CHARLES BIRD KING EWERS 465 



measure. This duty was assigned to Mr. King, of Washington, an 

 artist of acknowledged reputation; he executed it with j&delity and 

 success, by producing the most exact resemblances, including the 

 costume of each." Thomas L. McKenney stated (1828) that King 

 was paid for his Indian portraits at the rate of $20 for "each head and 

 about half the body." (Hodge, 1916, pp. 190-191.) 



There was no dearth of Indian delegations trekking to Washington 

 during the decades of the 1820's and 1830's. Some groups of Indians 

 from beyond the Mississippi were brought to Washington primarily 

 to impress tribal leaders with the numbers of Whites, with the power 

 and good intentions of the United States Government and to encourage 

 Indian loyalty and good behavior. Others came to do business with 

 the Government in matters involving cessions of Indian lands. In 

 1825, President Monroe recommended to the Congress a plan for the 

 resettlement of Indian tribes then living east of the Mississippi on 

 lands west of that great river, in order to permit the expansion of 

 white settlement in the South and Midwest. In those days the United 

 States recognized the Indian tribes as independent nations. To effect 

 their removal from their traditional agricultural lands and hunting 

 grounds, legal treaties had to be negotiated. Other treaties had to 

 be made with tribes of Plains Indians to secure portions of their 

 hunting grounds upon which the eastern Indians could be resettled. 

 These treaties required prolonged and complicated negotiations 

 between representatives of the Government and leaders of the Indian 

 tribes involved. During the years 1824—38 no fewer than 18 Indian 

 treaties were signed in the city of Washington. Each ceremony was 

 attended by a delegation of chiefs and headmen of the tribe or tribes 

 concerned. Other tribes sent delegations to Washington to discuss 

 land cessions which were later formally negotiated by treaties signed 

 in the field. 



King painted portraits of many members of these delegations when 

 they came to Washington during the periods 1821-22 and 1824-37. 

 During the years 1826-27, when Indian visitors to the capital were 

 few. King copied for the Government collection at least 26 portraits of 

 Indians of the western Great Lakes (most of them Ojibwa), executed 

 in the field by the less able artist, James Otto Lewis. In 1837, when 

 the number of Indian visitors to Washington was unusually large, 

 George Cooke, friend and pupil of King, was called in to paint some 

 of their portraits. In the 16-year period 1821-37 King painted from 

 life Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and Uchi Indian leaders 

 from the South; Ojibwa, Potawatomi, Menomini, Sac, Fox, and 

 Seneca from the Great Lakes region ; Iowa, Kansa, Omaha, Oto, and 

 Pawnee from the central Great Plains ; Eastern, Yankton, and Yank- 

 tonai Dakota, and a lone Assiniboin from the far Northwest. 



