Sawyer Road Party

Oil painting on pressed paper board "Sawyer Road Party" by Lauren Winfield Aldrich. The historic narrative painting depicts a sage prairie landscape with small ravine. A single man is driving mules out of the ravine and into a circle of wagons. A party of Native American with bows ride toward lone cavalry man who is running for his horse. In the background a group of Native Americans are driving a herd of buffalo toward the wagons with a large dust cloud.

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.