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S E L L I N G T H EN O B L E S A V A G E " M Y T H :G eorge Catlin and the Iowa I ndian s inEurope, 1843-1845

by Joseph B. Herring

On A ugust 24,1844, in L ondon, E ngland, White Cloud, N eumonya (Walking Rain), Se-nontiyah (the Doctor), and several other Iowa, or loway, Indians rode horses, shot ar-rows, played lacrosse, performed tribal dances, and made speeches at Lord's CricketG round on S t. John's Wood Road.' The Iowas had traveled over four thousand milesfrom their village straddling the eastern border of presen t-day Kansas and N ebraska to E ngland toperform in artist G eorge Catlin's exhibition and show. Catlin tou ted these A merican I ndians as liv-ing examples of "noble savages" and their war dances and other ceremonies as authentic rites of avanishing way of life. T he Iowa perform ers did their best to please the crowd, and, not surprisingly,the audience loved the show. The E nglish spectators assumed they had seen the N oble Savage.L ooks, however, could be deceiving, as some witnesses to the events tha t day fully realized.-

T his study is partly about the A merican artist G eorge Catlin and his white contemporaries w hopromo ted a mythical image of N ative A mericans for profit. Their story is relatively well know n tohistorians and other scholars. The added dimensioii in this narrative is a group of IndianstheIowasthe " comm odity" that Catlin and others peddled to the public. T hese Iowas willingly par-ticipated in a deceptiona commodification of their own culture and traditionsbecause they sawan opportunity to ensure a place for themselves and their tribe in a rapidly changing, pre-CivilWar A merica. T hey presented themselve s as noble savages, a fictitious image, to advan ce theirown en ds, and they silently conspired with G eorge Catlin to confirm what E uropea ns already be-lieved to be true about Ind ians. Ironically, the false image they projected in Catlin's show s prov idedJo,seph B. H errin g is a seiiior invgnnii officer iit Hie Nnfioun! Eiidiranm'ut for the Hunuuiiticf INF.H). Herring holds n Pli.D. inAmerican Histor\/fi-om Texas Christian University and an M.A. from the Universit:/ of Maryland. Before coming to NEH he loas anarchivist at the National Arciiives, and he also tniigiit al Knnsai^ Newman College in Wichita. His numerous publications include twobooks, Kenekuk, theKickapooProphetflndT heE nduringlndianscf Kansas: A Century and a H alf of A cculturation.l.T oday, m embers of both the Iowa T ribe of Kansas and N ebraska and the Iowa T ribe of O kUihoniii refer to themselve sas Iowas; however, many still call themselves I oways.2. For newspaper accounts of the Iowas' initial shows in London, see Illuslrntcd La)n1on News, July 27 and September 7,1844; and Morning Chronicle (London), September 7 and 9, 1844.

Kansas History: A journal of the Central Plains 29 (Winter 2006-2007); 226-245

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George Catlin's painting of the Iowa Indians Who Visited London and Paris. Courtesi/ of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

an implicit critique of contemporary European society andculture. The apparently simple lives of the Iowas served asa counterp oint to an industrial society that was losing touchwith nature and the pristine as it embraced the ways of thecity, industry, and the search for wealth.The Iowas who went to England had their own moti-vations for pretending to be noble Indians. By the late sev-enteenth century their tribe had been regularly interactingwith missionaries and traders and, later, with settlers andsundry government officials. Most were thoroughly famil-iar with European-American customs and w ays. The Iowashad been traders and businessmen, dealing furs, buffalorobes, deer pelts, and other goods to the French and theEnglish well before families of settlers arrived on the scene.Several had intermarried with whites over the years, and inthe 1830s some freely sent their children to a distant board-ing school. By the early 1840s the Iowa band numberedsome five hundre d mem bers who lived in a perm anent vil-lage along the Missouri River near the present-day Kansas-Nebraska border, where they grew abundant quantities

of corn, squashes, pumpkins, potatoes, and other cropsA few families had even begun to stake out and cultivatetheir own lands, in the style of white farmers, and ten Iowaheadmen and their families had moved into cozy, govern-ment-built houses, each "well sheeted and shingled," withwindows, a brick fireplace, and wood flooring.^ The Iowaswere excellent craftspeople, mak ing pottery, utensils, we ap-ons, and religious objects out of local materials. Culturallyrelated to the Otoes, Poncas, Kaws, and O sages, they spoka Siouan language, and their social and political structureswere highly complex. The tribe was divided into two clandivisions, orphratries, each consisting of several clans andsubclans. Although leadership positions were hereditarythe Iowas reached important decisions through consensus

3. These houses , comple t ed in 1842, had been promised to the Iowah e a d m e n in an 1838 land cession treaty. See Charles Kappler, comp., IndianTreaties, 7778-1883 (Washington, D,C.: Gov ernm ent Pr int ing Off ice, 1904518-519; and Louise Barry, The B eginning of the West: Annah of the Cate^oato theAmerican West, 1540-1854 {Topeka: Kansas State Historical Society1972), 458-459 .

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a headm an's power was never absolute. Despite their rela-tive sophistication, the Iowas were still largely followingtheir traditional ways of life. Their customs, however, dif-fered markedly from those of the more peripatetic PlainsIndians who more aptly fit the stereotype that Catlin wasattempting to portray."*

By the 1840s the Iowas faced ever-increasing externalpressures that threatened the very existence of their band.These pressures included attacks by Pawnees, Sioux, andother enemies; disease, particularly smallpox, and alcohol-ism; a shortag e of game and a loss of timber and resources;and the rapid advance of white settlement, then approach-ing within a few miles of their village, making removal fromtheir lands in the near future a seemingly foregone conclu-sion. When offered an oppo rtunity to go to Europe for payin 1843, several Iowas immediately accepted, for they sawthe trip as an opportunity to learn more about white cul-ture, which might h elp adva nce them and their tribe.'

Catlin, meanwh ile, envisioned these Iowas as his ticketto the wealth and fame that had eluded him. He wantedto sell his vast collection of paintings and thought that theIowas, authentic members of a "doomed" race of people,might facilitate that sale. He was a steadfast champion ofthe Noble Savage myth, which described American Indiansas independent beings of stately bearing, brave but hon-orable warriors and beautiful princesses, gifted orators,and creatures of innocence and simplicity living from thebounty of nature.^ By 1844 he was well known in England

for sounding the alarm that these noble savages and ttraditional ways were doomed in civilization's wake. three years earlier he had released his two-volume Leand Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the NAmerican Indians, which served notice that Indians wsoon vanish as a people along with the bison and o ther wcreatures of the American W est. The work received symthetic reviews in the British press, partly because Engcritics opposed America's harsh treatment of Indians concluded that Catlin was correctthe U.S. governmshould be doing more to prevent the "inevitable extinctiof Am erica's innocent, noble tribal peoples.

T he notion that noble Indians lived in harmony wnature's laws had enthralled the English and otEuropeans long before Catlin's time. The myth gan soon after Columbus's voyages and was later refinand perpetuated by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and other eteenth-century philosophers. The concept of the NoSavage was eventually incorporated into Romanticism, nineteenth-century movement that fostered exoticism the glorification of nafure. The Romantics hoped to refoa world made chaotic by industrialization, urbanizatand a headlong quest for profit. Their philosophy was ajection of the modern, industrial world; for them, primisocieties represented the ultimate in natural perfection.**Novelist Amandine-Aurore-Lucie Dupin, baroDudevant, or George Sand, as she was popularly kno

