Christian Barthelmess

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Christian Barthelmess , also Christian Barthelmeß , (born April 11, 1854 in Klingenberg am Main , † April 10, 1906 in Fort Keogh, today Miles City (Montana) ) was a German emigrant, American soldier, military musician and photographer . He is known for his historically significant photos of Indians in their natural environment.

Life

Christian Barthelmess was the second of five children of gendarme Christian Barthelmess and his wife Katharina Zeis. He grew up in Klingenberg in Main Franconia and went to school there. He became interested in music from an early age. He immigrated to the United States when he was 13. The money for the ship tickets had previously been donated by relatives who had emigrated. Barthelmess made his way to Irontown (Ohio) via New York City. He made his way through life as a worker and baker until he decided to volunteer in the US Army .

On April 12, 1886, he married the German immigrant Catherina Dorothea Hansen-Ahlers in Silver City (New Mexico) . The seven children Leo, Florence, Sophia, Fred, Adelaide, Marie and Casey emerged from her.

One day before his 52nd birthday, the immigrants from Bavaria suffered an accident. It was buried during excavation work and could only be recovered dead. After the army site Fort Keogh was abandoned in 1908, the remains of the former soldier were buried in the National Cemetery at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument .

military service

After drafting in November 1876 in St. Louis, he joined the 6th Cavalry Regiment a month later  . Five years later he resigned in Fort Apache, Arizona when his service obligation expired, but joined the infantry the following day . During his long military service he was stationed with several regiments in Fort Wingate ( New Mexico ), Fort Bayard (New Mexico), Fort Lewis ( Colorado ), Fort Keogh ( Montana ) and Fort D. A. Russell ( Wyoming ). The Spanish-American War moved his regiment to Cuba from 1898 to 1900. Then the Barthelmess unit was relocated to the Philippines . He was retired on July 17, 1903.

The Cheyenne Stump Horn with his family (photographed by Christian Barthelmess, 1890)

On the one hand, Barthelmess was drawn to military music. He reported to the chapels of his units and also directed them. In 1881 he was Kapellmeister of the 13th Infantry Regiment. He created men's choirs and ensembles that could also perform with dance music at the soldiers' social events. On the other hand, he was also a passionate photographer. In addition to taking pictures of his comrades on official and other occasions, he concentrated his talent for photography on photographs of Indians, which Barthelmess depicted less in the studio than in their natural surroundings, and on landscape shots. The pictures were sensational at the time with their dislike of whites for the indigenous people. As the official photo reporter, he accompanied Lieutenant Edward Wanton Casey's Grand Canyon expedition from November 2, 1887 to January 5, 1888, which dealt with a geographical and topographical exploration of the area. The pictures above increased the photographer's awareness.

Barthelmess served for a long time in the 22nd US Infantry Regiment, which was stationed at Fort Keogh, Montana, from 1888 to 1896. This fort, formed after the Battle of Little Bighorn during the Indian Wars, was to become the nucleus for today's city of Miles City (Montana). After his military service, he devoted himself to his photo studio in Fort Keogh, which was set up in 1888.

Works

The military photographer published two reports about Navajo Indians in the German-language newspaper Der Westen in Chicago in 1883 . In 1904 he gave a photographic collection under the title “Thirty Years in the Army. A Story in Pictures without Words ”.

Contacts to the place of birth

Christian Barthelmess visited his former home in 1880 and 1892.

literature

  • Maurice Frink, Casey E. Barthelmess: Photographer on an Army Mule . University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 0-8061-2182-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Barthelmess Family Papers: Biography / History  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed on April 20, 2010@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / nwda.projectblacklight.org  
  2. ↑ Franken-Magazin  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 2.3 MB) Issue March / April 2006, page 25, accessed on April 20, 2010@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.franken-magazin.net  
  3. ^ The 22nd Infantry 1879-1890 , accessed April 20, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Barthelmess, Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Barthelmeß, Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American soldier and photographer
DATE OF BIRTH April 11, 1854
PLACE OF BIRTH Klingenberg am Main
DATE OF DEATH April 10, 1906
Place of death Fort Keogh