THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 159 



Buffalo, June 25, 1684. 

 General Ily S. Parker: 



Dear Sir : In 1852 Red Jacket's remains reposed in the old mission cemetery, at 

 East Buffalo, surrounded by those of Young King, Captain Pollard, Destroy-Town, 

 Little Billy, Mary Jemison, and others renowned in the later history of the Senecas. 

 His grave was marked by a marble slab, erected by the eminent comedian nenry 

 Placide, but which had been chipped away to half of its original proportion by relic 

 hunters and other vandals. The cemetery was the pasture ground for vagrant cattle, 

 and was in a scandalous state of dilapidation and neglect. The legal title to the 

 grounds was and still is in the possession of the Ogden Land Company, although at 

 the time of the last treaty the Indians were led to believe that the cemetery and 

 church grounds wore excluded from its operation. At the time mentioned (1852) 

 George Cop way, the well-known Ojibwa lecturer, delivered two or more lectures in 

 Buffalo, in the course of which he called attention to Red Jacket's neglected grave, 

 and agitated the subject of tiie removal of his dust to a more secure place and the 

 erection of a suitable monument. A prominent business man, the late Wheeler Hotck- 

 kiss, who lived adjoining the cemetery, became deeply interested in the project, and 

 he, together with Copway, assisted by an undertaker named Farwell, exhumed the 

 remains and placed them in a new coffin, which was deposited with the bones in the 

 cellar of Hotchkiss's residence. 



There were a few Senecas still living on the Buffalo Creek Reservation, among them 

 Moses Stevenson, Thomas Jemison, Daniel Two Guns, and others. They discovered 

 that the old chief's grave had been violated almost simultaneously with its accom- 

 plishment. Stevenson, Two Guns, and a party of excited sympathizers among the 

 whites, hastily gathered together and repaired to Hotchkiss's residence, where they 

 demanded that the remains should be given up to them. The request was complied 

 with, and the bones were taken to Cattaraugus and placed in the custody of Ruth 

 Stevenson, the favorite step-daughter of Red Jacket, and a most worthy woman. 

 Ruth was the wife of James Stevenson, brother of Moses. Their father was a con- 

 temporary of Red Jacket and a distinguished chief. She was a sister of Daniel Two 

 Guns. Her father, a renowned warrior and chief, fell at the battle of Chippewa, an 

 ally of the United States. 



When the demand was made by the excited multitude Hotchkiss manifested con- 

 siderable perturbation at the menacing attitude of the crowd. He turned to Farwell 

 and, indicating the place of deposit of the remains, requested that Farwell should de- 

 scend into the cellar and bring up the coffin or box, which, by the way, was made of 

 red cedar and about 4 feet in length. 



Ruth preserved the remains in her cabin for some years and finally buried them, 

 but resolutely concealed from every living person any knowledge of the place of sep- 

 ulture. Her husband was then dead and she was a childless, lone widow. As she 

 became advanced in years it grew to be a source of anxiety to her what disposition 

 should finally be made of these sacred relics. She consulted the Rev. Asher Wright 

 and his wife on the subject, and concluded at length to deliver them over to the Buf- 

 falo Historical Society [on October 2, 1879], which, with the approval of the Seneca 

 council, had undertaken to provide a permanent resting place for the bones of the 

 old chief and his compatriots. 



I do not believe that there is any ground for doubting the identity of the remains, 

 and I think Hotchkiss and his confederates should be acquitted of any intention to 

 do wrong. It was an impulsive and ill-advised act on their part. The few articles 

 buried with the body were found intact. The skull is in excellent preservation and 

 is unmistakably that of Red Jacket. Eminent surgeons, who have examined it and 

 compared it with the best portraits of Red Jacket, attest to its genuineness.* 



* "When the remains of Red Jacket were removed from the box in which they had been deposited, 

 October 2, 1879, in the vault of the Western Savings Bank, Buffalo, on October 8, 1884, and placed in a 

 coffin, there was found a quantity of plaster of Paris, a portion of that used by a phrenologist in 1834 

 in the unsuccessful attempt to take a ca.st. — T. D. 