4. For informat ion on Iowa Indian history and cul ture, sec Mar-tha Royce Blaine, The h'wai/ hulians (Norman: Universi ty of OklahomaPress, 1979); Roy W. Meyer, "The Iowa Indians, 1836-1885," Kansas His-torical Qmrtfrly 28 {Autumn 1962): 273-300; Alanson Skinner , "A Sum-me r Am ong the Sauk and Iowa Indians ," Yenrbook of the Public Museumof the City of Mihoaukee 2 (August 1923}: 6-22; Duane Ander son , " lowayEthnohistory: A Review," Annals of I own 41 (Spring 1973): 1228-1241, and42 (Summer 1973) : 41-59; and Joseph B. Herr ing, The Enduring Indians ofKansa s: A Centuri/ and a Half of Acculturation (Lawrence: Universi ty Pressof Kan sas , 1990)," 70-9 7.5. See Herr ing, Enduring Indians of Kansas, 80-84.6. At least one scholar has noted that Cat l in cont inual ly st ruggledwith the simul taneous, contradictory impulses of promoting Indian wel-fare whi le sel l ing the Noble Savage. See Chr istopher Mulvey, "Among theSag-a-noshes: Oj ibwa and Iowa India ns wi th George Cat l in in tu ro pe ,1843-1848," in Indians in Eurofv: An Interdisciplinary Collection of Essays, ed .Chris tian F. Feest {Lincoln: Univ ersity of Nebra ska Press, 1989), 253-2 7?.The Indian as Noble Savage has been the subject of numerous publ ica-tions. See, for exam ple, Robert F. Berkhofer Jr., ihe White Man's Indian:linages of the American Indian from Cohnninis to the Present {New York: Al-fred A. Knopf, 1978), 72-111; KayA IIenBil l ingtnn, "The Plains and Deser tsThrough European Eyes," Western Historical Quarterly 10 (October 1979):467487; Ray Allen Billington, Ijind of Savageri/, Land of Promise: The Euro-pean Image of the American Frontier in the Nineteenth Centuni {New Ytirk: W.

W. Norton, 1981), 18-25, 105-106, 144; Roy Harvey Pearce, SavagismCivilization: A Study of the hidian and the American Mind (Bal t imore, John s Hopk ins Un iversi ty Press, 1967) , 196-236; and )am es H. H ow"The Nat ive American Image in Western Europe," American tjidian Qterly 4 (February 1978) : 33-56. One scholar asser ts that the myth ofNoble Savage is i t sel f a myth. Without apparent ly consul t ing any pr imdocu men tat ion and ign or ing a vast ar ray of cr i tical secon dary so urces,author still claims that the actual term was rarely, if ever, used betw1609, the date of its first mention in print, and 1859, when it was urrected " by Bri tish ethnog raph er John Craw furd. Sec Ter El l ii igsonM\/th of tiie Noble Savage (Berkeley: University of California Press, 20xiii-xxi. 1-8, 178-192.

7. Georg e Cat l in, Letters and Notes on the Monners. Customs, and Clion of the North American Indians: Written During EJglit Years' Travel (1839) Amon i^st the Wildest Tribes of Indians in Nortli America. 2 vols. (York: Dover, 1973), 1:293. The artist is also quoted in Berkhofer, WMan's Indian, 89. For information on Catlin and the release of his twoume work, see Br ian W. Dippie, Catlin and His Contemp oraries: T he Poof Patronage (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990), 68-72.8. Sec Billington, Lund of Savagery. 18; Henry Nash Sm ith, VirginTlie America)! West as Si/mboi and Myth (1950; repr . Cam bridg e, Mass. : vard Universi ty Press, 1976) , 52; How ard Mum ford Jo nes, O StrangeWorld {New York: Viking Press, 1964), 1-34; and Gerald D. Nash, "Epean Images of America: The West in Histor ical Perspe ct ive," MontanaMagazine of Western History 42 (Spring 1992): 4-5 .

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W^^-^-MK'^^V^-"^^^^ \':^\C

Catlin, self-portrait of the artist tit loork, ca . 1835.

GEORGE CATL IN AND THE IOWA INDIANS IN EUROPE, 1843-1845 229


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was one who idealized the way of life of the French peas-ant. "Look at what is simple, my kind reader," she advised,"look at the sky, the fields, the trees, and w hat is good andtrue in the pea sants; you w ill catch a glimpse of them in mybook [The Dei'il's Pool] but you will see them much be tter innature." The French writer Frangois-Rene de Chateaubri-and expressed these same sentiments when writing aboutAmerican hidians in his book Atala, ou les amours de deuxsauvages dans le desert, published at the turn of the nine-teenth century. This romantic novel was an immediate suc-cess in Europe, going throu gh six editions in its first year ofpublication.''

I n Am erica the artistic and literary idealization of primi-tive peoples occurred only after most Eastern Indianshad been driven across the Appalachians and beyondthe M ississippi River. The relocation of the tribes to the Westtended to make then^ idealized figures from a largely m yth-ical past for many, especially New Englanders. Even beforepassage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830 began pushingthe remaining Indians to the West, readers had been tak-ing pleasure in the fictional adventures of Natty Bumppo,the hero of James Fenimore Coo per's The Last of the Mohi-cans and other Leatherstocking Tales.'" They also flocked to9. Quo tat ion in Ceorg e Sand, "Au tho r 's Preface" to The Devil's Pool.in French Fiction, vol. 13, ed. William Allan Neilson (New York: P. F. Collier,1917), 276. There are several var iant spe l l ings of Sand's actual n ame ; forexample, i t i s somet imes wri t ten as Amant ine Luci le Ai i rore Dupin. Sandwas und oubtedly i nfluenced by Chateau br i and 's wr i t i ngs . See John Jo-seph, "I t inerary: The Romant ic Travel Journal af ter Chateaubr iand." SotithCentral Review 1 (Sp ring -Su mm er 1984): 4318. For a tran slate d versio nof Chateaubr iand's novel , .see Frangois- Rene de Chateaubr iand, Atala, or.The Love and Constancy of Two Savages in the Desert, t rans. Caleb Bingham(Boston: David Carlisle, 1802).10. For analyses of Cooper 's contr ibut ion to the Noble Savage myth,see Kay Seymour House , Cooper's Americans (Columbus: Ohio State Uni-versity Press, 1965), 47-71; Leslie A. Fiedler, "The Indian In Literature in

Engl ish," in History of Indian-White Relations, vol. 4 of Handbook of NorthAmerican Indians, ed. Wilcomb E. Washburn (Washington, D.C.: Smithson-ian Institution Press, 1988), 575-576; Martin Barker and Roger Sabin, Th eLasti)ig of the Mohicans: History of an American Mi/th (Jackson: Universi tyof Mississip pi Press, 1995'), 3-33 ; John P. McW illiams, "R ed S atan: Co o-per and the American Indian Fpic," in /(I 'Hi's fenimore Cooper: New CriticalF.ssai/s. ed. Robert Clark (London: Vision Press, and Totowa, N.J.: Barnesand Noble, 1985), 143-161; Gordon Brothcrs ton , "The Pra i r ie and Coop er ' sInvention of the West," in Clark, New Critical Essays, 162-186; Donald A.Ridge, James Tenimore Cooper (Boston: Twayne, 1962), 26-55; Arvid Shu-lenberger . Cooper's Theor\i of Fiction: His Prefaces and 'their Relation to HisNovels (New York: Octagon Books, 1972), 3-1(1, 75-92; Wayne F rankl in, Th eNew World of James Eenimore Cooper (Chicago: Universi ty of Chicago Press,1982); and Warren S. Walker, ed., Leatherstocking and the Critics (Chicago:Scott, Foresman, 1965).

stage plays portraying King Philip, or Metacom, and otsupposedly heroic but long-dead Indians. These romacized Indians served as models of integrity and strenfor Americans eager to create tor themselves a positive tional identityan identity separate from and superiorthat of Europe."

