Indian Wars Colonel George Lawson Scott, 6th US Cavalry, Photographic Archive

Lot 341

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6270 Este Ave.
Cincinnati , OH 45232
United States

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About Auction

American History Auction by Cowan's Auctions

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American History Auction

By Cowan's Auctions

Nov 18, 2016 - Nov 19, 2016

Set Reminder 2016-11-18 10:00:00 2016-11-19 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : American History Auction https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/cowans/american-history-auction-1870 Cowan's Auctions dawnie@cowans.com

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Lot Description

Lot of 10 photographs of George Lawson Scott, his family, and fellow soldiers.

A native of Lafayette, OR, George Lawson Scott (1849-1926), graduated from West Point in 1875, and was assigned soon after to the 6th US Cavalry, with which he served during the greater part of his military service in Arizona and Wyoming. He took part in the Apache campaign in the Southwest and a Sioux campaign in Wyoming and Dakota, at the time of the Ghost Dance excitement, which resulted in the death of Sitting Bull. Colonel Scott also raised the siege in the war at Fort McKinney, WY.

In March 1894, Scott and a patrol of soldiers captured Edgar Howell, a poacher from Cooke City, MT, for killing Bison in the Pelican Valley section of Yellowstone Park. At the time, there were no laws that would allow prosecution of Howell, so he was temporarily detained and removed from the park. However, shortly after his capture, F. Jay Haynes, the park photographer, along with western author Emerson Hough and guide Billy Hofer encountered Scott and Howell as he was being escorted back to Fort Yellowstone. The encounter was captured on film by Haynes, and the story was telegraphed to Hough's publisher: Forest and Stream. These events inspired the magazine's editor, George Bird Grinnell, to lobby congress for a law to allow prosecution of crimes in Yellowstone, which resulted in the Lacey Act of 1894. In response to Yellowstone's park administrators' inability to punish poachers, Congressman John F. Lacey sponsored legislation that gave the Department of Interior authority to arrest and prosecute those violating the law within the park. The Lacey Act subsequently became the cornerstone of future law enforcement policies in the park. (Information obtained from familysearch.org on October 19, 2016.)

In 1898, Scott commanded the headquarters' guard of General Brooks at Puerto Rico, and after the war, he had charge of the Chippewa Indians in Minnesota. For a while, he also oversaw the Apache prisoners of war at Fort Sill, OK in 1911. Following 30 years of service, Scott retired at his own request. He suffered a stroke, which resulted in his death at the Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco. (Information obtained from wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com.)

This collection features the following photos of Scott: cabinet card portrait of 3 officers from the D troop, Scott at center, with F. Jay Haynes, St. Paul imprint; cabinet card of several officers, including Scott (second from right), posed with buffalo heads on a porch. This photo was taken following the capture of Edgar Howell in 1894; 8.5 x 5.5 in. photograph, on 8 x 10 in., mount, showing Scott reclining in a rocking chair with another man, possibly his father-in-law; and 9 x 6.25 in. photograph, on 10 x 7 in. mount, of Scott with his wife Julia and daughter, Bessie Maynadier Scott, ca 1885.

Accompanied by two unique photographs of Fort Yellowstone, each approx. 4.5 x 8 in., one mounted on card stock and dated 1894 on verso, the second mounted on thin fabric; 3.25 x 3.5 in. photograph described on verso as Seward Webb hunting party passing through Norris, ca 1896; cabinet card of an unidentified trooper, credited to W.L. Bates, Denver, CO, and inscribed on the back, I send this to you for your "gallery of emminent men"; CDV of Major F.J. Dent, relative to Scott's wife Julia, credited to Nichols & Bros., St. Louis, MO; autographed CDV of E.F. Sanger, Surgeon US Vols., by St. Alary & Watson, Detroit, MI; and CDV of a young soldier, his sword resting in front of him, ink identified on mount as French (?) 9 Cav. '74, and possibly autographed on verso, with Warren, Cambridgeport, MA imprint.

Provenance: Descended in the Family of Colonel George Lawson Scott

Condition

Items range in condition, there is some damage to the mounts of some of the photographs, most have toning, and several have light soiling.
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