With the Civil War ended, the Union Army was free to concentrate on the conquest of Western native tribes (plus the re-conquest of tribes that had become “western”, by virtue of being forcibly re-settled west, after their lands in the east had been stolen.) Depictions were rampant of murderous savages commiting acts of senseless violence, against innocent whites who were merely exercising their God-given right to take from natives everything they had. For our second post for Native American Heritage Month, below are a few examples.

First up, illustrated by Frank Bellew (Sr.), The Massacre of General Canby — The Murderers and Their Allies, on the front page of the April 23rd, 1873 issue of the (New York) Daily Graphic.

Click on any picture, to open larger versions.

WARNING: The following cartoons contain racist imagery and slurs.

Next, from the rear cover of the August 7th, 1878 issue of Puck magazine, Oh! Oh! Howard! , by Puck‘s founder, cartoonist Joseph Keppler, Sr.

Above, The Indian “Difficulty”, by the senior Keppler, again, found on the front cover of the January 22nd, 1879 issue of Puck. Left (click on it to enlarge it), the prose piece in the January 22, 2026 Puck issue, detailing what the above cartoon is satirizing. The article and cartoon are taking Generals Schurz and Sheridan to task, for neglecting the welfare of relocated indians. Right and below, three-and-a-half years later, Puck proves its fickleness/lack of memory, with a text bit plus cartoon, complaining about the resettled indians being “lazy”, with Uncle Sam needing to feed them (neglecting the fact that they were perfectly self-reliant, before the U.S. corraled the tribes into reservations/

ghettoes, on unproductive land for farming, with not enough game to hunt). The cartoon — A Losing Business — is by Frederick Burr Opper, who imagines a wealth of food stocks being given to the natives — far from the reality of the situation, in which the government left them freeze and starve.

Next, below, two Currier & Ives plates, titled A Howling Swell, showing Buffalo Bill escorting a British “Swell” (Dude) on an excursion in the prairies, and encounting “Injun” trouble. I’m uncertain of the date, though I suspect it to be around the time of — or soon after — Buffalo Bill’s tour of England (1887 — click here to find my article from this past Spring, on British and American cartoonists’ coverage of the Meeting of Buffalo Bill and Queen Victoria).

Click here, if you missed last Monday’s Native American Heritage article. Next Monday, we’ll have another new entry in this series.

Doug Wheeler

NYDailyGraphic BellewSr KepplerSr NYPuck NativeAmericanHistory