CRAZY-MULE MAPS OF THE UPPER MISSOURI, 1877-1880

Two maps from the Joslyn Art Museum are identified as the work of John Crazy Mule, a northern Cheyenne scout who served at Fort Keogh, Monta na Territory, from 1877 to about 1891. The maps were drawn in pencil a nd ink on ledger paper between 1877 and 1880. The first shows the Yell owstone and Milk drainages and is a record of Crazy Mule's accomplishm ents as a government scout. These include the Lame Deer fight and the capture of Chief Joseph's Nez Perces. The second shows a trail running between Fort Abraham Lincoln in what is now North Dakota and Sidney, Nebraska. The second map probably records the removal of Little Chief and his followers from Fort Keogh to Indian Territory in the summer an d fall of 1878. This group of Cheyennes was held at Fort Lincoln throu ghout the winter and spring of 1877/78 and then marched to Fort Sidney under U.S. cavalry escort in the summer of 1878. Pictographic notatio ns, including both place names and records of events, allow specific i nterpretations of each map.