23 x 32 7/16 in. (58.4 x 82.4 cm)
Framed: 34 1/4 x 44 1/8 in. (87 x 112.1 cm)
Accession Number
2004.003.005
Credit Line
Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
Object Details
In 1870, the House Committee on Military Affairs commissioned artist and retired Army General Seth Eastman to paint 17 views of important forts across the country, in commemoration of the Civil War's end. Fort Rice had been founded quite recently, in 1864, to protect navigation on the Missouri River during conflict with the Dakota Indians. The region’s status as frontier land is emphasized in the work by the wagon crossing the Missouri River via ferry and the rustic paddock for domestic animals just outside the fort’s walls.
