Stewart described the idyllic setting of the fort in his novel, Edward Warren:
A day further, and we were on the Larramé [sic], a sluggish stream in those days, full of cat fish and soft-shelled turtle; lofty cotton woods formed a shady grove, from where now stands the fort to the junction of the river. The great expanse was now changed into broken ground, the commencement of the Black Hills. There was in this grove the remains of a camp, probably of some trading company who had preceded us; in fact, I afterwards learned that it was the company of Campbell, which that season so completely beat that of his rival Fontinelle [sic]; but they appeared to have gone on more than a week from the sign.
We had the luxury of fish here, and almost the best I ever tasted.
It was an Arcadia then, the country we were entering upon…. (Stewart, 1986, p. 94)
Miller did this version of the painting for Alexander Hargreaves Brown’s 1867 commission. The figures and teepees in the foreground are placed similar to earlier versions of the scene, but Miller has added a couple of puffs of smoke coming from two of the teepees in the middle distance (Warner, 1979, pp.119 – 123).
Ron Tyler