14 CDVs on cardstock mounts, each with verso imprint of C. Howard, the majority with Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory, listed as the location. Negatives produced ca 1870, printed ca 1875. Most of the subjects are unidentified, and several images are dated in an unknown hand, "About 1870."

Highlighted subjects include: "A Sioux Squaw, the Wife," as inscribed on verso. -- "Husband of the Squaw No. " [Sioux]. The man is shown wearing a military-style jacket, posed with an American flag. -- Outdoor view of four young Native American men laying on the ground, wrapped in blankets. -- Hand-colored portrait of two Native American men. -- Period copy photo of White Swan. -- Studio view of three Native American children posed with a bow and arrows. -- Studio portrait of four Native American children posed with a bow and arrows. Studio view of a young Winnebago woman, with Howard's Fort Sanders, Wyoming Territory backmark. -- Seated portrait of an unidentified soldier, holding a bugle, with Howard's Visscher's Block, Cor. 13th and Douglas Sts., Omaha, Neb. backmark. -- Outdoor view with period manuscript notation on verso, "hill's around Fort Bridger, from which I fell, and broke my rib," with signature difficult to discern. Uncredited (damage to top right portion of print and mount). -- And 4 others. -- Together, 14 CDVs.

Born in Rockingham, VA, Charles Howard (b. about 1842) enlisted in the Army in Cleveland, Ohio on 16 June 1875. After being sent to Newport Barracks, Kentucky from Cleveland, Howard was then forwarded to Fort Omaha, Nebraska. He was a musician by trade and was assigned to the 4th Infantry Band, which was stationed at Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory. After traveling by train and marching 11 miles, Howard and his fellow recruits arrived at Fort Bridger in September of 1875. Fort Bridger had a long tradition of photographers at the post, including Charles Savage and A.J. Russell. Within a year, Howard began actively producing landscape views of the surrounding area and the fort itself, as well as portraits of soldiers, their families, and Native Americans. In the Spring of 1877, Howard was asked to serve as photographer for the Stanton Expedition, and he had the opportunity to travel throughout Eastern Wyoming, western Nebraska, and into the Black Hills of Dakota Territory. Following the expedition, Howard was ordered to Omaha, where he remained for 8 months printing photographs. He then opened his own photographic studio in Omaha in 1878, but he soon joined forces with the firm, Mitchell, McGowan, & Company. After the partnership disbanded the same year, Howard was transferred back to his old company, which was stationed at Fort Sanders near Laramie, Wyoming, where he continued to take and reprint photographs. Howard completed his enlistment and was discharged from the Army in June 1880, but little is known of his life and career after this time.

Provenance: Cowan's, American History, 20 June 2013, Lot 351.