Harry Schaare (American, 1922 - 2008) "Indians Scouting Army" Signed lower right. Oil on Masonite. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting originally appeared in the Fleetwood Trails West Collection of Fine Art Prints as "The Final Conflict" published in 1983. Primeval forces that shaped America's river valleys and mountain passes dictated the direction of the pioneers' Trails West. Thus, it was not the surveyor, but the easiest natural route, that led the white man across the North American continent. It was the early settlers' journey West in search of gold, silver, new land and a promise of a better life that led to a conflict of cultures. Thus began the inevitable and tragic confrontation between the white man and the native son of the western wilderness ... the Indian. Indians often watched cautiously from a distance as the Cavalry, destined to be the red man's worst enemy, moved westward. Since Indians were considered ruthless savages by the white man, there was never an objection to displacing them. Consequently, in the years that followed, frequent battles led to the deaths of thousands of white men and Indians. Then in 1868, weary of war, the U.S. government sought to make peace with the Indians. Under billowing tent folds at Ft. Laramie, Wyoming, Indian warriors and military leaders gathered to talk ... and agreed to bring an end to war. Now confined in their own land by military forces, Indians turned inward, to new spiritual beliefs, in the hope of regaining their land and their freedom. It was a young Paiute prophet, Wovoka, who fostered the Ghost Dance ritual ... a spiritual rite that contributed to the last and most tragic conflict between Indian and white man which occurred on December 29, 1890, at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Image Size: 17.75 x 20.75 in. Overall Size: 17.75 x 20.75 in. Unframed. (B07358)