I Followed Oregon’s Tragic 1856 “Trail Of Tears” And Documented It With The Same Photo Process From That Era

On the morning of February 22nd, 1856, U.S. Indian Agent George H. Ambrose carried out his orders from General Joel Palmer to forcefully remove and march several hundred indigenous men, women, and children from their aboriginal homeland in Southern Oregon to a Reservation in the Mid-Willamette Valley 263 miles away. This thirty-two-day journey was filled with deceit, suffering, and death.

This project started with several years of preparation and research, reading through thousands of historical letters, looking over old survey maps from the 1850s, and utilizing satellite imagery from today. I was able to retrace the entire route and locate bygone roads that are no longer in existence while following others that are still here today.

I made these photographs using an antique wooden view camera and the wet plate collodion photo process from the 1850s and paired them with the journal entries written in the same time period. These landscape photographs illustrate the fraught expedition that Ambrose detailed in his daily journal. The imperfect photos play off the serendipitous technical flaws to create ghostly images that echo the grim history of the past and capture the forgotten and seldom told story of Oregon's “Trail of Tears.”

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During the winter and spring of 1855-1856, the U.S. Army used Fort Lane to prosecute this final phase of the Rogue River Wars. Native people were confined to the military reservations after either surrendering to being captured in battle. Beginning in January 1856, the military marched hundreds of people from Fort Lane.

On February 22, 1856 they left Fort Lane with:

395 Native Americans
34 Natives were disabled by sickness
6 Wagons
2 Carts
24 Toke of Cattle
80 Horses belong to the Natives
and roughly 100 troops

They quickly learned that the amount of manpower and teams would not be sufficient.

Feb 22nd, 1856 (Friday)

“Quite a pleasant morning. Had previously made the arrangements. After collecting the wagons & teams together, we found our means of conveyance too limited to make ordinary progress. After driving (3) three miles we encamped on the bank of Rogue River.”

Feb 23rd, 1856 (Saturday)

“The weather still continues pleasant. It was found necessary to have more teams than at first contemplated. I accordingly proceeded to Jacksonville for that purpose, and also to procure some articles, such as clothing and blankets, to add to the comfort of the Indians. Although the weather is set down as pleasant, it certainly would be regarded as such, especially at this season of the year; however, the nights are quite frosty and the mornings cool, sufficiently so to render it necessary that they should be provided with tents, blankets, shoes & such necessaries as would tend to promote their comfort while on their journey, which being procured the day was spent in distributing the articles among them. Also two additional teams were secured to convey the sick, aged and infirm. Our teams now number eight, which I fear will not be sufficient. Thirty-four Indians are disabled from traveling by reason of sickness aside from the aged & infirm, who will as a matter of course have to be hauled.”

Feb 24th, 1856 (Sunday)

“Remained in camp. A fine and beautiful day too. Our first cold day spent in camp.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

Feb 25th, 1856 (Monday)

“A heavy frost last night. In consequence of Indian horses straying off during the night we were unable to get an early start. About eleven o'clock we all got under way. Our route lay immediately down the river on the south bank of said stream, a level, good road. We traveled today a distance of eight miles, encamped on a small stream near its outlet in Rogue River.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

Feb 26th, 1856 (Tuesday)

“Frosty and cool. All things being arranged, we took up our line of march, which still lay immediately down Rogue River. In about four miles we arrived at Jewett ferry, which occupied several hours in crossing, which being done we encamped for the night, it being the only camp we could reach before nightfall.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

Feb 27th, 1856 (Wednesday)

“The weather continues cool & frosty. Our route still lay down Rogue River, over rough, rocky ground. We marched today a distance of ten miles and camped at Patterson's old ranch. Good water but not much grass.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

Feb 28th, 1856 (Thursday)

“Frosty & cool again. This morning, while about preparing to leave camp some person killed an Indian who had wandered off some distance from camp in search of his horse, which had strayed off during the night, which caused some considerable excitement among the Indians, as it went to prove the statement previously made by some evil-disposed persons, to wit: that they would be killed by the way. We learned this evening that a party of evil-disposed persons have gone in advance of us as is supposed to annoy us, or kill some friendly Indian. A messenger was immediately dispatched to Capt. Smith at Fort Lane for an additional force to escort us to or through the Canyon if it should be found necessary. We also learned that an individual by the name of Timoleon Love was the person who killed the Indian this morning and that he was one of the party that had just passed. We drove today a distance of seven miles and encamped on the west bank of Jumpoff Joe Creek, where we will most probably remain till the arrival of Capt. Smith.”