By the mid-1830s Catlin's striking portraits of Indiand colorful scenes of buffalo hunts and other tribal tivities were also helping to shape the positive vision tEasterners had of Indians. Although the artist had spconsiderable time among the Iowas and numerous otWestern tribes, and despite witnessing tribal poverty acultural disruption, he still maintained a distinctly romtic view of his subjects. In 1832, for example, he wrote,have for a long time been of [the opinion] that the wildness of our coun try afforded mod els equal to those frwhich the Grecian sculptors transferred to the marble suintimate grace and beau ty; and I am now more confirmin this opinion, since I have immersed myself in the miof thousa nds and tens of thousa nds of these knights of forest; whose whole lives are lives of chivalry, and whdaily feats, with their naked limbs, might vie with thosethe Grecian yo uths in the beautiful rivalry of the Olym pgames."'^

Catlin's paintings became a major influence in creing a fantasized West^a West of the imagination. Inspiby Cooper's novels, Catlin traversed the West during 1830s, painting numerous scenes of Indian ceremonies abuffalo hunts as well as portraits of Comanches, KiowOtos, Osages, Hidatsas, Mandans, and others. The detaidepictions of the Indians and their ceremonies eventuawon him worldwide acclaim, and he began champiing Indian causes. He knew that the westward advancewhite settlement was inevitable but felt powerless to sathe Indians, for he was certain their race was doomWhen the Indians and their old ways disappeared, the ist reasoned, his works wou ld be among the few survivrecords, and his paintings would grow in value. Selling

11. Ji l l Leporeargues that the government 's pursui t of Indian remand the po pular i ty of plays about heroic Indians were par t of the sam e pnomenon. Such plays, Lepore asser ts, caused many Americans to belthat Indian removal f rom the Fast was "inevi table" and that long-dIndians could be role models for those in search ot a dist inct ive Ameridentity. Sec Jill L epore, The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Oriof America)! Identity (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), 191-226.12. Catl in, Letters and Notes, 1:15.



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Noble Savage, he thought, might be his avenue to wealthand fame.'^In the late 1830s, however, Catlin's attempts to peddlehis extensive collection of paintings to the U.S. governmentfailed. To earn a living, the artist organized " Catlin's IndianGallery," which appeared in New York, Boston, Philadel-phia, W ashington, and other cities. The gallery featured lec-tures by the artist and displays of his paintings as well asartifacts collected during his ventures in the West. In thefall of 1837 Catlin arranged for some Sacs, Foxes, Sioux, andIowas to appear in New York to assist him in answeringaudience questions about tribal hunting practices.'^ Audi-ences soon lost interest in Catlin and his gallery, however;the great financial panic that had begun that May undoubt-edly contributed to the woeful turnout at the box office.When he failed again two years later to persuade govern-ment officials to buy his collection, the artist grew restless.He yearned to find a place where audiences were more en-thusiastic and profits could be made.''^

In late Novem ber 1839 Catlin sailed to England w ith anexhibition of 507 paintings. The show opened at London'sEgyptian Hall, numb er 22 on Piccadilly, wh ere the artist de-livered lectures on tribal customs and held demonstrationsfeaturing drumbeats, war cries, and traditional dances.These produc tions initially featured C atlin and oth er whitesperforming in Indian costume, and they attracted a host ofpayin g custom ers and influential gues ts. The artist then took

13 . Wil l i am H. Goetzmann and Wi l l i am N. Goetzmann, The West ofthe Imagination (New York: W. W. Norton, 1986), 15-35. For analyses ofCat l in 's con tr ibut ion to the romant ic ima ge of Indians, see Patr icia NelsonLimerick, The Legacy of Conquest: Tlie Unbroken Past of the American West{New York; W. W. Norton , 1987), 181-188 ; and Lee Clark M itchell, Witnessto a Vanishing America: The Nineteenth-Century Response (Pr inceton, N.] . :Princeton University Press, 1981), 93-109. See also Catlin, Letters and Notes.2:207; for deta iled in forma tion on C atlin, see Dipp ie, Catlin and His Con-temporaries. 3-46, 97-155; Brian W. Dippie, Tlie Vanishing American: WhiteAttitudes and U.S. Indian Policy (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan Universi lyPress, 1982), 25-31; and Brian W. Dippie, "Green Fields and Red Men," inGeorge Catlin a}td His Indian Callery. ed. George Gurney and Therese ThauHey man (Washinj ; ton, D .C : Smithso nian Inst i tut ion Press, 2002), 27-61.See also Wil l iam H. Ckietzmann, "The West as Romant ic Horizon," in Th eWest as Romantic Horizon, by Wil l iam H. Goetzmann, Joseph C. Por ter , andDavid C. H unt {Omaha, Ne b.: Joslyn Art M useu m, 1981) , 15-18; and Phi l -l ip D. Thom as, "Ge orge Cat l in: Pictor ial Histor ian of Aboriginal Ame rica,"Natural History 81 {December 1972): 30-43.

14 . These Iow as were par t of a remnan t ban d l iving at Counci l Bluffs.In 1845, after several ye ars at Council Bluffs, these itine rant Io wa s rejoinedthe main ba nd on the Kan sas-N ebra ska borde r. See S. M. Irvin to W. P.Richardson, September 30, 1845, U.S. Congress, House Executive Docu-ments, 29th Cong., 1st sess., serial 480 (Washington, D.C: Ritchie, 1845),605-606; and Barry, Beginning of the West, 420, 458-459, 538.15. Paul Reddin, Wild West Shows (Urbana: University of IllinoisPress, 1999), 18-20; Dippie, Catlin and His Contemporariei^. 64-68.

the show to Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh , Dublin, andother cities and received good reviews. In Sund erland, Scotland, in M arch 1843, for exam ple, he prese nted a short lecture followed by a demonstration in which twenty whitesin Indian garb performed the "scalp dance" and reenactedbattle scenes. "It was a rich treat to all," a local newspapernoted glowingly, "especially to those acquaintedthroughtheir readingwith Indian life." It apparently mattered little to the newspaper's editors that no actual Indians wereinvolved in Catlin's pro gram . "The figures of these genuinesons of the forest were striking," the paper noted; "theicostumes elegant and appropriate, and their statue-like attitudes; and varied quick, and simultaneous movementschained, as it were, the attention of the audience, and drewfrom them loud and repeated acclamation."'"Even with w hites in costume, Catlin brough t the N obleSavage to English audien ces, reinforcing the my th w hile distancing the image of Indians further from reality. Later thayear the artist attempted to make his show more authenticand arranged with nine Canadian Ojibwas, or Chippewasand their promoter, Arthu r Rankin, to feature "real wild Indians" singing, dancing, and sho uting "wa r-who ops" at higallery.'' Catlin thought that he had little choice but to usereal Indians because ticket sales to his exhibit barely covered expenses, which included the high rental of the largeroom at Egyptian Hall. The Ojibwas had come to Englandostensibly to petition for annuities from the British government."^ Ano ther m otivation, how ever, like that of the Iow awho would soon follow them, may simply have been toprofit from participation in Catlin's shows.

By adding the Ojibwas to his exhibition, the artist created the first actual Wild West show. His effort to convinceBritish audiences that the Ojibwas were noble and purehowever, did not always succeed. Frederic Madden of theBritish Museum, for example, abruptly left one disappointing performance just as the Ojibwas were to begin shaking hands with the audience. Madden was no advocate ofthe Noble Savage; to him, Indians were simply unculturedbarbarians. He later confided in his diary that he had "no

16 . Northern Times (Sund er land, Scot land) , M arch 24, 1843; TheresThau Hey man , "George Cat l in and the Smiths onian," in Curn ey and Heyman, Catlin and H/s Indian Gallery. 251-252.17. Catl in adver t ised his product ions widely. See, for example. Morning Chronicle (Lon don ), Dece mbe r 25 and 26, 1843; see also Richard D. Altick. The Shows of London (Cam bridge, Mass. : Harv ard U niversi ty Press1978), 276.18. Niles'National Register 15 (Septem ber 2, 1843): 16.

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Wliitf Cloud (Notch-ce-ning-a) theyounger, "the son of a very distin-guished chief of the same name,"wrote Catlin, "was tastefully dressedwith a buffalo robe, wrapped aroutnihim, with a necklace of grizzly bear'sclaws on his neck" (Nor t h Amer i -Ccin In dia ns , 2:25, Fig. 129). In hisearly thirties White Cloud succeededhis father as headman, but lie faceda constant struggle for control of theband. Missionaries and governmentofficials recognized him as a chief, bu tmost of the Iowas favored Neumonyaand No Heart.

ambition to grasp the hand of a dirty savage."'" Neitherdid Charles Dickens. These Indians, Dickens railed, wereno more than "wretched creatures, very low in the scaleand very poorly formed." The renowned novelist had readCatlin's "picturesque" two-volume narrative and seen the

19 . Quo ted in Alt ick, Shows of London, 278; see also Re ddin, Wild WestShmi'S, xvi, 1-32.

