When Geronimo surrendered in 1886 the Indian Wars came to an end. Remington, who worked as a free-lance author and illustrator for New York periodicals, was frequently sent west to record in sketches life on the western frontier. In 1888 he was assigned to the Arizona territory in search of Geronimo’s Apaches on the San Carlos reservation.

An Apache Soldier, or Scout was photographically reproduced to illustrate Remington’s article in The Century in July 1889, “On the Indian Reservations.”