Fort Sill, Indian Territory

WILLIAM S. SOULE (1836-1908)

Fort Sill, Indian Territory

Between 1869 and 1874

After being severely injured during the Civil War battle at Antietam, Soule headed west in 1867 to improve his health. He was the brother of John P. Soule (1827-1904), founder of the Soule Photographic Company in Boston, and so set off completely outfitted with photographic equipment. For a time he settled at Fort Dodge, Kansas, but relocated to Fort Sill, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), in late 1869. The U.S. Army likely commissioned Soule to document the construction of Fort Sill, which served as an Indian agency and as the army's military headquarters for the campaigns against the Southern Plains tribes. The panorama of Fort Sill displayed here is mounted on linen and belonged to New Jersey native George W. Conover (b. 1848). Beginning in 1869, Conover was stationed at Fort Sill with the Sixth Infantry, and he served as the agency's interpreter from 1870 to 1873. He later settled in Oklahoma as a cattleman and farmer.

Princeton Collections of Western Americana, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Purchase, J. Monroe Thorington Fund.