ART OF SETH EASTMAN — McDERMOTT 585 



years at this post. Lanman in 1846 had reported that Eastman's 

 collection then numbered "about four hundred pieces," a figure un- 

 doubtedly including watercolors and drawings as well as oils. East- 

 man himself in 1847 mentioned having 100 watercolors representing 

 the Mississippi from Fort Snelling to the mouth of the Ohio and at 

 a much later date declared that at the time he was assigned for duty 

 within the Office of Indian Affairs he had had 67 paintings and 

 sketches which he used in illustrating the Schoolcraft volumes [10]. 

 Knowing Eastman, we can be sure that up to the last moment at the 

 fort he was at his easel or had his sketchbook on his knee whenever 

 opportunity allowed. 



We can capture him on one occasion active both as soldier and as 

 artist. In midsummer Henry Lewis was once more visiting Fort Snell- 

 ing, this time on a sketching trip for his panorama. He arrived in the 

 north in time to share in a bit of frontier excitement. Winnebagoes 

 being removed upriver to a new reservation, at Sioux instigation 

 balked when they reached Wahbasha's Prairie. The Indian agent in 

 charge calling for reinforcements from the fort, Eastman went down 

 with 25 soldiers and took over command. Lewis shared his tent. "At 

 the upper end of the camp," the St. Louis artist wrote in his diary, 

 "a sort of fort had been built with the waggons running from the river 

 bank and forming a square. Next to these were the tents of the dra- 

 goons, then the infantry then the friendly Sioux brought down from 

 the St Peters as allies of the whites in case of accident ; and then the 

 little band of regulars under Cap" Eastman." A "grand talk" was now 

 the order of business, but the Winnebagoes "gave us to understand that 

 they should move just when they got ready and such like," Eastman, 

 hearing from one of the friendly Indians that the Winnebagoes might 

 intend to surprise them, "order [ed] every man under arms and plac'd 

 himself in order of battle, his line stretching from the river to the 

 bluffs. Two six pounders were in the center supported by Cap Mor- 

 gans company of Dragoons. We had hardly got the line form'd 

 when the Indians came dashing up at full speed — to the number of 

 eight hundred all mounted and painted and dress'd in grand style they 

 would dash up nea[r]ly to the gims of the men and not finding the line 

 give way they would w[h]eel and ride back again yelling and shout- 

 ing." For several days the situation was tense, but the captain, who 

 was outnumbered at least four to one, by firmness and persuasiveness 

 overcame the opposition without violence on either side. [11] . At some 

 moment during these exciting days he made a vivid sketch of the scene 

 described by Lewis, "Wahbasha's Prairie, Miss. River. Scene in July 

 1848." Needless to say, Lewis featured this bit of "Indian life" in his 

 panorama and in "Das Illustrirte Mississippithal," where a lithograph 

 was devoted to the camp of the United States soldiers and several 

 pages of text to Eastman's able handling of the difficult affair. 



