THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 29 



als, one the gift of President Jackson, another was presented to him by ex-President 

 John Quincy Adams, and the third by the city of Boston. The body was inclosed 

 with boards resting on end on either side, and meeting on a ridge-pole fixed on forked 

 posts, set in the ground at the head and feet, forming a roof with an open space 

 below. The gables of this rude vault were closed with boards, and the whole was 

 covered with earth, and then sodded over. 



At the head was a flag-staff 35 feet high, which bore an American flag worn out by 

 exposure, and near by was the usual hewn post, inscribed with Indian characters, 

 representing his deeds of bravery and record as a warrior. Inclosing all was a strong 

 circular picket fence 12 feet high. 



His body remained here until July 1, 1839, when its head was carried off by a cer- 

 tain Dr. Turner, who then lived at Lexington, Van Buren County, Iowa. Black 

 Hawk's widow discovered this and reported it to Mr. Jordan. In the winter of 1839 

 Dr. Turner came back and got the body. Captain Horn states that Dr. Turner 

 subsequently took the skeleton to Alton, 111., for the purpose of having the bones 

 articulated with wire. He carried Black Hawk's head away in his saddle-bags in July 

 of 1839. Mr. Barrows says the skeleton was sent to Warsaw or Quincy, 111. 



The sons of Black Hawk, when they became aware of this desecration of their 

 father's grave, were very indignant, and complained of it to Governor Lucas, at that 

 time the governor of Iowa Territory, and his excellency at once caused the bones of 

 the great chief to be brought back to Burlington, where they were deposited in the 

 fall of 1839, or the early spring of 1840. Shortly after, when the young Black Hawks 

 came to take possession of the paternal osseous remains, it seems that, finding them 

 safely stored in the governor's office, they concluded to leave them there. The skele- 

 ton was subsequently placed in the collection of the Burlington Geological and His- 

 torical Society, and there is no doubt that it was consumed in the fire that destroyed 

 the building and all the Society's collections in 1855. 



So also says A. K. Fulton, though the editor of the Annals (April, 

 1865, p. 478), J. F. Snyder, M. D., "doubts this." 



Dr. J. H. Rauch, the present Secretary of the Illinois State Board of Health, was, at 

 the time of said catastrophe, secretary of the society whose building and collections 

 were destroyed ; and on applying to him for further information, he stated that the 

 famous skeleton, when returned to the Territorial capital by order of the executive, 

 fell into the possession of Dr. Enos Lowe, recently deceased at Omaha, Nebr., who 

 afterward presented it to the society ; and intimated that Dr. Lowe may possibly have 

 taken the bones with him when he removed from Burlington to Omaha. 



Dr. Lowe's son, General W.W. Lowe, is still a resident of Omaha, and to him I pro- 

 pounded certain interrogatories, to which the following answer was received, under 

 date of November 29, 1881 : 



"After the chief's death, the tribes (Sacs and Foxes) requested my father to take 

 possession of the remains, and he did so, wiring them and keeping the skeleton in his 

 office, where for a long time they continued to come to view it. Subsequently, with 

 the consent of the tribe, he presented the skeleton to the Geological and Historical 

 Society of Burlington, and the remains were destroyed by the burning of their build- 

 ing." — J. F. Snyder. 



In 1868, A. R. Fulton visited the place where Black Hawk was buried 

 thirty years before, and found that it had been marked by a pile of 

 stones thrown there by James H. Jordan. 



3. Ndh-se-tis-kuk, the Whirling Thunder ; eldest son of Black Hawk. Painted 1832. 

 A very handsome man. He distinguished himself in the Black Hawk war. 



(Plate No. 284, page 211, vol. 2, Catlin's Eight Years.) 

 The eldest son of Black Hawk, * * * a very handsome young warrior, and one 

 of the finest-looking Indians I ever saw. There is a strong party i» the tribe that is 