Feb, 29th, 1856 (Friday)

“We remained in camp all day, quite a pleasant day. Capt. Smith arrived about two o'clock today. We had another Indian to die, the first by diseases on the road, although many are very sick. However there are no new cases of sickness occurring.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 1st, 1856 (Saturday)

“Quite a pleasant spring-like morning. Everything being in readiness by time we took up our line of march over a rough, hilly, mountainous country, and the roads were truly in a horrible condition. I omitted to mention that on Thursday last we took a northward direction and left Rogue River to the south of us, which brought us among some rough hills between the Umpqua and Rogue River. After passing the Grave Creek Hills we learned that Mr. Love and some others were awaiting us at the house, intending to kill an Indian. Upon going to the house I found it to be a fact, talked with the gentlemen & told them the consequences, went back & requested Capt. Smith to arrest Mr. Love and turn him over to the civil authorities. We passed the house, however, without any difficulty and encamped on a small stream two miles north of Grave Creek. We drove today a distance of eight miles. We are now in the midst of a hostile Indian country & not entirely free from danger.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 2nd 1856 (Sunday)

“Clear & frosty. Upon consultation it was deemed best to move forward, as we were in an enemy's country & neither forage nor grass could be had for our animals. We found the roads horrible as we traveled on. After traveling hard all day we made a distance of twelve miles & encamped for the night on the west bank of Cow Creek one mile above the crossing.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 3rd 1856 (Monday)

“The mornings still continue quite cool & frosty. Our route lay almost directly north over somewhat better ground than for five days previous. Our cattle was jaded considerable by our continuous marches without forage or grass, neither of which could be procured. We drove a distance of seven miles & encamped just within the mouth of the Canyon.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 4th, 1856 (Tuesday)

“The weather still continues fine for the season. During the night our cattle deserted us, passing through the Canyon & crossing South Umpqua, a distance of twelve miles. Some few of them took the other end of the road. Finding it impossible to collect the cattle in time to move I took the Indians in advance & went through the Canyon before night in order to obtain supplies of which we were getting quite short. In passing through I found some heavy obstructions. The high water during the forepart of the winter had thrown in large drift logs & a slide from the mountains had filled up the channel of the creek, all of which required to be removed before wagons could pass, which was accordingly done by Lieut. Underwood, who sent a detachment in advance for that purpose. The persons who were sent in search of the missing cattle returned with all but four head.”

March 5th 1856 (Wednesday)

“The Indians remained in camp today at the mouth of Canyon Creek awaiting the arrival of the wagons. About three or four o'clock in the evening they made their appearance. The cattle are very much jaded & tired. As no forage could be had I secured the best pasture I could find & turned them in that. An Indian girl died this evening. We were now a distance of eleven miles from our camp of the evening of the third, being occupied two days in making it. Mr. Love, who still continued to follow us, was arrested & put under guard.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

“This morning the cattle were collected together preparatory to making a start, five of the cattle still missing. I sent a man back through the Canyon in search of those that went in that direction. Towards noon these were discovered in the hills on the north side of South Umpqua & brought up to camp this evening. Good road this morning until we reached South Umpqua, which stream was ascertained we could ford with the wagons. The foot passengers were all ferried whilst the teams were crossing & ready to resume their march. Here we ascended a considerable hill & passing through some oak knolls come to a very narrow pass around the spur of a mountain which projected down to the water's edge, and around which a road had been dug out of the rock wide enough for wagons to pass. Emerging from here we came out in full view of an open prairie, found the road good. We traveled today a distance of eight miles & camped on the north bank of South Umpqua near Weaver's.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 7th 1856 (Friday)

