Creator
DAVID F. BARRY (1854-1934)
Title
Reno Ford of the Little Bighorn with Vignette Inset of Captain Frederick Benteen and Reno's Crossing with Vignette Inset of Major Marcus Reno, Little Bighorn Battlefield, Montana
Date
1886
Description
On June 25, 1876, General George A. Custer led the Seventh Calvary into battle against Sioux and Cheyenne Indians along the Little Bighorn River in Montana. The utter defeat of Custer and his men at "Custer's Last Stand" is one of the defining moments in the history of the mythologized American West. Indeed, pictorial representations of Custer were most kind to the flamboyant general, portraying him and his men as symbols of American individualism, full of pluck and resolve in the face of enormous odds. The images here by Wisconsin photographer Barry are no exception. The U.S. Army invited Barry to document the commemoration and reenactment ceremonies on June 25, 1886, the tenth anniversary of the battle. His vignette portraits of army officers bestow a nostalgic, or even romantic, flourish to his otherwise straightforward views of battlefield scenes.
Format
Gelatin silver prints