Ojibwas "dancing their miserable jigs," and he concludthat the American artist wa s entirely naive. At one show incredulous Dickens listened as the American implored taudience to examine the Ojibwas' "symmetry and gractheir perfect limbs, and the exquisite expression of thpantomime." The novelist was appalled by the audiencwilling acceptance of this patent deception. The Indiadramatic presentation, he insisted, was "no better than tchorus at an Italian Opera in Englandand would ha



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een worse if such a thing were possible." The Noble Sav-age, Dickens pronou nced, was little more than a "con ceited,tiresome, bloodthirsty, monotonous humbug."^"Catlin paid little heed to such diatribes, however, andhe carried on his quest for increased ticket sales. In late Au-gust 1844, after the relationship with the Ojibwas and thepromoter had soured. White Cloud, Neumo nya, and twelveother Iowa Indians began entertaining audiences outdoorsat Lord 's Cricket Grou nd and, a short time later, at VauxhallGardens. The Towas had not been changed by proximity towhite civilization, the artist blandly but wrongly insisted."That the loway was one of the remote tribes, yet adher-ing to al! their native customs and native looks ... not onlyconveyed to the eyes of the people in [England] the most

accurate account of primitive modes, but was calculated toexcite the deepest interest, and to claim the respect of thecommunity."^'Catlin was now a showman, apparently believing hisown fabrications as he became captured by the romanticmood of the times. In reality, he had known for years thatthe Iowas were hardly noble, pure, or even primitive. Whenthe artist had first encountered the same Iowas twelve yearsearlier in the Little Platte Valley of present-day northwestMissouri, he had noted that they were "the farthest de-parted from primitive mo des" of any tribe in the region. He

painted portraits of the tribal leaders White Cloud the el-der and No-Heart-of-Fear, or No Heart, and was impressedby the sophistication of both men. Although the Iowas stillhunted deer and other game, Catlin fully realized that thisband bore little resemblance to Coo per's romantic childrenof the

20. Charles Dickens, "The Noble Savage," in The Uncommercial Travel-ler and Reprinted Pieces Etc. (London: Oxford University Press, 1958), 467-473. This article was originally published on June 11, 1853, in HouseholdWords, a weekly magazine that Dickens edited.21 . George Cat l in, Notes on Ei;^ht Years' Travels and Residence in Europewith His North American Indian Collection. With Anecdotes and Incidents of theTravels and Adivnturcs of Three Different Parties of American Indiatis WhomHe Introduced to the Courts of England. France, and Belgium, 1 vols . (London:privately printed, 1848), 2:12. The Ojibwas performed with Catlin throughthe spring of 1844. See Dippie, Catlin and His Contemporaries, 101; and Wil-liam H. Truettner, Tlie Natural Man Observed: A Study of Catlin's Indian Gal-leri/ (Washington, D.C: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979), 41^6. Forinformation on Lords cricket ground, see "History of Lords Cricket Field,London, England," http://cricketclub.org/england higtory.html. Tor de-scriptions of Iowa performances at Vauxhall Gardens, see Illustrated Lon-don News, September 7, 1844; and Morninf; Chronicle (London), September7 and 9,1844.

22. Catlin, Letters and Notes. 2:22. For an account of the Iowas' adapta-tion to white ways in the 1830s, see Blaine, loway Indians. 225-228. MarjorieCatlin Roohm wrote that Catlin, her great-uncle, had known the Iowas

Several other travelers over the years had also knownthat to call the Iowas children of the wildernessstretched the limits of the imagination. Some whiteseven argued that the Iowas w ere, like most Indians, actuallyfar more worldly-wise than the public appreciated. Mostvisitors pointed to the seemingly less desirable, ignoble as-pects of Iowa tribal life. Shortly after Catlin's first visit tothe Iowas in 1832, Germ an naturalist Maximilian, prince ofWied-Neuwied, and his companion, Swiss artist Karl Bod-mer, traveled among these same Indians, many of whom"were much marked with the small pox." The ethnocentricMaximilian noted, moreover, that the Iowas "looked verydirty and miserable. Thecountenances of the women wereugly but not quite so broad and flat" as those of other tribes.

A few years later U.S. Indian Agent Andrew Hughes in-formed his superiors that the Iowas "were kept constantlydrunk" by nearby wh ite settlers. Several had recently diedof alcohol poisoning, Hughes reported, and the Iowa vil-lage "presented each day a scene of drunkenness and riot."The noses, lips, and faces of many, furthermore, had suf-fered "bites and cuts" from frequent brawls.'^In late April 1843, two years after the publication of

Cat l in ' s Letters and Notes ou the Maiiners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indian, the natura l i s t John JamesAudubon encountered a group of Iowas on board thesteamboat Omega. Audubon was unimpressed with thes"poor beings," who were returning from St. Louis to theirhomes some three hundred miles to the west. After drop-ping off the Iowas, the Otnega continued up the MissouRiver, reaching Fort Clark in present-day North Dakota inearly June. The Indians and landscape that Audubon ob-served on his venture bore little resemblance to those C atlinhad described in his writings. Like Dickens, Audubon hadreservations about the Noble Savage. He was disappointedthat the Mandans, for example, appeared to be "poor, mis-erable devils," and their earthen lodges scarcely as orderlyand "poetical" as Catlin had depicted in his paintings. "Whave seen much remarkable handsome scenery," the natu-ralist allowed, "but nothing at all comparing with Catlin's

well and "several limes he had been given hospitality" in their village innorthwest Missouri. See Marjorie Catlin Rochm, The Letters of Ceorge Clin and His family: A Chronicle of the American W est (Berkeley: University oCalifornia Press," 1966), 299-300.23 . For Maximilian and Bodmer's visit to the Iowas, see Blaint', lownif Indians, 174-17?. For the agent's observations, see Andrew Hughesto Superintendent of Indian Affairs Henry Dodge, May 12, 1837, LettersReceived, Great Neniaha Agency, M234, roll 308, Records of the Bureau ofIndian Affairs, RG 75, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

G E O R G E C A T L I N AND THE IOWA INDIANS IN E U R O P E , 1843-1843 233


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According to Catlin, who painted their portraits in the mid-W30s, Pnh-la-coo-che (the Shooting Cedar), the Iowa on the left, and Was-com-inum (the Busy Man) "are also distinguished warriors of the tribe."

descriptions; his book must, after all, be altogether hum-bug . Poor devil! I pity him from the bottom of my soul."-^Presbyterian missionaries William Hamilton and Sam-uel Irvin initially had similar negative impressions of theIowas, Sacs and other tribes living along the Missouri Riverand its tributaries. When they first arrived among them inthe late 1830s, these missionaries were sure that the Iowas"were a wild, warlike, roving people, and in most wretchedcondition, depending mainly on the chase for subsistence."The preachers were never pleased that few Indians showedup to church services, but they w ere surprised by the inquis-itive nature of those wh o did a ttend. "D oes the devil pu t the

24 . John James Audubo n , Auduhon's America: The Narratives and Expe-riences of John lames Audubon, cd. Donald Culross Peat t ie (Boston: Hough-ton Mifflin, 1940), 275-298.

wood on the big fire in hell?" was one inquiry the missioaries often fielded. Such questions made the Presbyteriawo nde r if their cause was hopeless. After preach ing am othe Iowas for several years, however, the two men camerealize that these Indians were far more sophisticated theither had first assumed. Although the ethnocentric preacers frequently denigrated Iowa customs and religion, thgrudgingly conceded that tribal customs and ways, raththan simply being naive, served the Iowas well. They wfrequent attendees at tribal dances, puberty rites, marriaceremonies, and funerals, and they observed the Indiafarming, hunting, and cooking methods. They discoverthat Iowa religion, for example, "requires long acquatance, and close observation, to arrive at anything like jconclusions." After studying tribal beliefs and discoveria flood myth very similar to that in the Old Testament, t

