16 THE GEORGE CATL1N INDIAN GALLERY. 



Indians, in the gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. (No. 216, Smith- 

 sonian Miscellaneous Collections, 1867.) 



It was brought to Washington by Keokuk's son — No. 6 herein — and 

 loaned to Mr. Shindler to be copied. It is reproduced here. 



Oapt. J. W. Campbell, of Fort Dodge, Iowa, in March, 1886, gave the 

 following description of the dress of Keokuk in the daguerreotype por- 

 trait of 1847: 



la regard to Keokuk's decorations and head-dress. * * * The silver medallion 

 of President James Monroe, hanging in front, was presented to him by General Win- 

 field Scott at Rock Island (then Fort Stephenson), for his fidelity to the white man in 

 1832. His necklace was composed of bear claws fastened to a cape of otter skins ; his 

 shirt (the ruffle protruding from the under side of the necklace), was red and blue 

 calico. His head-dress consisted of an Indian belt around the forehead ; on top were 

 eagle feathers painted, and attached to the scalp lock was the extreme end of a deer's 

 tail painted with Chinese vermilion. 



Captain Campbell continues : 



My first recollection of his towering form and Ciceronian eloquence was at my 

 father's trading house at Puc-e-she-tuck (now Keokuk), in 1831, and during the many 

 succeeding years he was in Iowa I was often in association with him, and his features 

 are still indelibly impressed upon my memory, and after his demise, in Franklin 

 county, Kansas, I wrote for Mathew Park, of St. Louis, Mo. (marble works), the in- 

 scription on his tombstone, a plain marble slab, now owned by the Monumental Asso- 

 ciation in Keokuk. 



General A. C. Dodge, of Iowa, August 9, 1883 (since deceased), said 

 of Keokuk : 



I knew him very well. He was naturally of a pacific disposition, though on occa- 

 sions he could show a full share of personal bravery. He was regarded among the 

 pioneers as a man of brains — the most far-sighted Sac of his time. It was a long 

 cherished idea of Keokuk to unite the Indian tribes in a great confederation, each 

 band having a distinctively defined territory, and all to be kept at peace by arbitra- 

 tion of great councils. Two things stood in the way of this: the unsteadiness of the 

 Indians themselves for such a method of life, and the desire of the whites for the 

 lands east of the Missouri River. 



Keokuk was born at Eock Eiver, 111., in 1780 (A. E. Fulton?). Other 

 authorities say in 1783. His father was half French, but his mother a 

 full-blood Sac. This " picayune of white blood," as he remarked to Capt. 

 William Philps in 1829, accounted for his being a shade lighter in com- 

 plexion than other Sacs. He was not an hereditary chief, but reached 

 the head of his nation by reason of prowess in battle when young, the 

 gift of oratory, integrity, and tact. He supplanted Black Hawk in 

 1832-'33, who had far greater fame as a warrior. He died at the Sac 

 and Fox agency in Kansas in April, 1848, aged either 65 or 68 years. 



As an orator Keokuk held high rank with the Indians. This was 

 known to the whites, and was one of the reasons for making him princi- 

 pal chief of the Sac and Foxes in 1832-'33. At one time, in 1832, Black 

 Hawk tried to force the entire tribe of Sac and Fox into war with the 

 whites. A majority of them along with Keokuk refused. The mes- 

 sengers for war were importunate, and their words began to have an 

 effect upon Keokuk's braves. Finally they began to put on the war- 



