter sur- 

 rounded by a stone wall as jirotection against grass 

 hre in the dry months — are readily discerniijle (fig. 

 8). The low stone ijuildings and corral in the right 

 centerground probal)ly are part of the original struc- 

 tures of Cantonment T(jngue River. The small 

 shacks to the left of them probably are the homes of 

 the civilian hangers-on who founded Miles City in 

 1876 after being ejected from the post i)y Col. Nelson 

 Miles, the commander of the 5th Infantry. The first 

 site of Miles City can l)c seen in the upper right corner 

 on the banks of the Tongue. The town was moved 

 across the river in 1877. The mounted drill in the 

 foreground is difficult to explain in a period when and 

 in an area where the troops were almost constantly in 

 the field under combat conditions. Perhaps it is mere 

 window dressing by the artist. It is entirely possil)le, 

 however, that Stieffel has pictured elements of his 

 own regiment, which w-as mounted from 1877 until 

 after the surrender of Sitting Bull in 1881. Being 

 basically infantry they would be most in need of 

 training in mounted tactics. Then again, these could 

 be legitimate cavalry whose commander thought had 

 wandered too far from regulation movements during 

 the unorthodox winter warfare they had been waging 

 against the Indians. 



The view of Miles City (fig. 9) has little importance 

 in a military sense, but it is a fine contemporary view 

 of a frontier town of the period. It is proijaiJy the 

 product of a spring afternoon Stieflfel spent along the 

 banks of the Tongue. It was painted before 1880 — 

 a wooden bridge had replaced the ferry by that 

 year'" — and probably as early as 1878, for the town 

 grew rapidly and StiefTel pictures only two streets. 

 Main and Park, running at right angles. The town is 



corrcctlv placed in a grove of cottonwoods, and low to 

 the river as evidenced by the almost annual Hooding 

 of the streets.'^ Structures which can lie readily 

 identified, reading from left to right on Main Street, 

 are the Diamond D corral visible near the ferry land- 

 ing; the town stockade which StiefTel has either 

 misplaced or which was later moved; Major Bo- 

 chardt's store, the white two-story building; Broad- 

 water, Hubbel and Co., the brown two-story structure 

 next right; the Cottage Saloon at the corner of Main 

 and Park Streets, just to the right of the flag pole; 

 and Morris Cahn's drygoods emporiutn on Park 

 Street, in the right centerground, that can be 

 identified by C'.ahn's name on the false front. ''^ 



A Note on Stieffel's Indians 



In seven of his nine paintings StiefTel has executed 

 his Indian subjects in colorful detail and with some 

 care. Although he apparently did not know his sub- 

 jects well enough to distinguish them by tribe, he does 

 depict them in typical dress of the period. Many of 

 them arc wearing German silver ornaments of various 

 designs ajjout their necks, on strips of flannel attached 

 to their hair pigtail-like, or as arm isands. At least 

 four are wearing hair-pipe breast plates, a fact of 



interest to ethnologists 



and several wear the 



^' An over-all photographic view of the post is in Still 

 Picture Branch, National .Archives. For photos of the officers' 

 quarters and barracks, sec Brown and Fclton, up. cil. (footnote 

 2), pp 98, 128. 



'' .See photo in Brown and Felton of), til. (footnote 2), p 135. 



comical, Piu'itan style, tall black hats issued as 

 annuity goods. The red and blue robes are of trades- 

 good flannel, as proljably are the leggings. Two 

 wear buffalo robes with the skin side out and the hair 

 side rolled over at the shoulder. ^' Two, in the Fort 

 Keogh picture (fig. 8) and the Yellowstone River 

 landscape (fig. 10), wear robes of the familiar, color- 

 fullv striped Hudson Bay blanketing material. Arms 

 arc conventional — bows, quivered arrows, and pipe 

 tomahawks, with a scattering of firearms. In the 

 Yellowstone River landscape one discrepancy should 

 be pointed out — the canoe; the Northern Plains 

 Indians seldom used water transport, and then gen- 

 erally only in the form of rafts. 



'» Ibid., pp. 137, 140. 



™ Ibid., pp. 157, 163, and end paper map. 

 '" Ewers, op. cil. (footnote 1), pp. 58-61, 1948. 

 *' Lower right in the Council Grove scene and in the fore- 

 ground of the Fort Keogh picture. 



16 



BULLETIN 225: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY .AND TECHNOLOGY 



U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE:1960 



