[NATIVE AMERICANS]. GARDNER, Alexander (1821-1882), photographer. Cabinet card of Two Bears, Lower Yanktonai. Washington, DC, ca 1872.

Cabinet photograph on cardstock mount of "Two Bears / Died at Standing Rock Agency, 1878," as identified in lower margin. With verso notation "Lower Yanktonais [sic]."

Two Bears, head chief of the Lower Yanktonai, was involved in the Battle of Whitestone Hill in 1863. On the heels of the Minnesota uprising, which created concern over hostilities between Native Americans and White settlers, two regiments of the US Cavalry were sent to quell any uprisings and attacked an encampment at Whitestone Hill, killing many Native Americans over a three-day period. Two Bears survived the attack and returned to Standing Rock, where he served as an interpreter at the July 1867 treaty commission meeting at Fort Rice, signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868, and participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.

Provenance: Acquired from an October 2024 auction containing material identified to General David Sloane Stanley (1828-1902) (consignor notes). After graduating from West Point in 1852, Stanley was assigned to frontier duty. He was stationed at various forts in the Dakota Territory, Indian Territory, and Kansas, where he aided in quelling disturbances at the Kansas border in 1856. When the Civil War began, he was given command of a division in the Western Theater, participating in numerous battles over the next three years. He was wounded in the neck at the Battle of Franklin and later received the Medal of Honor for his actions (November 1864). Following the Civil War, Stanley was appointed colonel of the 22nd US Infantry, primarily serving in the Dakota Territory until 1874. He was the Commanding Officer at Fort Sully, Dakota Territory, from 1867-1873, so it is entirely possible that the photograph offered here was inscribed in Stanley's hand. Following his time at Fort Sully, Stanley commanded the Yellowstone expedition of 1873, encouraging settlement in the area. 

This lot is located in Cincinnati.