234 KANSAS HISTORY


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"The Kouza^," wrote Catlin in his North American Indians (2:26, Fig. 133 and Fig. 134). "reside at the distance of sixty or eighty milesfrom this place [Fort Leavcnworth], on the Koiizas River, fifty mites above its union zcith the Missouri, from the West." He did not make aportrait of^ their main chief. White Illume, but "fair specimens of tlwse people" are " Sho-mc-cos-se (the Wolf...), a chief of some distinction'(left), and "Mcach-o-shin-gaw," or "the littte white bear."

missionaries were certain that "many analogies" existed be-tween the religions of the Iowas and the biblical Jews. Thesepeople, the white men came to realize, were hardly savagechildren of the forest. Indeed, they were human beings,with the typical human strengths as well as weaknesses.''^If they had read Catlin's writings, the ministers wouldvery likely have scoffed at the description of Indians as

25. Joseph B. Herring, "Presbyterian Ethnologists Among the Iowaand Sac Indi ans , 1837-1853," American Presbyterians: journal of Presby-terian History 65 (Fall 1987): 195-203. On September 17, 1836, the Iowasand neighboring Missouri Sacs agreed by treaty to exchange their lands innorthwest Missouri for a small reservation along the present-day Kansas-Nebraska border. See Kappler, Indian Treaties. 468-470. See also Herring,Enduring Indians of Kansas, 70; Blaine, toway Indians, 163-170.

chivalrous "knights of the forest." Like the traders, fur trappers, federal agents, and settlers who ventured beyond theAppalachians, missionaries were likely to hold a far lespositive view than that of Catlin. Historian Robert F. Berkhofer Jr. has described the two fundamental but contradictory conceptions about Indiansthe noble and the ignoblsavagethat have long prevailed in the minds of whiteAmericans. The ignoble savage, Berkhofer asserts, represented "lechery, passion and vanity," leading "to lives opolygamy and sexual promiscuity among themselves andconstant warfare and fiendish revenge against their enemies." The Iowas' violent actions, the Presbyterians welknew, were anything but noble or chivalrous. The frequenpersonal quarrels and factional bickering within the band

GEORGE CATLIN AND THE IOWA INDIANS IN EUROPE, 1843-1845 23


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also ran counter to the myth that, at least on the intratriballevel, Indians traditionally lived in harmonious innocenceand simplicity.^''Hamilton and Irvin regularly commented on the Iowas'apparent propensity for mayhem. In February 1838 Hamil-ton was horrified when an intoxicated Iowa murdered thegovernment-employed interpreter. The victim was stabbedin the head and chest while trying to protect his parents,who had taken refuge in the lodge of the military leader,Neumonya. The murderer himself was killed a year later,"having been shot with several arrows and finally beingtomahawked," but only after he had severely woundedNeumonya and clobbered White Cloud the younger witha brick.^''In February 1840 Ham ilton discovered many Iowasinebriated, "frothing at the mouth, and unable to speakdistinctly; sore eyes [were] very prevalent, caused ingood measure by their intemperance." The "great thirst"for whiskey had not subsided when Samuel Irvin visitedthe Iowa lodges again a year later. Incidents of alcohol-ism were "growing worse and worse," Irvin wrote. Hisconcern seemed justified in April 1841 when a war partyreturned with nine Pawnee scalps. During the victory cel-ebration that followed, the preacher observed intoxicatedmen and women dancing around the trophies of warthe

nine scalps, some severed hands and ears, and a heart "cutand stretched on a stick." In February 1842 Irvin informedPresbyterian authorities that "within the last five months,no less than five individuals (including a French man whowas married to a squaw) have been niurdered in drunkenrevels."'^"

26 . See Berkhofer, Wliite Man's Indian. 28; and Robert R H crkhofcrJr . , "White Concept ions oi Indians," in History of Indian-Wliite Relations,528-539. One histor ian notes that no Presbyter ian missionary ever real lysubscr ibed to the Nobi t ' Savage myth; see Michael C. Coleman, Presln/te-rian Missionary Attitudes Toward American Indians, 1S37-W93 (Jackson: Uni-versity Press of Mississippi, 1985), 119.27 . Will iam Hamil ton to Presbyter ian Mission Secretary Walter Low-rie, February 12, 1838, and Hamilton to l .owric. May 28, 1839, in AmericanIndian Correspondence: The Presbyterian Historical Society Collection of Mis-sionary Letters. 1833-1893 (Westpor t , Conn .: Gree nwo od Press, MicroformDepartment, 1981), box 8, vol. 1, letters 4 and 44 {hereafter cited as Presby-ter ian Mission Records) .

28. "Journal of the Rev. William Hamilton," February 28, 1840, Pres-byteria n Mission Records, letter 57; S. M. Irvin to Lowrio, Feb ruary 16,1842, Presb yterian Mission Re cords, letter 81; "Dia ry of Sam uel Irvin,"Feb ruary 22 and April 21, 1841, Diaries of Sam uel M- Irvin, 1841-1848,box 89, microfi lm. L ibrary and Arch ives D ivision, Kansas State H istor icalSociety, Tope ka (hereafter cited as Irvin

The military leader, Neumonya, held great influenamong the Iowas and, along with No Heart, served aprincipal spokesman at councils with government officiand talks with other tribes. The missionaries described Nmonya as a dignified man in his midforties with a "shrewand cunning mind"; he was also a "ready speaker" w ho along well with white visitors. White Cloud the youngthen in his early thirties, had succeeded his father as heaman; however, he faced a constant struggle for controlthe band. Missionaries and government officials recnized him as a chief, but most of the Iowas favored Nmonya and No Heart. The situation did not please WhCloud, who frequently endeavored to embarrass his advsaries to solidify control over the ban d. Samuel Irvin notthat a "great jealousy" existed between White Cloud aNeumonya, who "do not blush to tell clear lies on eaother."-**F ortunately, an opportunity to earn money for theselves and their band appeared in the person of oGeorge Henry Curzon Melodyan agent for shoman Phineas T.Barnumand put a temporary end to thquarrels. Melody, a former jailer from St. Louis, arrivedthe Iowa village in the fall of 1843 and proposed to takegroup of Indians on a European tour.^" His employer, Bnum, was then in New York entertaining audiences wGeneral Tom Thumb, a six-year-old dancing and singidwarf. Barnum had recently tried without much successengage Indians at his popular American Museum in NYork City. The celebrated sh owm an com plained that his dian actors, including "the most beautiful Indian maid thever left her native wild," had been difficult to manage ato control. Because they persistently demanded and got eorbitant presents as remu neration , the Indians were also nas profitable as his sund ry jugg lers, ventriloquists, gypsiFiji m erm aids, giants, dw arfs, fossils, and other curiositiOn January 18, 1844, Barnum and a few intimates, inclu

29. See S. M. Irvin and William Hamilton, "Iowa and Sac Tribes,"Information Respecting the History. Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tof the United States, ed. Henry R. Schoolcrat t (Phi ladelphia: IJppincCr am bo , 1853), 3:265; and Irvin Diaries, May 17, 1842. For brief but sypathet ic descr ipt ions of White Cloud, Neumonya, No Hear t , and otIowas, see James D. Horan, The McKenney-Hall Portrait Callery of AmeriIndians (New York: Crow n Publ ishers, 1972) , 306-314.30. For information on Me lody, see Ray V. Den slow, Out of the PThe Story of George Henry Curzon Melody (St. Louis, Mo.: Royal Arch sons, 1942), 3, 14-18. For an account of Melody's initial dealings with Iowas, see Barry, Beginnin;^oftlie West, 519-32(1.



