Bower, N. E.
1902

Map of the U.S. Military Reservation, Fort Sill, Oklahoma Territory

Map of the U.S. Military Reservation Fort Sill, O.T. Showing the Various Boundaries Compiled and Drawn under the Supervision of N. E. Bower 2nd Lieut. Corps of Engineers [and survey plat.]

DESCRIPTION: Unrecorded and important 1902 blueprint map documents the entire U.S. Military Reservation at Fort Sill, Oklahoma Territory, just five years before Oklahoma statehood and one year after the last Indian lands in Oklahoma opened for settlement. Compiled and drawn under the supervision of 2nd Lt. N. E. Bower, Corps of Engineers, the map was prepared for a Board of Officers convened on November 6, 1902 to review and verify the reservation’s boundaries, fences, roads, streams, and terrain. It presents the reservation in three components -- the Original Reservation, the Western Addition, and the Eastern Addition -- with detailed Public Land Survey System grids, contour lines, drainage, and the developed cantonment near Medicine Bluff Creek.

With the frontier gone and the cavalry mission fading, the fort shifted toward a new role as artillery units arrived, including the formation of the 39th Field Artillery Battery in 1902. This transition ultimately saved the fort from closure, and with the last cavalry regiment departing in May 1907, Fort Sill was firmly on the path to becoming the home of U.S. Army Field Artillery.

This map captures that transition with precision, drawing on General Land Office surveys, U.S. Engineer triangulations, earlier post maps, and contemporary field notes. Today the blueprint stands as an important visual record of the boundaries and landscape of one of the nation’s most significant western military posts, known as the later home of the Field Artillery School and the final residence of the Apache prisoners of war, including Geronimo.

Geronimo spent the final fifteen years of his life as a prisoner of war at Fort Sill, arriving with other Chiricahua Apache in 1894 after years of forced relocations to Florida and Alabama. Although not confined to a cell, he lived under continual military supervision on the post, farming small plots, visiting nearby towns under guard, and becoming a public figure at expositions and fairs. His status never changed—he remained a POW until his death at Fort Sill in February 1909. He is buried in the Apache Prisoner of War Cemetery at the post, where his grave remains a focal point of Chiricahua history and memory.

Includes an additional 1902 blueprint, the companion engineering plat to the large Map of the U.S. Military Reservation at Fort Sill, Oklahoma Territory. Signed and certified by 2nd Lieutenant N. E. Bower, Corps of Engineers, and dated December 5, 1902, the sheet (18"x18") records the detailed boundary survey of the 2,964.51-acre original reservation. Unlike the general overview map, this blueprint functions as a precise legal plat, showing boundary courses in chains, azimuth lines tied to the true meridian, triangulation links, and meandered riverbank paths, with a scale of 6 inches to 1 mile allowing for exact measurement of every line segment, angle, and survey station.

Despite the clear signatures on the 1902 Fort Sill blueprints, no definitive record of a U.S. Army engineer officer named N. E. Bower is found in the standard sources for the era. His name is absent from the U.S. Army Registers for 1898–1910, Cullum’s Register of West Point graduates, Corps of Engineers annual reports, and rosters of engineer officers working in domestic districts or overseas. This lack of documentation suggests either a very brief period of service, inconsistent initials on surviving maps, or a temporary commission for survey work in Indian Territory that left no lasting trace in federal military records.

CREATOR: Bower, N. E.

PUBLICATION DATE: 1902

GEOGRAPHIC AREA: United States

BODY OF WATER: N/A

CONDITION: Good. Clean and bright. No folds. Insignificant edge tears repaired archivally from the verso.

COLORING: Cyanotype blue background.

ENGRAVER:

SIZE: 32 " x 20 "

ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 130

PRICE: $2400

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