Shannon Stirnweis: Smoke Signals and Wagon Train

Artist: Shannon Stirnweis
1931 -
Nationality: American
Artwork Year: 1982
Image Size: 20.75 by 18 inches
Overall Size: 22.25 by 19.75 inches
Medium: Oil on Cold Press Illustration Board

Smoke signals -- sent up by angry Indian warriors -- were perhaps the most dreaded sight in the Old West. Often, they meant bloodshed and heartache would soon follow for pioneer families. As late as 1869, when Fort Sill, Oklahoma, was established, the sight of smoke signals on the horizon still struck fear in pioneer hearts. Fort Sill was built as an Army base and Indian agency center to oversee a newly formed Indian reservation. This new reservation had been organized two year before -- in treaties signed at a great council of southern tribes on Medicine Lodge Creek in Kansas. Such noted chiefs as Black Kettle, Ten Bears, and Little Raven attended and ratified the treaty terms. However, Quanah Parker, a Kwahadi Comanche, refused to sign the treaty and he and his people roamed the southern plains depending entirely upon the buffalo for food. When the white man threatened the great herds, Quanah Parker organized warriors from several tribes to drive the white man from the plains. The Indians sent smoke signals to coordinate their attacks. But, despite the wrath of the Indian warriors, the settlers continued to move in and white hunters continued to slaughter the buffalo. In time the conflict between the Indians and settlers brought uniformed soldiers who hounded the Indians almost constantly. Finally on June 2, 1875, Quanah Parker led his people into Fort Sill and surrendered.

This painting originally appeared in the Fleetwood® Trails West Collection of Fine Art Prints as "Smoke Signals" published in 1983.

Artwork Copyright © 1982 Unicover Corporation. All Rights Reserved under United States and international copyright laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, transmit, or otherwise exploit the Artwork in any way. Images of the Artwork may be watermarked and/or digitally watermarked. Any sale of the physical original does not include or convey the Copyright or any right comprised in the copyright.

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