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"At the head of the CriDid Pawne es," observed Ca tlin, was "Shon-ka-k i-he-ga,"the "horse chief" ( N o r t h A m e r i c a n I n d i a n s , 2:31, Fig. 13S). The Pawnees weretraditional enemies of Hie towas, hut b\i the late 1840s the Iowas were endeavo ringto remain at peace with the Pawn ees a nd other former enem ies. Wlien White Cloudled a zvar party that killed several P azonees in May 1848, he was dismissed from thetribal council, and thereafter the iowas reiiiained largely peaceful, for they realizedthat whites w ould demand their removal for any serious acts of violence.

ing Charles "Tom Thumb" Stratton, embarkedfor England in search of bigger profits.^'Indian performers had resisted Barnum's efforts to make them perform contrived weddingrituals and other artificial tribal ceremonies toaccommodate the tastes of white New YorkersCatlin, on the other hand, wisely allowed his Indian actors to decide for themselves, within certain parameters, how to perform their dancesand other ceremonies. Barnum had not given upon the idea of using Indians to make money. Hetherefore hatched a plan that he was confidenwould succeedhe instructed his agent. Melodyto bring the Iowas to England, w here they w ould

be "exhibited by M r. Catlin on our joint account."Barnum was impressed with Catlin's ability tohan dle Indian actors. "I find him a very kind, sociable and excellent gentleman," Barnum wrote"and am most happy to add that he is makinga fortune [in London]." The showman wouldwisely step aside, reaping his share of the profits as Catlin and Melody attended to the assorteddetails of promoting shows, selling admissiontickets, and managing Indians.^-^In the fall of 1843 the Iowas, including the

erstwhile adversaries White Cloud and Neu31 . The so-cal led Indian maid was Dohumee, a youngSac woman who, repor tedly, had just marr ied one of the Iowas in the delegat ion. The Ne w York Herald compared her favorably to Die Vernon, the heroine of Sir Walter Scott 's Ro bRoy. "Det '-H umm -Mee is the most beaut i ful Indian m aid thaever left her native wild," the paper proclaimed. TragicallyDoh umee cont r ac t ed a v i rus and d i ed a t Barnum 's m useuma few weeks later. See Neip York Herald. February 6, 1843; an"'Indian Pr incess 'Do-Hiim-Me, 1824-1843," www.greenwoo d.com /pdf /dohu mm eMto SS.pd f . For i nformat ion on PT. Barnum and Tom Thu mb , see Tlie Lost Museum jP. T. Barnum's American Museum!. www .los tmuseum.cuny.edu . For accounts of Barnum's use of Indians at the American Museumsec Phineas T. Barnum, Struggles and Triumphs; or. Forty Year

Recollections of P. T. Barnum (Buffalo, N.Y.: Warren, Johnson1873), 151-153; M. R. Werner, Barnum (New York: Harcour tBrace, 1923), 71; and Irving Wallace, The Fabulous ShowmanThe Life and Tim es of P. T . Barnum (New York: Alfred A. Knop1967), 70-71. Barnum p romote d his Sac and Iowa performersas "warr iors and squaws direct f rom their western wi lds."Se e Ne w York Herald, I 'ebruary 6, 9, 10, 13, 14, and 20, 1843.32 . Barn um is quo ted in Philip B. Ku nh ard t Jr., Philip BK u n h a r d t 111, and Peter W. Ku nh ardt , P. T, Barnum: Am erica'CreatesI Showman (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995), 61-62See also Phine as T. t i a rnum. Th e Life of P. T. Barnum. Written Himself {New York: Redfield, 1855), 345-34 6; and A, H. SaxoiiP. T. Barnutii: The Legend and the Man (New York: ColumbiaUniversity Press, 1989), 135-136.



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monya, began their European journey. These Iowas werehardly victims of some white impresario's exploitation, forthey ventured east of their own volition and for their ownreasons. The following decades would find many Indiansemulating the Iowas, abandoning the reservation to ac-cept low wages and poor working conditions to work andperform in Wild West shows and, later, Hollywood films.Their reasons for leaving homepoor living conditions,pressures to assimilate to white society, disease, and pov-ertywere remarkably similar to those of the Iowas."The Iowas reached Cincinnati in early December and,a short time later, arrived in New York to spend th e w inter.Persuading them to cooperate in the moneymaking venturehad proven easy for Melody, for the Indians surely recog-

nized a good opportunity when they saw one. Living assubsistence farmers along the Missouri, threatene d by Paw -nee and Sioux enemies and hounded by missionaries andIndian agents to abandon traditional customs and ways,had grown tiresome for these tribal leaders and their fami-lies. They also realized that a trip to Europe would enhancetheir prestige and status at Home among other Iowas. Thepromise of money, medals, medallions, and other gifts thatsuch a trip w ould bring as well as the oppo rtunity to meetroyalty and other famous people influenced their decision.White Cloud had a personal reason for going; he reportedlysuffered from a cataract in one eye and hop ed that an opera-tion by a European specialist would improve his vision.^

A lthough he never admitted it, George Catlin cer-tainly knew that Melody was on his way to Lon-don with the Iowas, an acculturated and appar-ently more compliant group than the Ojibwas. The artist33 . For an analysis of how twent ieth-century Indian actors st ruggledto f ind accommodat ion in Hol lywood, see Nicholas G. Rosenthal , "Repre-senting; Indi i ins: Nat ive American Actors on Ho l lyw ood 's Front ier ," West-

ern Historical Quarterly .% (Autu mn 2005): 329-352.34 . Sec Jessie Melody Raber, "An Ind ian D eljjation jsic] Visits Eu-rope ," Colorado Magazine 26 (April ]949):143-151; Barry, Beginning of theWest. 519-520; and Ham il ton and I rvin to Lowrie, Decemb er 22,1843, Pres-byterian Mi'^sion Records, letter 99; Nih-s'National Register bS (December 9,1843), 226. Th e Illustrtited London News later repor ted that While Cloud suf-fered "a painful affection of the eye a cataract ; and we may here remark,that the hope of having this removed by a skillful occultist, was one of theinducements for the delegat ion to visi t a foreign shore. The operat ion isshor t ly to be at tem pted, and that it may prove successful i s ou r ferventwish." See Illustrated London News, Aug ust !0, 1844. White Cloud may no thave had a cataract , as one repor t claimed that he had lost his eye in adrunken brawl . See Alexander R. Ful ton, Red Men of loxva: B eing a Historyof the Various Ahorigina! Tribes (Dt's Moine s, Iowa: M ills, 1882), 125. Recordsdo not indicate whether White Cloud ever had the operat ion.

and Melody had become acquainted in America, whCatlin had vouched for the talent agen t's character and aity to deal with Indians. It was, therefore, entirely unlikthat Melody had stumbled upon the Iowas by chance;undoubtedly had gotten word from Catlin that the Iowould make ideal actors. Both men knew that these Indiwere not stupid. "The Ioways," Melody wrote, display"more intelligence, more advancement from the aborigmind than other tribes." They would be easier to hanthan the Ojibwas, and the paying customers of Eurwould never know the difference. Unlike Catlin, Melodid not cloak his lust for profit in a veil of romanticism;hoped to cash in on Catlin's apparent success in exhibit"auth entic" Indians before payin g audiences.-'In mid-July 1844 Melody and the Iowas, accompanby interpreter Jeffrey Deroin, arrived in London. In adtion to White Cloud, Neumonya, and the religious leaSenontiyah, the Iowa entourage included Washkamo(Fast Dancer), Shontayiga (Little Wolf), Nohomunya (man Nose), Watonye (Foremost Man), and Watawekana (Commanding General). The women included WhCloud's wife, Rutonyeweema (Strutting Pigeon); Rutweeme (Pigeon-on-the-Wing); Koonzayame (Female WEagle Sailing); and Shontayiga's wife, Okeweme (FemBear). The children were a girl named Tapatame and an

fant. Corsair, w ho had been born to Okew eme on the Iowjourney to England.^'As the Indians settled into their London hotel that fevening. Melody met with George Catlin, and the two mimmediately agreed to share all expenses and profits. Psumably, anything left over would go to the Indian actThe following day Catlin announced that he was prepato devote himself to helping th e Iowas earn their keep, pvided they behaved properly and remained "entirely 35 . Melody quoted in Raber , "An Indian Delgat ion |sic] Visi ts

rope," 144. On e scholar has sugg ested that tbe ar t ist was t ruthful in ining that "the three par t ies of Indians came to Europe on their own a ccoSee Mulvey, "Cieorge Cat l in in Europe," in Gurney and Heyman, Cand His Indian Gallery. 69. Cat l in 's claim that al l three Indian gro up seventual ly par t icipated in his shov\ 's had arr ived in Europe withouforeknow ledge or assistance, howeve r , i s di ff icul t to bel ieve. Cat l in haleast some a dvan ce not ice that the Oj ibwas w ere coming w hen he recea let ter f rom Artbu r Rank in prop osing to lease the Indian s to the ar tistL. C, M oses, Wild W est Shows and the Images of American Indians, 1SS3-(Albu que rtjue: U nivers ity of New M exico Press, 1996), 17. Catlin alsoadvance not ice that the Iowas were coming; see Barnum, Life of P. T.num. 345-346; and Saxon, P. T. Barnum, i35-13(S, Marjorie C atlin Ropoinfs out fhaf Cat l in had known Melody in America; see Roehm, Leof George Catlin, 299-300.36 . Mulvey, "Cat l in in Europe," 70.



