Charles Howard ( photographer ) A private in the Fourth Infantry , Charles Howard served as photographer for the Stanton Expedition in 1877 , traveling throughout eastern Wyoming , western Nebraska and into the Black Hills of Dakota Territory . Early years . Charles Howard was born , according his enlistment record , in about 1842 in Rockingham County , Virginia . Little is known of his early life . He is probably the Charles Howard recorded in the 1870 census in Portsmouth , Ohio . On June 16 , 1875 , Howard decided to enlist in the army , going into a recruiting office in Cleveland , Ohio . His enlistment papers describe the thirty - three - year - old man as 5 foot 5 inches tall , with hazel eyes , brown hair and a dark complexion . From Cleveland , he was sent to Newport Barracks , Kentucky for orientation . A musician by trade , Recruit Howard was assigned to the Fourth Infantry Band . He was sent to Fort Omaha , Nebraska , headquarters of the Department of the Platte , and then left with 158 other new recruits aboard a Union Pacific train for Carter Station in southwest Wyoming . From there , the detachment of recruits marched the eleven miles south to Fort Bridger , headquarters of the Fourth Infantry , where they arrived on the afternoon of September 10 , 1875 . Fort Bridger . Photographers had been passing through this frontier military post since almost the inception of the art form . Daguerreotypist John Wesley Jones visited the garrison in 1851 and Samuel C . Mills , traveling with the Army bound for Utah , produced at least one image of Fort Bridger in 1858 . Salt Lake City photographer Charles W . Carter came during the winter of 1866 – 67 and his former mentor , Charles Savage , visited a number of times between 1866 and the early 1870s . The noted Union Pacific Railroad photographer Andrew J . Russell also stopped here in 1869 . Census records show a photographer named Simeon Pierson at the post in 1870 . Fort Bridger had a long tradition of photographers at the post . It is not know if Private Howard had previously trained as a photographer or if he acquired his skills after arriving at Fort Bridger , but by the summer of 1876 , he was actively producing photographs of the post and the surrounding area . He created landscape views of the Black River Valley and of nearby Church Buttes in the Green River badlands , as well as views of the fort itself . He also produced portraits . Captain William H . Bisbee , Fourth Infantry , sent a payment for photographs of his child to Howard through the post trader at Fort Bridger , complaining that " they are not at all good . " Two tintypes , bearing the name " C . Howard , Artistic Photographer , Fort Bridger , Wy . Ty . " have survived , examples of this soldier - photographer ' s portraiture work . Life for Private Howard at Fort Bridger was probably typical of the experience of most soldiers stationed at frontier posts . Private Howard ' s duty with the regimental band however did afford him a few privileges and an occasional opportunity to travel off the garrison . In July 1876 , for example , he and other bandsmen were invited to Ogden , Utah Territory , to perform at a town celebration . Private Howard was then granted three days leave in Salt Lake City . Here he could have obtained additional photography supplies at establishments such as the Art Bazaar , the studio of the noted photographer Charles Savage , before returning to Fort Bridger . Examples of Howard ' s Photographs From Fort Bridger , c . 1875 – 77 Examples of Photos by Other Photographers and Reprinted by Howard The Stanton Expedition . In the spring of 1877 , Captain William S . Stanton , Chief Engineer for the Department of the Platte , began preparations for his continued work mapping the major roads in Nebraska and Wyoming . Hearing of Private Howard , Stanton wrote to the commanding officer at Fort Bridger requesting the services of the soldier . " I have thought it would be an excellent opportunity to get a set of photographic views of the posts and the most characteristic features in the scenery of the regions visited , " Stanton wrote , " including views in the Black Hills and at the large Indian encampments . " The engineering officer also noted that the photographic expedition might also be " to the advantage and perhaps profit of the man himself . " Private Howard was detailed for duty with the expedition , departing Fort Bridger on June 27 , 1877 . His camera , chemicals and developing equipment were forwarded to Cheyenne shortly afterward , where the expedition assembled on July 5 to make final preparations for their departure . In Cheyenne , Howard produced his first photographs of the expedition , including a view of the Cheyenne Army Depot . From this collection of warehouses , army supplies were unloaded from rail cars and shipped overland to military posts throughout Wyoming . He also made a least four images at nearby Fort D . A . Russell . Stanton ' s expedition departed on July 11 , mapping the road north towards the Black Hills . The Stanton Expedition next traveled to Camp Robinson and the Red Cloud Agency , arriving on September 30 just over three weeks after the famed Oglala war leader Crazy Horse had been fatally bayonetted . Private Howard produced some of his most important images of the expedition during their four days at Camp Robinson . He appears to have also made a quick trip to nearby Camp Sheridan and the Spotted Tail Agency . The expedition then headed north to the Black Hills again , this time mapping the northern extension of the Sidney - Deadwood trail . They returned along another Black Hills trail , arriving back at Camp Robinson on October 25 , the same day that the Oglala left the Red Cloud Agency for their new home on the Missouri River , escorted by two companies of the Third Cavalry . With winter rapidly descending on the northern Great Plains , the Stanton Expedition departed Camp Robinson on October 28 , heading south to Sidney Barracks through four to six inches of snow . The weary party arrived in Sidney on November 2 where Private Howard produced one of his final photographs of the expedition . After four months in the field , the soldiers had mapped some thirteen hundred miles of trails through western Nebraska , eastern Wyoming and the Black Hills of Dakota Territory . " I have made quite a collection of negatives this season , " Private Howard wrote to a friend at Fort Bridger , " but had a pretty rough trip of it . " Following the disbandment of the expedition , Private Howard was ordered to accompany Captain Stanton back to Department Headquarters in Omaha where the soldier remained for some eight months , printing his photographs . By early 1878 , he had opened his own photographic studio on Douglas Street in Omaha and began selling his images as large format prints , stereoviews and carte - de - vistas . His catalog printed on the back of his stereoviews listed 78 different images for sale . While in Omaha , Howard apparently met another photographer named D . S . Mitchell who had recently established the Great Western Photograph Publishing Company with his partner , Joseph H . McGowan . The name of the firm soon changed from Mitchell & McGowan to Mitchell , McGowan & Company , suggesting that other photographers became part of the partnership . Based on the fact that the company began printing Howard ' s views as a set of 43 stereocards called " Military Posts and Indian Views " , Private Howard probably joined the firm for a short time . Mitchell ' s photographic company broke up in the summer and fall of 1878 . McGowan moved to North Platte while Mitchell opened a new portrait gallery of his own called the Bee Hive Studio on Sixteenth Street in Omaha . Lacking funds to continue his survey of military roads , Captain Stanton decided not to attempt another summer of field work and released Private Howard from his service in Omaha , sending him back to his old regiment . Examples of Howard ' s Photographs From Stanton Expedition , 1877 : " Cheyenne , July 1877 " " Fort Laramie , July or September 1877 " " Black Hills , August or October 1877 " " Cantonment Reno / Fort McKinney , Aug . 1877 " " Fort Fetterman , Sept . 1877 " " Between Rock Creek and Fort Laramie , Sept . 1877 " " Camp Robinson and the Red Cloud Agency , Oct . 1877 " " Camp Sheridan and the Spotted Tail Agency , Oct . 1877 " " Sidney Barracks , Nov . 1877 " Fort Sanders . In July 1878 , Private Howard was transferred back to his original assignment with the Fourth Infantry Band , now stationed at Fort Sanders near Laramie , Wyoming . At his new assignment , Howard set up another portrait gallery and produced images for the officers , men and their families stationed at the post . He also reprinted some of Mitchell , McGowan & Company original images , suggesting that he may have kept some of the negatives when the partnership was dissolved . One surviving image bears the imprint of " Howard & Johnston , Fort Sanders , Wyoming Territory , suggesting that Howard took on a partner . This may be William J . Johnston , a Canadian who came to Wyoming in 1880 and established a portrait studio in Green River . This may be the same Johnston who later joined Charles S . Baker in Evanston , Wyoming , to produce a series of prints of Shoshone , Arapaho and Apache portraits . Private Charles Howard completed his enlistment and was discharged from the Army in June 1880 . What became of him after this currently remains a mystery . No further documentation of this soldier / photographer has yet been found . Examples of Howard ' s Photographs From Fort Sanders , circa . 1878 – 80 Examples of Photos Reprinted by Howard Native American Photographs . While the majority of Private Howard ' s surviving images can best be described as outdoor views , including landscapes , he did produce a small number of photographs of Native Americans . All of his surviving Indian photographs were taken outdoors , as opposed to within a studio setting . His earliest is an image of an unidentified Indian , presumably Shoshone , wrapped in a blanket outside Judge Carter ' s post trader store at Fort Bridger , circa 1875 – 1877 . The majority of his Native American views are from the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies , located in northwestern Nebraska , taken in October 1877 while he was part of the Stanton Expedition . He produced a number of views of Indian camps as well as images of prominent Lakota leaders outside their lodge . He photographed Spotted Tail , White Thunder and Two Strike , all prominent Brule headmen . Of the Minneconjou and Sans Arc leaders who had recently surrendered at the Spotted Tail Agency , he was able to photograph Touch the Clouds , Red Bear and Roman Nose . The famed Oglala war leader Crazy Horse had been killed three weeks prior to Private Howard ' s visit , but the photographer did capture at least two images of Crazy Horse ' s scaffold grave , located on a bluff overlooking Camp Sheridan . On his printed list of available views pasted on the back of his stereocards ( circa . 1878 ) , Howard advertised that he also had " Numerous Pictures ' Card Size ' of Indians of Different Tribes . " Many of these may actually be reprints of the work of other photographers .