766 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY 



merce and Navigation"; " Romance of Western History," 1857 ; republished in 1871, 

 by Robert Clarke & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, with fine portrait of author; " The Wilder" 

 ness and the War-Path," 1845 ; republished in London in 1846. The last two run into 

 previous volumes, embracing much of the same matter, while the whole are largely 

 made up of papers drawn from " The Letters from the West," the Illinois Monthly 

 Magazine, and its continuation, where many of the originals may be found, or the 

 germs can be traced from which elaborations were subsequently made. The whole, 

 aside from their acknowledged literary merits, possess great historical value, as they 

 present while they preserve a faithful picture of the early West. 



Besides the above, in 1836 he published a life of Governor William H. Harrison, 

 which for perspicuity, fidelity, and elegance of diction is the best of the many that 

 have appeared. In 1848 he prepared a " Memoir of Thomas Posey, major-general and 

 governor of Indiana," published in " Sparks' American Biographical Series." He also 

 wrote the "History of the Indian Tribes of North America,"* 1 aided by Col. Thomas 

 L. McKenney, of the Indian Department, published 1838-44 and 1858, in three large 

 volumes, with one hundred and twenty Indian portraits, taken mainly from the In- 

 dian Gallery, formerly in the Department of War at Washington. Judge Hall early 

 became identified with our State, and aided its material and intellectual progress with 

 all the warmth of his ardent nature. His pen was busy in praise of its climate, its soil, 

 and its capabilities, and prompt and trenchant in defense of the sterling traits of its 

 pioneer people, by whose successors he ought to be remembered. The writer has col- 

 lated this note mainly from the above volumes in his library, with such other scraps 

 of information as he could gather elsewhere. The biographical sketch in the Ameri- 

 can Cyclopedia, to which the writer is likewise indebted, is in error as to the date of 

 publication of the "Letters from the West," as well also in alleging the existence 

 of a "uniform edition of Judge Hall's works "; and is defective in that it omits his 

 "Sketches of the West" (the two volumes possessing more historical value than any 

 of the others), and makes no mention of the Illinois Monthly Magazine and its con- 

 tinuation, which, with the "Letters from the West," are measurably the fountains of 

 them all. 



His writings, except, perhaps, "The Romance of Western History," and a reprint 

 of "The Legends of the West," by Robert Clarke & Co., of Cincinnati, in 1871 and 

 1874, respectively , are long since out of print. Many of them are quite rare, and ap- 

 pear only at long intervals in the catalogues of dealers in "Americana." 



MR. CATLIN AND JUDGE JAMES HALL. 



To illustrate the value iu which the Indian paintings and work of Mr. 

 Catlin was held by one of the first of American Indian historians, and 

 as contemporary, the following letter from Judge James Hall is given : 



Philadelphia, February 12, 1836. 



Dear Sir : I left home for this place shortly after I had the pleasure of seeing you, 

 and did not write as I promised, in consequence of my expectation of meeting with 

 you at Pittsburgh. When I got there I was much disappointed at finding that you 

 had just left that place, and I then did not know where to write you, until to-day, 

 when I learned from the papers that you were at Albany. I now write for the pur- 

 pose of renewing the proposition which I suggested to you at Cincinnati. 



The work which I am engaged in, in connection with Messrs. Key and Biddle, of 

 this city, is a general history of the Indian tribes of North America, to be illustrated 



*The full title of the work is: " History of the Indian Tribes of North America, with biographical 

 sketches and anecdotes of the principal chiefs. Embellished with one hundred and twenty portraits 

 from the Indian gallery in the Department of War at Washington. By Thomas L. McKenney, late 

 of the Indian Department, Washington, and James Hall, esq.; of Cincinnati. 3 vols, folio, with text. 

 Edward C. Biddle, Phila., 1837." 



T. W. Field says: "The work is one of the most costly and important ever published on the Amer- 

 ican Indians. The plates are accurate portraits of celebrated chiefs or of characteristic individuals 

 of the race, and are colored with care so as to faithfully represent their features and costumes." 



