In honor of Native American Heritage Month, the Historical Society is highlighting our ledger art collection. Apache prisoners held in the Castillo de San Marcos (then called Fort Marion) from 1886-1887 created this twenty-four-piece collection. They sold sketches like these to St. Augustine residents and tourists who came to the fort. This ledger art represents Apache efforts to establish autonomy even while imprisoned in St. Augustine.
The Apache Wars were a series of conflicts between the United States and the Apache from 1862 to 1886. Stemming from smaller Apache raids on a farm and a military wagon train in Arizona, the United States used this as an opportunity to force the Apache onto a reservation. This twenty-four-year conflict ended in the summer of 1886, with the final surrender of Geronimo, the famed Apache military leader. With the end of the conflict, around five hundred Apache men, women, and children became prisoners of war and were taken to Fort Marion (the Castillo de San Marcos).
Thirteen Apache prisoners held at Fort Marion (1886-87). From the Collections of SAHS.
These were not the first indigenous prisoners of war held at Fort Marion. During the Second Seminole War, the U.S. imprisoned eighty-one Seminoles there in 1837. Around forty years later, they also held seventy-five captives from Great Plains nations, including Kiowa and Cheyenne prisoners. The prisoners during the 1870s created ledger art to be sold to St. Augustine’s tourists. Historically, people from the Plains recorded war histories and other events with drawings done in bank ledgers. With this background, the prisoners during the 1870s created ledger art to be sold to St. Augustine’s tourists. Almost a decade later, the Apache did the same.
Selling ledger art to White tourists provided the Apache funds to purchase foods that the government refused to provide. Typical daily rations included meat, sugar, coffee, bread, and beans. Notably absent from these provisions were fruits and vegetables— with the exception of a small number of potatoes and onions on a weekly basis. Imprisonment limited Apache access to food. In order to supplement their diets, several turned to selling handicrafts to the tourists who would come to view them in the fort. These objects included beadwork, bows, arrows, moccasins, and ledger art. While the Kiowa and other Plains nations created far more artwork during their time in St. Augustine, all these nations produced ledger art for a commercial purpose during their imprisonment.
Apache Ledger Art depicting two circus acrobats on a horse, (1886-87). Artist Unknown. From the Collections of SAHS.
The subjects of these drawings include scenes from Apache life out west and depictions of a circus that came to St. Augustine. The circus scenes show acrobats and other performers in bright colors. The majority of the collection are hunting scenes, such as bison hunts, portraits of Native Americans, or horses. The choice to depict these scenes showcase the tourists’ interests in owning a piece of ‘Apache life,’ despite the fact the Apache created these depictions specifically to be souvenirs.
The collection also includes a cursive writing exercise. While unclear if this is an item designed to be a souvenir, it demonstrates the assimilationist and re-education policies of the U.S. Government. For instance, Lieutenant Richard Pratt, the officer who oversaw the Kiowa imprisonment, believed that Native Americans could and should be assimilated to White society. To this end, he established the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1879, the first of many residential schools that separated children from their families, and forced them to adopt the English language as well as Anglo-American values and appearances. He tested his re-education strategies on the Plains people imprisoned at the fort.
Apache Ledger Art depicting a bison hunt, (1886-87). Artist Unknown. From the Collections of SAHS.
While being deprived of nutrition, freedom, and sovereignty, the Apache were able to exercise a limited amount of economic autonomy through the production of this ledger art. With the funds from selling this art, they were able to purchase food and supplies that would not otherwise be available to them. This art not only provides a window into the perspectives and experiences of Apache prisoners of war, it is also a demonstration of self-expression in a time period that saw the U.S. attempting to assimilate native cultures.
Written by: Sydney Livingston, Assistant Collections Manager
Edited by: Robert Covert, Collections Manager & Editor-in-Chief
Sources:
“Apache Incarceration.” Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. National Parks Service. April 20th, 2022. https://www.nps.gov/casa/learn/historyculture/apache-incarceration.htm
“The Apache Wars Part I: Cochise.” Chiricahua National Monument. National Parks Service. April 7th, 2023. https://www.nps.gov/chir/learn/historyculture/apache-wars-cochise.htm.
“The Apache Wars Part II: Geronimo.” Chiricahua National Monument. National Parks Service. August 19th, 2018. https://www.nps.gov/chir/learn/historyculture/apache-wars-geronimo.htm.
“The Carlisle Indian Industrial School: Assimilation with Education after the Indian Wars (Teaching with Historic Places).” National Parks Service. Accessed September 25th 2025. https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-carlisle-indian-industrial-school-assimilation-with-education-after-the-indian-wars-teaching-with-historic-places.htm
Edwards, Diane. “In a World Not Their Own: Indian Prisoners at Fort Marion,” The East Florida Gazette 16, (April 1996), 1-4.
Greene, Candace. “Being Indian at Fort Marion: Revisiting Three Drawings.” American Indian Quarterly 37, no. 4 (2013), 289-316.
Kalesnik, Frank. “Caged Tigers: Native American Prisoners in Florida, 1875-1888.” Dissertation, Florida State University, 1992.
Lookingbill, Brad. War Dance at Fort Marion, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006.
“Post Apache Wars.” Chiricahua National Monument. National Parks Service. August 19th, 2018. https://www.nps.gov/chir/learn/historyculture/post-apache-wars.htm.
Truskey, Colleen. “Between Two Worlds: Indian Imprisonment at Castillo de San Marcos National Monument.” National Trust for Historic Preservation. Accessed September 25th 2025. https://savingplaces.org/stories/between-two-worlds-indian-imprisonment-at-castillo-de-san-marcos-national-monument