HISTORY INTO ART AND ANTHROPOLOGY - Snite Museum of Art ...

Father Lindesmith, Fort Keogh, and the
Native Americans of Montana
JOANNE M. MACK
Father Lindesmith carried to the West certain widely accepted stereotypes about
Indians. During his eleven years at Fort Keogh, however, he changed his mind
regarding at least some of them. When he was born—in Ohio, in 1827—the Indian
wars fought in the Midwest and Southeast were ending, and, in the period of his
childhood, many tribes and bands were being removed to the Southern Plains and
prairie. Having grown up hearing stories about raids and battles, he quite understandably
was fearful of Indians. Even as a fifty-three-year-old man traveling in the
West for the first time, he accepted the dual image of Indians—as primitive and
ferocious and as romantic noble savages—that had been prevalent and popular since
Columbus. 1 By the time he left Fort Keogh, in 1891, he regarded Native Americans
somewhat differently, and now saw them as being of two opposite types: the good
Indian and the bad Indian. 2 Accordingly, good Indians attempted to lead a more
civilized life; they raised crops and livestock, sent their children to school, and
became Christians. Bad Indians, on the other hand, stole, killed Euro-Americans
when confronted, and seemed uninterested in farming, ranching, sending their
children to schools, or converting to Christianity.
Lindesmith’s attitudes and impressions no doubt evolved due to his frequent
encounters with Native American scouts and their families at Fort Keogh, with the
Lakota bands held temporarily at the fort, with Crow scouts, and through interactions
with other tribes on his travels. During the years he was stationed at the
fort, many bands of Lakota and Cheyenne were kept on the Fort Keogh Military
Reservation after they surrendered, because Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles,
the fort’s commander, felt the U.S. Army could better care for them than could the
Department of the Interior. 3 At times, as many as two thousand captured Native
Americans camped at the fort—approximately fifteen hundred Lakota and five
hundred Cheyenne; in June 1881 the Lakota were removed to Standing Rock. 4
Father Lindesmith’s admiration for soldiers and, by extension, for the scouts at Fort
Keogh and at Fort Custer on the Crow Reservation, also influenced his interactions
with and beliefs about Native Americans. 5 Friendships among some soldiers
and Native Americans were not unusual. 6 In addition, even though the scouts and
their families camped some distance south of the main garrison, General Miles
allowed them free run of the fort, and they spent their wages in the post store.
When Lieutenant Edward W. Casey took command of the scouts, he had them
build a cantonment of their own. 7 Lindesmith was present throughout this period,
so he had easy access to the Native Americans who came into the garrison area.
Furthermore, he could ride out to the camps, particularly those of the Cheyenne,
who settled on the edge of the fort’s reservation and later were assigned to the
Tongue River Reservation, not far from Fort Keogh. He also was able to visit the
scouts’ camps and, later, their cantonment.
opposite: Wolf Voice, Cheyenne Warrior in War Costume, 1878
Glenbow Archives. Image number: NA-207-29
68 69