Image 13 x 19-in., mount 19 1/4 x 26-in. Imperial albumen photograph of lettered mount, title pencilled lower right margin. Provenance: Western Reserve Historical Society (sold Cowan's, 10 May 2007, lot 631).

Bird's-eye view of Fort Laramie from a nearby hilltop, one rider with extra horse in foreground, showing the entire fort, hills in far background.

"By the 1860s, the Plains Indians found themselves sandwiched in the middle of the country with white advancement on both sides. Rail lines cut directly through their hunting grounds–scattering the game necessary for survival... In 1868, in an attempt to end conflict, an unprecedented gathering of tribal leaders from the Northern Plains assembled at Fort Laramie, Wyoming. For his Scenes in the Indian Country series, Gardner photographed the treaty negotiations between the government-led Indian Peace Commission and the tribes who agreed to give up land and move to reservations" (Introduction, Across the Indian Country: Photographs by Alexander Gardner, 1867-68, at the Nelson-Atkins, July 2014-January 2015).