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ber, and free from the use of spirituous liquor."^^ When theIowas promised to abide by these terms, their Europeanadventure appeared to be off to a promising start. Not sur-prisingly, they promptly broke their temperance pledge,imbibing champagne and ale, and not long after, with Cat-lin's reluctant consent, they began frequenting London'sgin shops. Senontiyah (the Doctor) especially enjoyedogling the numerous prostitutes he saw around the city,and he asked Catlin and Melody for permission to visit abrothel. Back at their village in America, me anw hile. AgentWilliam P. Richardson reported that living conditions forthe remaining Iowas had improved dramatically, for theseIndians consumed only half the whiskey and were far lesstroublesome now that Neumonya, White Cloud, and theoth ers were aw ay in Europe.-*"Managing the Iowas, Catlin soon learned, would proveto be a tall order. But these Indians would behave far bet-ter than the Ojibwas, and they were excited and optimisticabou t their prospects for success in their new roles as noble,romanticized Indians. As Neumonya explained to London-ers, his people were poor and "though the Great Spirit iswith us, yet He has not taught us how to weave the beau-tiful things that you make in this country; we have seenmany of those things brought to us, and w e are now happ yto be w here all these fine thing s a re made." "*

London's newspapers assisted in promoting the fiction.he Noble Savage was what the British public expected,and the press, eager to sell newspapers, gave readers whatthey wanted. The Illustrated London Nexos reported that theIowas had arrived from "their hunting grounds in UpperMissouri, near the Rocky Mountains, five hundred mileswest of the Mississippi." The fact that the Iowa lands wereon the lower Missouri River and well over six hundredmiles east of the Rockies was of little apparent concern tothe newspaper's geographically challenged editors. "Theappearance of the party in their romantic costume, andarmed with tomahawks and other warlike weapons," the

37 . The specifics ot this deal were not publicized; the lion's share ofany proceeds, however , surely went to Melody and Cat l in. See Cat l in,Notes on Eight Years' Traivls and Residence in Europe, 2:1-7; Blaine, loioay In-ians. 229-232; and Carolyn Thomas Foreman, Indians Abroad, 1493-J938(Norm an: U niversi ty of Oklah oma Press, 1943), 183.38 . See Cat l in, Notes on Eight Years' Travels and R esidence in Europe,2:49-50, 53-54, 93-101; Dippie, Catlin and His Contemporaries. 105, 460 nl l ;and Richardson to Thomas H. Harvey, Super intendent of Indian Affai rs,t . Louis, Annual Report of the Cammissioner of Indian Affairs for 1844 (Wash-ington, D,C.: C. Alexander, 1844), 143-146.39 . Catl in, Notes on Ei^ht Years' Travels and Residence in Europe, 2:36.

News reported, "is very picturesque. Their robes are cov-ered with a profusion of brilliant ornaments, and the headsof the males, unlike the Ojibbeways, are shorn, with theexception of a crest of hair, to which is affixed [an eaglefeather] ... and a variety of Indian bijouterie," or jewelrTh e London Times opined that the Iowas were "the finespecimen s ot" the Indian tribe that have ever visited Eu-rope," and the Court Journal assured readers that they "fsurpass the Ojibbeways in interest. They will delight who-ever visit them ." The Iowa "p arty consists of the aristocracyof the tribe," the Morning Chronicle enthused. The SundaTimes added that the dances and songs of the Indian mewere "singularly wild and interesting, while the contentedair of the wo men , with their little children, are those of theIndians which we read of in Co oper's no vels."^Lond oners found the Iowas awe inspiring, fulfillingtheir expectations of noble savages, and crowds flockedto Catlin's revitalized shows. Many American expatriateseven found themselves attracted by the appearances of"these children of the forest.""" After several exhibitionsin London, however, audiences began to lose interest, andCatlin was forced to take the show elsewhere. He and theIowas traveled on to perform in Birmingham, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Edinburgh, Dundee, Perth, Glasgow, GreenockDublin, Liverpool, and Manchester. Curious spectators inthese cities came to see the Indian dances and listen to theIowas' speeches. Neum onya served as principal spokesm anon the tour, solemnly explaining, through his interpreter,that the Indian "m ode s of life are different ... our dancesare quite different, and we are glad that we do no t give anyoffence when we dance them." He modestly adm itted thattheir simple garments, "which are made of skins, are notso fine and beautiful ... but they keep us w arm, and thatwe think is a great thing." Although amazed by the wealthand splendor of Europe, Neumonya and the others weresaddened by the pervasive poverty they encountered inthe major cities. The eloquent Iowa spokesman continuedto insist, however, that Europeans were far more civilizedthan Indians, who were but "poor ignorant children fromthe wilderness.""'-

40 . These account s a r e summar i zed in Illustrated London News. July27 , Au gust 10 and 24,184 4. The Iowa s' lands were actual ly along the GreatNemaha, a t r ibutary of the Missour i River , in present-day Brown CountyKansas, and Richardson County, Nebraska.41 . Boston Daily Atlas. Septem ber 5, 1844.42. Catlin, Notes on Eight Years' Travels an d Residence in Europe, 2:167,



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Early in1843 Catlin and the Iowas left theBritish Islesand traveled to Paris, which the Indians found tobe the most cheerful city they would visit. At theTuileries Palace they had an audience with King Louis-Philippe, who declared that it was an honor to introducethem to the queen and the rest of his family; the citizen kingthen presented gold and silver medals to White Cloud andNeumonya. Apologizing for their simple, "coarse clothes,"Neumonya replied that it was a "great day" for his peo-ple"so great a day that our eyes areblinded by the lustreof it."-!'

The Iowas attracted co nsiderable attention in Paris, andmany wealthy and famous personalities attended the "tra-ditional" performances that Catlin directed. George Sand,whose curiosity had been aroused by the arrival of the"aborigines" from America, was among those attending ashow at the Salle Valentino on Rue St. Hono re in May 1845.This remarkable Frenchwoman cut quite an unconven-tional figure, for she regularly wore men's clothes, dressingas a woman only for social occasions, and she was noted forher numerous love affairs. Throughout the 1840s her nov-els and other writings idealized peasants and wage labor-ers w hile criticizing the elitism of the French upper classes.She was famous throughout Europe as an advocate for theunderprivileged.'^

Despite her concern for the poor. Sand's interest in theIowas was motivated by curiosity rather than political orsocial impulse. She received tickets to Catlin's exhibitionfrom Alexandre Vattemare, who acted as manager for Cat-lin's troupe during its stay in France. She forwarded oneticket to Eugene Delacroix, then France's most prominentpainter and one of her closest friends. In her accompanyingletter. Sand encouraged Delacroix to visit the exhibit andalso invited him to see a large paintin g of the Iowas that shehad obtained. She attended a performance on May 29 andwas profoundly moved by the experience. Two days latershe sent (\n inquiry to Vattemare requesting a personal in-terview with the Indians. Sand informed the manager thatthe Iowas had fascinated her; they seemed "gentle and af-fectionate," yet while dancing they could suddenly appear"energetic and even ferocious." She wanted to question

