THE GEOEGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 27 



shaped, with a Eoman face, and a pleasant countenance. Judge James 

 Hall describes him in 1838 as- 

 Old, and frail and broken in appearance. His stature is small, and his figure not 

 striking: nor do his features indicate a high grade of intelligence. 



Black Hawk was an orator of force and fluency. His eloquence is 

 given at length, together with details of his life, in the work published 

 by J. B. Patterson in 1834, and in "The Eed Men of Iowa." He was 

 painted many times, and his portraits can be found in several of the 

 historical societies' rooms. Mr. Catlin made several portraits of him. 

 His influence over his people seems to have been due to the force of his 

 eloquence and dignity of his bearing, rather than from his executive 

 capacity or ability as a warrior in his later years. 



Black Hawk was a man of much dignity of character. 



In 1831, General Gaines, at Eock Eiver, in council with the Sac and 

 Fox. Nation, observing Black Hawk seated among the chiefs and lead- 

 ing men, and hearing his name mentioned frequently, he inquired, 

 " Who is Black Hawk? Is he a chief"? By what right does he appear 

 in council"?" Black Hawk arose and walked out of the council. IN'o 

 one spoke in reply. The next day he was in his place in the council. 

 He was now cool, and free from passion. He arose, and speaking to 

 General Gaines — 



My Father : You inquired yesterday, "Who is Black Hawk ? Why does he sit among 

 the chief men? I will tell you who I am. I am a Sauk. My father was a Sauk. I 

 am a warrior. So was my father. Ask these young men who have followed me to 

 battle, and they will tell you who Black Hawk is. Provoke our people to war, and 

 you will learn who Black Hawk is ! 



He then sat down, and no further questions were asked. 



DEATH AND BURIAL OF BLACK HAWK. 



The following account of his death and burial is condensed from " The 

 Eed Men of Iowa," by A. E. Fulton, and also from an article on "The 

 Burial of Black Hawk," in the Magazine of American History for May, 

 188G, by J. F. Snyder, M. D. 



James H. Jordan, esq., lived in a cabin but a few rods from that of Black Hawk. 

 He was intimate with and now owns the land upon which Black Hawk's cabin stood. 

 It was on the north bank and about 100 feet from the Des Moines Eiver. 



Near this cabin stood two large trees — an ash and an elm — and from near their 

 roots came a spring, known as Black Hawk's Spring. Here he would sit and look 

 out upon the river. He maintained a gloomy silence, speaking to but few but his 

 intimates. Black Hawk was ill fourteen days before his death. The chiefs and otheT 

 principal men were absent at the time of his death, at Rock Island, receiving annui- 

 ties. Mr. Jordan was with him two hours before his death — the last white man who 

 spoke to or saw him alive, and then left to go to Rock Island. Black Hawk's wife 

 was devoted to him, and sincerely mourned him. Some days before his death she 

 said, " He is getting old ; he must die. Monoto calls him home." 



Black Hawk died from a bilious colic at noon on October 3, 1838, aged seventy-two 

 years. He was buried on the spot designated by himself— a place where he held 

 council with the Iowa Indians in the summer of 1837 or 1838. His funeral was at- 



