With the “most dangerous outlaw in Indian Territory,” Ned Christie, lying dead on a board, the U.S. deputy marshals pose in 1892 with their 1873 and 1886 Winchester lever-action rifles, along with one trapdoor Springfield .45-70 single-shot rifle. The Cherokee renegade, accused of murdering a U.S. marshal, held his .44-40, 1873 Winchester for the last time.
– True West Archives –
The practice of embellishing firearms with brass tacks is age old, found on European wheellocks and North African miquelets. On the North American frontier, whites traded tacks and studs to the Indians, who used them to decorate their gear. This Canadian Blackfoot not only has tacked up his 1873 Winchester carbine, but also his knife scabbard, riding quirt, waist belt and his pony’s headstall. His breastplate is even made up of brass serpentine side locks from antique trade guns.
– True West Archives –
In this rare outdoor view of the 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers working with Apache scouts during the Indian Wars in Arizona circa 1885, the background shows an intriguing scene: one Buffalo Soldier blows his bugle, the next points his pistol skyward, while the last aims his weapon directly at the photographer.
– Courtesy Steve Turner –
Dubbed by Plains Indians as the “shoot today, kill tomorrow” gun, the 1874 Sharps wielded by this frontiersman in Leadville, Colorado, was primarily a buffalo hunting rifle, but was occasionally used in battle, like at the Battle of Adobe Walls in 1874, when Billy Dixon made his famous long-distance shot with a borrowed “Big Fifty.”
– Courtesy Robert G. McCubbin Collection –
“America’s Forgotten Photographer” has not been forgotten in books, as several have been published touting Timothy O’Sullivan’s photographs. These days, though, fans usually take to the Internet to check out his works, including this 1868 photo of the full King Survey team at a camp in Salt Lake City, Utah.
–Courtesy Library of Congress –
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