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MCKENNEY, Thomas L. (1785-1859) and James HALL (1793-1868)
Ne-Sou-A Quoit, A Fox Chief.
Philadelphia: E. C. Biddle, 1837. Hand-coloured lithograph. In excellent condition. Image size (including text): 15 1/2 x 11 5/8 inches. Sheet size: 18 7/8 x 13 1/4 inches.
A fine image from McKenney and Hall's 'Indian Tribes of North America': `One of the most important [works] ever published on the American Indians' (Field),` a landmark in American culture' (Horan) and an invaluable contemporary record of a vanished way of life.
The son of the renowned chief Chemakasee, Nesouaquoit, or Bear in the Fork of a Tree, was a valiant warrior, accomplished hunter, and prominent Sauk and Fox chief, but mostly known for his vehement hatred of tobacco and alcohol. He was a self-appointed scourge of whiskey peddlars, destroying their barrels and chasing them out of the villages.
In 1815, his father, Chemakasee, who had supported the Americans in the War of 1812, signed a treaty, in which the Federal government agreed to pay his tribe an annuity. Despite the explicit terms of the treaty, the United States never sent any money. Years passed. Nesouaquoit became leading chief. Finally in 1835, he approached General William Clark in St. Louis for help. Clark agreed that the government had clearly violated the agreement, but claimed that he was unable to fund the chief's trip to Washington to further pursue the matter. Financed by a generous loan from a French moneylender in St. Louis (for which the tribe labored all winter to raise a collateral of furs), Nesouaquoit went to Washington in 1837 to address the President and the Secretary of War regarding the breach and to collect the promised money. Even though they acknowledged the legitimacy of his petition and guaranteed that the annuity would be paid, nothing was ever received. It was during his 1837 visit to Washington that the Sauk and Fox chief had his portrait painted. It is one of the more glorious depictions in the work, giving the viewer a close look at the fierce but completely calm warrior chief. .
Mckenney and Hall's 'Indian Tribes of North America' has long been renowned for its faithful portraits of Native Americans. The portraits are largely based on paintings by the artist Charles Bird King, who was employed by the War Department to paint the Indian delegates visiting Washington D.C., forming the basis of the War Department's Indian Gallery. Most of King's original paintings were subsequently destroyed in a fire at the Smithsonian, and their appearance in McKenney and Hall's magnificent work is thus our only record of the likenesses of many of the most prominent Indian leaders of the nineteenth century. Numbered among King's sitters were Sequoyah, Red Jacket, Major Ridge, Keokuk, and Black Hawk. After six years as Superintendent of Indian Trade, Thomas McKenney had become concerned for the survival of the Western tribes. He had observed unscrupulous individuals taking advantage of the Native Americans for profit, and his vocal warnings about their future prompted his appointment by President Monroe to the Office of Indian Affairs. As first director, McKenney was to improve the administration of Indian programs in various government offices. His first trip was during the summer of 1826 to the Lake Superior area for a treaty with the Chippewa, opening mineral rights on their land. In 1827, he journeyed west again for a treaty with the Chippewa, Menominee , and Winebago in the present state of Michigan. His journeys provided an unparalleled opportunity to become acquainted with Native American tribes. When President Jackson dismissed him from his government post in 1830, McKenney was able to turn more of his attention to his publishing project. Within a few years, he was joined by James Hall, a lawyer who had written extensively about the west. McKenney and Hall saw their work as a way of preserving an accurate visual record of a rapidly disappearing culture. (Gilreath).
Cf. Howes M129; cf. Bennett 79; cf. Field 992; cf. Lipperheide Mc 4; cf. Reese American Color Plate Books 24; cf. Sabin 43410a
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#20584 $3,500.00 
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© 2002-2005 Donald A. Heald
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