Distinctly Montana Magazine

W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A . C O M 41 Paxson — a descendant of early settlers in colonial Pennsylvania — was born on April 25, 1852, in East Hamburg, New York, about 13 miles from the city of Buf- falo. His father was a Civil War veteran and a carriage-maker, according to the 1918 Cyclopedia of American Biography. Young Paxson attended classes in a log schoolhouse and later worked in his father's carriage shop. During this time, he became an ardent drawer and painter. His talent developed, though he received very little, if any, formal artistic training. Paxson married one Laura Johnson, with whom he had a son, Loren Custer Paxson. With a wife and young child at home in northern New York, he did what any impulsive artist long- ing for adventure would do — head straight to Montana Territory. After a year of living by himself, he sent for his family to join him. e Paxsons lived in Deer Lodge for two years, until moving to Butte, where they would reside for about two decades. Paxson obtained work illustrating books and painting theatrical sets. His work was of such quality that he was in increasing demand by theater managers across the area. Of course, there was another item on Paxson's mind: that inci- dent at Little Bighorn, which he wanted to portray in his own ar- tistic way. So, while the battle was still fresh in everyone's memory, he began interviewing as many participants as he possibly could. Reportedly, he contacted some 96 officers on the side of the U.S. Army. He also inter- viewed the Cheyenne chief Two Moons, the Sioux chief Gall, and Curly, a Crow scout who worked on behalf of Custer. Additionally, Paxson embarked on a series of personal visits to the battlefield in which he examined the topography from every pos- sible viewpoint. He even toured the location with veterans of the battle who showed him exactly what happened and where. Speaking of his Little Bighorn quest, Pax- son said: "I never lost view of my object, and for 20 years gathered data, sifted, and resifted it, conversed with participants on either side, visited the scene and became as familiar with the ground and the circumstances as with my own home." e preparation period spanned some two decades, and the actual process of painting took four years. For his models, Paxson brought in "real Sioux Indians in their war paint and cavalrymen in their uniforms," according to Brian W. Dippie, who wrote an essay, "What Valor Is," for the book New Perspectives on the Battle of Little Bighorn. In the middle of painting his masterwork, Paxson, who served for 10 years as a member of the Montana National Guard, was interrupted by the Spanish-American War, which dispatched him to the Philippines, where he obtained the rank of first lieutenant, before falling ill and being "invalided home." A rriving in Montana one year after Custer's Last Stand, artist Edgar Samuel Paxson began to indulge his obsession with the battle. It would last much of his life, and would result in the defining work of his artistic career. Paxton's former residence in Missoula CONTINUED

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