Bismarck, Dakota 1877 • Bismarck NP Depot
Sunday morning, July 1877 at 9:00 am
General William Tecumseh Sherman (The Supreme Commander of the U.S. Army) is leaving town looking east with his staff as they all watch their train approach Bismarck from far off.
They have just returned to Bismarck after inspecting the Custer battlefield in Montana at the Little Big Horn River. That is where Custer and his men were killed one year prior. The U.S. Secretary of War had requested an official investigstion to be presented to congress soon after. This is a photo by Fargo photographer, F.J. Haynes, the official photographer of the Northern Pacific Railway.
This is a photo of General Sherman's Army delegation that was assigned to him by the U.S. Secretary of War.
They are sneaking out of town early in the morning incognito. Bismarck was full of working men from the old south who lost their families during the civil war while under the command General Sherman. Wild West Bismarck, Dakota was a very dangerous place to be in 1877.
The man in black who is sitting down is probably not General Sherman, the man in black is probably General Sherman's look-a-like decoy.
General Sherman is probably disguised as that railroad worker at the corner of the depot with his arms crossed.
General Phil Sheridan is on the right side sitting in a barrel chair with his legs crossed.
Because of the danger they could not wear uniforms.
Most of the bad people in town are hung over from the Saturday night parties at Bismarck that took place there at the 25 or so rough saloons in town the evening before.
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