Three Apache Men, Camp Apache, Arizona Territory — T. H. O’Sullivan, Wheeler Expedition of 1873

T. H. O’Sullivan stereoview on a yellow mount, with two arched photographic images. The front bears the heading “EXPEDITION OF 1873.” and names 1st Lieutenant Geo. M. Wheeler, Corps of Engineers, commanding. The reverse carries the War Department imprint for the Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian and credits “T. H. O’Sullivan, Photo.”

Three men stand around a fallen log: the man at left holds a long lance, the central figure a bow, and the man at right a rifle resting on its butt. Headbands, a tall feathered ornament and wrapped lower legs are visible. Low stone walls cross the open ground behind them, with flat-topped hills beyond. The printed caption identifies the group as “Apache Indians, as they appear ready for the war-path.” This is a posed portrait; neither the men’s individual names nor the location is supplied.

The number “64” appears within each photographic image, while the reverse identifies the view as No. 33. Both numbers belong in the record, although their relationship is not explained on the card. A light pencil reference to “HORAN” at the upper left of the reverse includes a page number whose first digit is indistinct.

A small pale, crazed patch interrupts the central figure’s knee in the left image, and an ink-like scribble appears in the lower foreground of the right image. Otherwise the card appears sound, with the figures, weapons and landscape detail readily legible.