Thomas Mckenney

MCKENNEY, Thomas L. (1785-1859) and James HALL (1793-1868): Tshusick, an Ojibway Woman.

Philadelphia: E. C. Biddle, 1836. Hand-coloured lithograph. In excellent condition. 14 1/4 x 10 inches. 18 x 12 3/4 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. Claiming to have walked from Detroit through the wintry wilds after her husband's death, Tshusick appeared in Georgetown seeking the protection and guidance of First Lady Louisa Adams, whose sister, Harriet Boyd, she claimed to have known while working in the household of Lewis Cass, the governor of Michigan. She also expressed a wish to be baptised, which won the hearts of many. The Chippewa woman quickly became Mrs. Adams' social companion and the darling of Washington society, charming everyone she encountered with her fluency in French, flawless etiquette, and remarkable skill as a seamstress. A very handsome, petite woman, Tshusick was courted and seen around Washington with General Alexander Macomb, soon to be Chief of Staff. She was later baptised in Georgetown, escorted to the baptismal font by Thomas McKenney himself, and re-named Lucy Cornelia Barbour after the daughter and wife of the Secretary of War. Always somewhat skeptical of the authenticity of her story however, McKenney wrote to Governor Cass to verify her story. Mentioning to Tshusick that he had written Cass, she immediately made plans to depart. Her new friends poured lavish gifts upon her as she left. Sometime later, Cass's reply to McKenney arrived revealing that Tshusick's French husband was alive and working in the Governor's stables and that Tshusick was a well-known con woman. McKenney pursued her next time he visited the west, but he could never track her down. The Chippewa (Ojibwa) were the most widespread and powerful tribe in the Great Lakes area. 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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MCKENNEY, Thomas L. (1785-1859) and James HALL (1793-1868): Tustennugge Emathla or Jim Boy,

Philadelphia: Daniel Rice & James G. Clark, 1836-1844. Hand-coloured lithograph. 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. A faithful U.S. ally and a follower of William McIntosh, Tustenugge Emathla or Jim Boy, was an imposing Creek chief who strongly favored Indian removal to western lands. He distinguished himself as a skillful leader and valiant warrior in the Second Seminole War (1835-1842), in which he fought under Generals Thomas Sidney Jessup and Richard Keith Call. Despite the previous agreement he made with the army whereby his property and family would remain untouched in his absence, Tustenuggee Emathla returned from the war to find that his family had been removed and his property confiscated. 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 a 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. Cf. BAL, 6934; cf. Bennett, p.79; cf. Field, 992; cf. Howes, M129; cf. Lipperhiede, Mc4; cf. Reese, Stamped With A National Character, p. 24; Sabin, 43410a.

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MCKENNEY, Thomas Loraine (1785-1859) and James HALL (1793-1868): Red Jacket. Seneca War Chief,

On stone by Corbould from a painting by C.B. King. Printed by C. Hullmandel. London: [William Wilcockson for J.M. Campbell, 156 Regent Street], 1837. Hand-coloured lithograph. 11 1/4 x 8 3/4 inches. 19 5/8 x 13 1/8 inches. From the extremely rare London edition of McKenney and Hall's 'History of the Indian Tribes of North America', unrecorded at auction for the last 25 years, and printed by the famous London lithographer Hullmandel. One of the most famous images of a Native American, this portrait of Red Jacket depicts one of the most important Indian leaders and spokesmen of the early national period. Red Jacket was born into the Seneca tribe, near present-day Geneva, New York, about 1750. Fighting on the British side during the American Revolution, as did most of the Iroquois, he habitually worn a red coat presented to him by the British, hence the origin of his English name (his real name, Sagoyewatha, means "Keeper Awake"). It was as an orator that Red Jacket became famous, speaking out forthrightly in the years after the Revolution for the rights of his people. He played a prominent role in negotiations with the new Federal government, heading a delegation of fifty to Philadelphia in 1792. There President Washington presented him with a special peace medal, a large oval silver plate with an image of Washington shaking his hand engraved upon it. Red Jacket wore this medal in every portrait painted of him (today it is the Buffalo Historical Society). Red Jacket was not unopposed in his leadership, and he fought both to protect his nation against white encroachment and enemies within. In 1801 opponents within the tribe managed to put him on trial for witchcraft, punishable by death; in a famous display of his oratorical skills, he successfully defended himself. In the 19th century, as continued settlement of upstate New York pressed against Iroquois lands, he became internationally famous for his articulate espousal of Indian rights; for example, a pamphlet entitled Indian Eloquence, published in 1811, gave translations of some of his speeches. He battled for his people with words against missionaries and white governments, trying to preserve the lands and rights of the Seneca. By the 1820's, as McKenney notes, he was as great an object of wonder for visitors to upstate New York as Niagara Falls. In 1827 Red Jacket paid a visit to Washington, to argue his unhappiness over the doings of missionaries among the Seneca with Thomas McKenney, then head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and President Adams. It was on this visit that Charles Bird King painted the porrtrait after which this image was engraved. Red Jacket died a few years later, in 1830. 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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MCKENNEY, Thomas L. (1785-1859) and James HALL (1793-1868): Naw-Kaw or Wood,

Philadelphia: E.C. Biddle, 1834. Hand-coloured lithograph by Lehman and Duval after Charles Bird King's copy of James Otto Lewis' portrait, made at Butte des Morts in 1827. Very good condition. Large margins. Two small repaired tears at bottom edge, about 1/2 inch long. 15 1/8 x 11 1/4 inches. 21 1/2 x 15 1/4 inches. An early impression and 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. Born in Wisconsin, Naw-Kaw was a venerable Winnebago chief who fought for the British in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. A respected and diplomatic peacemaker, he signed several treaties with the settlers after the war. In 1827, he attended the Butte des Morts council in Michigan, which resulted in a treaty establishing territorial boundaries between the warring Winnebago, Chippewa, and Menomonie nations. He is depicted with three Presidential Peace Medals. As indicated, these came in different sizes. At McKenney's invitation, Naw-Kaw, accompanied by the Winnebago agent Major Thomas Forsyth and John Jacob Astor's employee John H. Kinzie, led a delegation of twenty Winnebago chiefs to Washington in 1828. While in the capital, Mckenney took the delegation to his Indian portrait gallery and had Charles Bird King paint their portraits. In order to further placate the uneasy delegation, Forsyth and Kinzie then took them on a tour of the eastern cities, a trip on which Naw-Kaw earned a reputation as a rambunctious hotel guest. 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, Cornplanter, and Osceola. 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, Menomine, 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. BAL 6934; cf. Bennett p.79; cf. Field 992; cf. Howes M129; cf. Lipperhiede Mc4; cf. Reese, Stamped With A National Character p. 24; Sabin 43410a

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