Crazy Mule’S Maps Of The Upper Missouri, 1877-1880 (original) (raw)

Two maps from the Joslyn Art Museum are identified as the work of John Crazy Mule, a northern Cheyenne scout who served at Fort Keogh, Montana Territory, from 1877 to about 1891. The maps were drawn in pencil and ink on ledger paper between 1877 and 1880. The first shows the Yellowstone and Milk drainages and is a record of Crazy Mule's accomplishments as a government scout. These include the Lame Deer fight and the capture of Chief Josephs Nez Perces. The second shows a trail running between Fort Abraham Lincoln in what is now North Dakota and Sidney, Nebraska. The second map probably records the removal of Little Chief and his followers from Fort Keogh to Indian Territory in the summer and foil of 1878. This group of Cheyennes was held at Fort Lincoln throughout the winter and spring of 1877178 and then marched to Fort Sidney under U.S. cavalry escort in the summer of 1878. Pictographic notations, including both place names and records of events, allow specific interpretations ofeachmap.