“The weather still continued cool & frosty of nights and pleasant through the day. Our road today hilly & in places quite rocky. An Indian woman died this morning & the number of sick increasing it was found necessary to hire or buy another team. I soon procured one & continued our march. We drove today a distance of ten miles & encamped in Round Prairie. On the South Umpqua yet.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 8th 1856 (Saturday)

“From camp this morning we had a good road for about two miles. Here we commenced ascending a mountain on the summit of which a wagon upset & broke out a tongue which caused considerable delay. After fixing a temporary arrangement we were enabled to go down the mountain a distance of four miles and encamped on Roberts Creek about two o'clock in the afternoon in order to repair our wagon before proceeding further which was accordingly done before night. Traveled today a distance of eight miles.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 9th 1856 (Sunday)

“Quite a pleasant day, but owing to our proximity to the hostile Indians it was deemed advisable to continue our march which was accordingly done. Mr. Cain who had been sent in search of the missing cattle returned. He stated that he had found the cattle on the morning of the sixth and corralled them on the south side of the Canyon, that during the night he believed they were stolen by the Indians, as hostile Indians were seen in that vicinity & appearances went to show that they had taken them. Our road still continued down the South Umpqua River over a broken, uneven country, the roads growing worse as we went north. We traveled today a distance of eight miles & encamped on the bank of a little muddy branch about two miles North of Roseburg.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 10th 1856, (Monday)

“A very fine morning, indeed we got an early start this morning. Found the roads very bad. In about two miles we arrived at Winchester, situated on the south bank of the Umpqua, and we had to ferry the river, which occupied us about three hours. We then ascended a considerable hill and traveled over a rough prairie country. Very muddy roads. We found a very pleasant camp about four miles north of Winchester on Camas Swale Creek, a distance of seven miles. This morning a writ of habeas corpus was served on Lieut. Underwood to show cause why he detained & held in custody unlawfully the person of Timoleon Love, to which he made a return that he held him by the authority of a legal Indian agent & according to law & that said Love was held only to be turned over to the civil authorities according to law. Lieut. Hazen was left at Winchester in charge of the guard to turn the prisoner over to the proper officers of the law.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 11th 1856 (Tuesday)

“This morning the teams were got up quite early and preparations were made for starting. I then proceeded to Judge Deady's and caused a writ to be issued for the arrest of Timoleon Love for the murder of a friendly Indian on the 28th day of February last. Before the service of the warrant Mr. Love had effected his escape. We found the roads in a horrible condition and grass quite scarce. The teams drove but three miles today & encamped for the purpose of attending the trial.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 12th 1856 (Wednesday)

“Cloudy & threatening rain. We had some trouble in finding our cattle. We however succeeded in getting them to gather about ten o'clock. After traveling through a canyon about one and a half miles we arrived at Calapooia Creek. Our route lay directly up the creek for two & a half miles over hilly but prairie country where we crossed the stream on a bridge at Baker's mill. For the remainder of the day our route lay northward & over some steep hills. About four miles from the mills we struck camp at what is called Oakland. Two deaths occurred today since we camped, one man & one woman.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 13th 1856 (Thursday)

“This morning we had quite a shower of rain, rendering it quite unpleasant traveling. After burying the dead we took up our line of march over a rough, hilly & uneven country. Our cattle traveled quite brisk today. About two o'clock we struck camp on the bank of a small stream by the name of Elk Creek, near Jesse Applegate's. The day was quite cool with frequent showers, rendering it unpleasant traveling. We however traveled about twelve miles.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 14th 1856 (Friday)

“Cloudy & showery. By keeping our cattle in pasture we were enabled to get an early start. Our route lay down Elk Creek through a rough canyon which we found quite muddy. We crossed Elk & Pass creeks & several other streams. After crossing Pass Creek our road lay immediately up the creek & bounded by high mountains on either side. We drove eight miles today & camped at the foot of the Calapooia Mountains.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 15th 1856 (Saturday)

