Three Navajo figures pose in front of the adobe quarters at old Fort Defiance, New Mexico Territory, in this albumen stereoview made by Timothy H. O'Sullivan during the Wheeler Survey Expedition of 1873. The image was issued by the War Department, Corps of Engineers, under the command of 1st Lieutenant George M. Wheeler as part of the Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian series. O'Sullivan, already celebrated for his Civil War and King Survey work, brought the same exacting eye to this southwestern campaign.

A woman seated at center wears a boldly patterned blanket with geometric diamond and zigzag motifs and a wide dark sash belt, her wrists adorned with bracelets; a young boy at left rests his hands on a bow laid across a low table or ledge, while a second boy stands behind holding a staff. The adobe wall, exposed timber vigas casting strong diagonal shadows, and a multi-pane window frame the group against the unoccupied military quarters.

Fort Defiance, established in 1851 in present-day Arizona, had been decommissioned as an active military post and converted to a Navajo agency by the time O'Sullivan photographed there in 1873, serving the Diné people who had returned from the Long Walk exile just five years earlier.

The reverse bears the full War Department imprint, series number 28, the credit line "T. H. O'Sullivan. Photo.," and the printed caption: "Navajo Boys and Squaw, in front of the quarters at old Fort Defiance, N. M., now unoccupied by troops. The agency for the Navajos is located here." A handwritten "M" appears in the upper left corner of the reverse. The front mount reads "Expedition of 1873" at left and "1st Lieut. Geo. M. Wheeler, Corps of Engineers Commanding" at right. Series number 71 is printed at the bottom center of the mount.