4 1/2 x 7 3/4 in. albumen photograph on 5 1/4 x 8 1/2 in. cardstock mount, with penciled title in lower margin, "Scalped Hunter / 1869 / Ft. Dodge Kansas." Signed by Soule in the negative at lower right. Period notation on verso describing the scene in detail and ownership inscription of C.F. Fish, Fall River, Massachusetts.

A photograph taken not long after the young Will Soule arrived at Fort Sill and began taking photographs. This dramatic photograph was circulated widely in the East thanks to an engraving in Harper's Weekly for 19 January 1869. The caption of the engraving tells the story: "On December 7, Mr. Ralph Morrison, a hunter, was scalped and murdered by the Cheyenne within a mile of Fort Dodge. Wm. S. Soule, an amateur photographer [and] chief clerk in Tappin's Trading Company, took the picture. The officer is Lt. Reade, 3rd Infantry. John O. Austin, Chief of Scouts is on the right. The photo was taken within an hour of the killing."

An extraordinary, and iconic, image of the conflict between the 7th US cavalry and the Cheyenne and Arapahoe.

EXCEPTIONALLY RARE: Only the third known example of this photograph to appear at auction.