“Cloudy. This morning our cattle were missing, and upon search we ascertained they had crossed the mountain. Pursuit was immediately made & they were found about ten miles from camp. They were brought back and we were ready to start by two o'clock. From camp we commenced our ascent up the mountain, at first quite gradual. After ascending some distance we arrived at the summit. We then followed the ridge of the mountain some distance before we commenced the descent. The road was quite dry over the mountain and till we were near the base, where we found some very heavy mud. The last team arrived in camp after traveling a distance of eight miles. One woman died today.”

March 16th 1856, (Sunday)

“Cloudy with the occasional sunshine. Remained in camp all day to rest. Nothing occurred worthy of relating.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 17th 1856 (Monday)

“This morning we took up our line of march in northward direction. The roads were quite hilly and in places very muddy. This morning while crossing a small stream a teamster broke a wagon tongue, which delayed us an hour to repair, after which we proceeded without any further difficulty for the remainder of the day. We encamped tonight on the west bank of Rich Creek, a distance of thirteen miles from where we started. Arrived in camp by four o'clock.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 18th 1856 (Tuesday)

“Cloudy & threatening rain. During the night an Indian died, which delayed us a short time to bury, however by nine o'clock we were in readiness to start. We traveled over a level flat country, in places quite muddy. The greatest difficulty we experience is in obtaining grass for our cattle, which we find to be exceedingly scarce. We drove today a distance of twelve miles. Camped on an oak grove near the claim of Mr. Smith.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 19th 1856 (Wednesday)

“Cloudy & threatening rain. Quite showery through the day. We continued our march down Long Tom & passed over some very muddy roads. We traveled today a distance of fourteen miles & encamped on the bank of Long Tom at Starrs Point.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 20th 1856 (Thursday)

“The weather still continues cloudy and threatening rain. We secured a good pasture last night for our cattle & this morning quite early were under way. Our route lay immediately down Long Tom over a level prairie country. In consequence of the recent rains our wagons dragged along heavily all day. We drove a distance of fifteen miles and encamped on the bank of Mary's River at the ferry. A very hard day's drive, but no camp could be found short of this.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 21st 1856 (Friday)

“Clear & pleasant. This morning we were two or three hours in ferrying the river. For two or three miles we found the roads very muddy. About three miles north from Corvallis our road improved very much, becoming rolling & dry. We traveled today a distance of twelve miles and encamped near the claim of Mr. Reed.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 22nd 1856 (Saturday)

“Cloudy weather again. This morning for several miles our road was in excellent condition. We then found some very bad road and sloughy prairie to cross over after which we arrived at the South Luckiamute, which we crossed on a bridge. Still continuing our course northward, in a few miles we arrived at Little Luckiamute, which we also crossed on a bridge & passed upon the north bank of the stream a short distance and encamped near a little oak grove. Traveled twelve miles.”

March 23rd 1856 (Sunday)

“Remained in camp all day. Quite pleasant weather.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

Mach 24th 1856 (Monday)

“Got an early start this morning and had an excellent road. We drove a distance of fifteen miles & encamped near Mr. Frederick's.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

March 25th 1856 (Tuesday)

“Clear & pleasant. We got an early start this morning and after driving hard all day reached the reservation about four o'clock in the evening, after driving a distance of sixteen miles. So ends my journey & journal after a period of thirty-three days, in which time we traveled a distance of two hundred & sixty-three miles. Started with three hundred and ninety-five Indians. Eight deaths and eight births, leaving the number the same as when started.”

~ George H. Ambrose, Indian Agent

The wet plate collodion process requires me to set up a mobile darkroom where every I take a photograph. The film is made, photographed, and developed all on location.

I shoot on both glass and coated aluminum with a 5x7 inch view camera from the early 1900's. I use brass lenses from the mid to late 1800.