THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 17 



paint, and demanded that he lead them to battle. Appearing to be in 

 sympathy with them, he arose in the council and spoke with eloquence 

 and energy : 



Braves, I am your chief. It is my duty te rule you as a father at home, and to lead 

 you to war if you are determined to go ; but in this war there is no middle course. 

 The United States is a great power, and unless we conquer that great nation we must 

 perish. I will lead you instantly against the whites on one condition — that is, that 

 we shall first put all our women and children to death, and then resolve that having 

 crossed the Mississippi, we shall never return, but perish among the graves of our 

 fathers rather than yield to the white man. 



The argument had its force and the raid was abandoned. 

 Charles Deas, the artist, saw Keokuk and his band at Fort Crawford 

 in the fall of 1840. H. T. Tuckerman, in his Artist Life, thus notes it : 



Keokuk, the great chief and orator of the Sacs and Foxes, was at Fort Crawford 

 holding a council with the Winnebagoes. The assemblage and their proceedings were 

 very imposing. The Sacs were endeavoring to " cover the blood" of a young man 

 of the other tribe who had been killed some time previously. They tendered a con- 

 siderable sum of money, which was at last accepted by the opposite party. The Sacs 

 and Foxes were living in tents allowed them from the fort in an inclosure attached 

 to the palisades — a relative of the deceased object of the conclave, wishing to insult 

 Keokuk, took advantage of the absence of most of the party to crawl up under the shelter 

 of a fence in the rear of his tent where he was seated in state. The costume of the 

 venerable chief was superb — a tiara of panther and raven skins adorning h is head. 

 The intruding Winnebago quietly lifted the canvas of the teut, and suddenly tearing 

 this gear from the old man's person and scattering it over the mats retreated as he 

 came, before the sentry could arrest him. This insult to their leader produced many 

 serio-comic scenes, and gave Deas a fine opportunity to observe the expression of In- 

 dian character. Keokuk maintained a dignified silence, but the gloomy light of his 

 eye betokened how keenly he felt the mortification. His enraged spouse was by no 

 means so calm. The imprecations caused an outcry which called out the officer of 

 the day, and it was long before the storm was quelled. 



He visited Washington with a delegation of his people in 1837, mak- 

 ing a profound impression both in Washington and other cities. 



Capt. F. R. West, of Des Moines, Iowa, March 19, 1886, gave to a 

 reporter of the Iowa State Register some incidents relating to u Keokuk." 



In the year 1837 I was running a packet boat [canal] on the line between Pittsburgh 

 aad Philadelphia, or rather from Pittsburgh to the foot of the mountains on the west 

 side at Johnstown. The canal line only ran this far, the rest ®f the route being a 

 railroad. This was the only system of travel to the west at that time except by stage 

 coach. Colonel Street* — or he might have been major— of the United States Army, 

 with a retinue of soldiers and a few ladies, came to Pittsburgh in the month of August, 

 I think it was. I only judge that it was August because of the season which was 

 very dry and beautiful. He had with him a band of Indians, chiefs and young men, 

 taking them to Washington. It was a number of Sacs, or Sacs and Foxes, I am not 

 able to say wJiich. There were thirty-nine of them, and certainly there would not 

 have been so many of them if they were from one tribe. The chief, Keokuk [No. 1 

 and 1A] was among the number, I distinctly recollect. The line of boats consisted of 

 four packets plying back and forth. They were elegant boats constructed for pas- 

 senger traffic, and as they carried very many fine people from the East the captains 



* General Joseph M. Street, of Virginia, born October 18, 1782, agent of the Sac and Fox Indians, 

 died on their reservation, where be is buried (near Des Moines), May 5, 1840. By his side is burled 

 Wapello, a cbief of the Sac and Fox, who died March ] 5, 1842, aged 57. 



6744 2 



