J.K. Ralston (1896-1987) Muggins Taylor 30" x 60" oil on canvas Signed and dated '63 lower right Verso: Clip with details about painting. $12,000-18,000 Provenance: Book titled The Voice of the Curlew, J.K. Ralston's Story of his Life as told to John Popovich, published in 1986 to accompany the lot. The piece is featured in the book with the following information: "The setting for this painting is at the military supply camp at the site of Fort Pease just below the mouth of the Big Horn River on the Yellowstone. We see General Terry giving a dispatch to Muggins Taylor to be delivered to Fort Ellis, advising of Custer's defeat on June 25, 1876. The steamer "Far West" is moored at the river bank awaiting further orders. Ken portrays the pathos, which hangs like a somber cloud over all who are stunned by the disaster." Copy of Denver Post Sunday Empire, 1967 edition featuring Ralston's art, to accompany the lot along with a newspaper article from the Billings Gazette, 2004 with an editorial on JK Ralston. Estate of Gary Jacobson.

Muggins Taylor (d. 1876) was the frontier scout whose midnight ride carried the first news of the Battle of the Little Bighorn to the outside world. A seasoned plainsman fluent in several Native languages, Taylor worked as a guide and interpreter alongside Crow scouts during the 1876 campaign. After encountering survivors of Reno’s retreat, he rode through the night to Fort Ellis, delivering the earliest confirmation that Custer and his command had been wiped out. Though he died only weeks later in Coulson, Montana in a gunfight dispute, Taylor’s dramatic ride secured his place as one of the memorable eyewitness participants in the Little Bighorn story.

3-4 areas showing minor abrasion/small chips in paint.