586 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 60 



"Sioux Indians Breaking Up Camp," according to the Eastman 

 notes, "explains itself. I wish to show that the squaws do all the labor 

 & drudgery the men looking on doing nothing." This composition 

 illustrates well Eastman's ability at once to report and to paint. 



From the watercolor "Dog Dance of the Dakotas," used by the en- 

 graver of plate 22, volume 2 of "Indian Tribes," we can study East- 

 man's intention for a painting sold at this time to the American Art 

 Union, though now lost. 



Apparently when the Eastmans left Fort Snelling a "number of 

 Indians" were shipped to Mrs. Eastman's brother-in-law. Lieutenant 

 Craven, near Boundbrook, N.J. [12]. These the captain was anxious 

 to dispose of, wrote Mrs. Eastman to Colonel Warner at the Art 

 Union, "for he wanted them to be where they would be seen by artists, 

 or persons of taste." Of this lot of 14 pictures which reached the 

 Art Union on April 13, 1848, 5 were declined. In 1849 three pictures 

 in this group were sold to the American Art Union. "Medicine Dance 

 of the Dakotas" pictured "a large party of Indians beside their wig- 

 wams, engaged in the mystic ceremonies of the medicine dance" [13]. 

 "Squaws Flaying Ball on tlie Prairie" shows a large number of In- 

 dian women "engaged in this exercise, running swiftly in two oppos- 

 ing bands, while others in the foreground are looking on." The 

 squaws, it seems, were permitted to indulge in the game after the men 

 grew tired of playing. 



The 6 remaining pictures in this lot of 14, among which was "Indi- 

 ans Playing Draughts," were bought by the American Art Union in 

 1850. And the following year they bought one more Eastman oil. It 

 was probably not an Indian subject and might have been painted be- 

 fore the 1840's or even after his return to the East. 



III. TEXAS AND "THE INDIAN TRIBES OF THE UNITED STATES," 1849-55 



On March 3, 1847, Congress authorized the Bureau of Indian Af- 

 fairs to collect and prepare for publication historical and statistical 

 information concerning the history, condition, and prospects of the 

 Indian tribes. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft Avas to gather the material 

 and write the report. The post of illustrator remained for sometime 

 unfilled. "Solitaire" Robb, in July 1848, was certain that Eastman 

 was the man for the job. "The Government has recently commenced 

 the collection of material for a correct work of Indian history, the 

 habits and customs of the tribes, etc.," he wrote in the St. Louis 

 Reveille. "We know not Avhether it is the intention of the projectors 

 to illustrate this work ; but we cannot well understand how they could 

 give a proper history of this character without illustrations; and if 

 such is the purpose, Capt. Eastman possesses more ability for such a 

 task than any man in this country. It would be hard to find a man 



