Fort Steele

Oil painting on wood "Fort Steele 1868" by Lauren Winfield Aldrich. The historic narrative painting depicts a landscape with people on horseback in the foreground near a stream. A cluster of white buildings on the proper left. Steam locomotive pulling freight cars on the left about to cross a bridge in the middle ground. Hills line the background.

Lauren Winfield Aldrich (1868-1938) served as an army scout in Nebraska and Wyoming at forts along the route of the Union Pacific Railroad construction. Aldrich was assigned to Fort Laramie, Fort Russell, Fort Fetterman, and Fort Kearny. He documented his regiment's skirmishes with the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Sioux Indians, as well as their dealings with the Pawnee scouts.