43 . Ibid., 210-214.44, Among Sand's works of the period were Horace (1842), Jeanne), Le Meunier d'An^ibindt (1845), and Le Peche de Monsieur Anfoine(1K45).

them privately about their customs, beliefs, and ideas.intention, she explained, was not mere curiosity; followher interview she would w rite magazine articles prom oCatlin's p ainting s. She also offered to bring gifts to the Inan s as compensation for their agreeing to meet with her.The Iowas consented to an interview that took pon June 3. A few days later, two articles written by Sappeared in Le Viable a Paris under the title "Relationvoyage chez les sauvages de Paris." Sand later explaithat the Iowas were not mere "sauvages de contrebanas thepublic imagined, and that her essays offered a "trportrait of the Indians. Her articles, however, clearlyflected the Noble Savage tradition as defined by the mantic writers, in which myth does not meet reality.

novelist's descriptions of the Iowas and their customs ctained the two prevailing but contradictory premises ofday: first, the Indians were innocent, honest, and uprchildren of the wilderness; second, they were wild, inman, bloodth irsty savages.' 'L ike Catlin's writings. Sand's articles warned all American Indians were threatened by the bilitating effects of contact with white society.novelist rightly pointed out that the Iowas faced thelemma of preserving their traditional ways while havto accept certain white customs in order to survive.used the standard literary conventions to build an imof them as pure, simple, and dignified. Rejecting the vthat they degraded themselves by performing their sacreligious rites for pay. Sand asserted that the Indians won a serious mission for their tribe. They were, she insisthe "new Argonauts," and their leader. White Cloud,spite his infected eye and "melancholy" appearance, w"mo dern Jason."''''

45 . See George Sand, Correspondence, ed. Georges Lubin, 2(Paris: Gamier Freres, 1964-c. 1995), 6:870-871, 873-876. AccordinCatlin, the Iowas were besieged with requests for interviews, and he to them to decide whether or not to grant them. See Catlin, Notes on Years' Trai'els and Residence in Europe, 2:247.

46 . Sand, Correspondence, 881-882. One scholar writes that altshe may have known the true nature of the Iowas, Sand had goodson for "masking Indian realities." The French public expected nobleages, so Sand delivered. See Sharon L. Pairchiid, "Ceorge Sand and GeCatlinMasking Indian Realities," Nineteenth-Century French Stud(Spring-Summer 1994): 439^49. Le Diable ii Paris was a multivolumlection of writings by several woli-known authors. It was publishedsubscription series by Pierre-Jules Hetzel beginning in April 1844.

47 . Sand, "Relation d'un voyage chez les sauvages de Paris," invres iltustrees, ed. Hetzel-Blancha'rd-Marescq (Paris: 1852-1856): 41-4



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Buffalo Chase,^om Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio: Hunting Scenes and Amusements of the Rocky Mountains and Prairies oAmerican (1844).

This image of the dignified Indian exten ded to the otherIowas. Their physical attributes. Sand implied, set themapart as a superior, aristocratic people. Like Catlin's paint-ings, her articles compared the Indian men to Greek godsor ancient works of art. She likened Neumonya's son, Wa-tawebuk ana, for example, to "an antique bron ze w orthy ofPhidias," the great sculptor of ancient Greece. She thoughtSenontiyah possessed a "beauty worthy of Greek statuary."The novelist was most impressed with Shontayiga. "Thisnoble warrior," Sand wrote.

whose Herculean appearance and large, accentuatedfeatures at first frightened me, but who, at the sideof his sick wife, his heart full of sadness because ofthe recent death of his child, seemed to me the mostgentle and best of men. When he was the first to jumpforth in the dance ... my friends compared him toDio-medes. When he resumed his calm and gentle coun-tenance to accept the congratulations of the audience,we called him the Jupiter of the virgin forest; but ...when we heard his story, we saw only a noble andhonest figure, characterized by courage and good-

GEORGE CATLIN AND THE IOWA INDIANS IN EUROPE, 1843-1845 241


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ness, and we named him "the generous one," a namethat would suit him much better than Little Wolf, fornothing in his powerful and sweet constitution ex-presses ferocity or ruse.''*'

Little Wolf's infant daughter. Corsair, had died in London,and at the time of the performance that Sand attended, hiswife, Okeweme, was gravely ill. Sadly, Okeweme died andwa s b uried in Paris in mid -June 1845. '*Besides their resemblance to ancient gods, the reservednature of the Indians impressed Sand, who was disap-pointed when White Cloud accepted her gift of red clothwith little show of emotion. She was naive if she trulythought that White Cloud would be satisfied with a simple

piece of cloth as payment for the interview. On their jour-neys the Iowas received hundreds of gifts, including 150Bibles, thousands of trinkets, and other useless items. TheIowas knew value when they saw it and most likely hadlittle use for pieces of cloth or oth er such trifles.^"Sand's essays were neither objective nor realistic de-scriptions of American Indians. As an author of Roman-tic literature, she wanted readers to experience the thrills,won ders, and dangers of meeting exotic peoples and visit-ing faraway places. Her colorful descriptions of the Iowasand their ceremonies closely resembled the style of her fic-tion; her articles on the Indian s, therefore, had little bearing

on reality. But the Noble Savage was wh at the readin g p ub-lic expected, and Parisians would have been disappointedwith a straightforward accoun t of the Am erican Indian . Thefollowing years saw Sand's literary production grow, andbefore her death in 1876 her novels had won her world-wide acclaim. Her interest in Indians had proved fleeting,however, for after the encounter with the Iowas she wrotenothing more about them.Meanwhile, George Catlin found his fortune on thewane. His business partners, Barnum and Melody, hadlong since abandoned him. The promotion of shows and

exhibitions combined with managing a troupe of Indian ac-tors, providing them lodging, food, and other necessities.

was expensive. There simply was no room for error wsuch a narrow profit margin. After the Iowas returnedthe United States in the summ er of 1845, the artist remaibehind with his gallery. Another group of Ojibwas arrito perform, but Parisians had lost interest in Indians, Catlin's show closed shortly thereafter. With the notaexceptions of Eugene Delacroix; Charles Baudelaire, poet and art critic; and George Sand, most membersthe French elite did not take Catlin's paintings seriouslThe dejected American artist eventually returned to United States in 1871.

The Iowas arrived back at their village near the pent-day Kansas-Nebraska border in the fall of 1845. LCatlin, they did not come home wealthy. Indeed, it is likthat they returned with little more than a few souvenBut they had gained something far more important. Thexperiences provided them a greater understanding ofoutside world and made them even more determinedbuild a secure future for themselves. They realized thatRomanticized image of Indians that captured the imanations of Europeans and East Coast Americans did impress nearby settlers; most of these whites denigraIndians as ignoble savages standing in the way of progand westward advancement. The Iowas endeavored, thfore, to become as inc onspicu ous as possible and , therefless of a threat to their white neighbors. This tactic woenable them to adhere to the fabric of their traditional ctoms, but most realized that they w ould h ave to act quicto adapt to white ways, at least outwardly, so they plaeven greater emphasis on farming and raising livestoThey found the pervasive alcoholism they had encotered among the lower classes of Europe deplorable, this deeply affected them. By the late 1840s missionaand federal agents were reporting that the Iowas consumfar less alcohol than before and were now endeavoringremain at peace with the Pawnees and other former emies. When W hite Cloud led a war party that killed sevPawnee s in May 1848, Neum onya a nd N o Heart dismishim from the tribal council. White Cloud died three ye

48 . Ibid., 45-46.49. Catlin, Notes on Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe. 2:247;Foreman , Indians Abroad, 191; and Niles' National Register 68 (2 August1845>:339.50 . Catl in, Notes on Eight Years' Travels and R esidence in Europe, 2:189,194, 307; and Mulvey, "Among th e Sag-a-noshes," 259-260.

51 . See Robert N . Beetem, "George Catlin in France: His Relationto Delacroix an d Baudelaire," Ar t Quarterly 24 (Summer 1961): 129Mitchell, Witnef^s to a Vanishing America. lQl-104;Goetzman an d GoeWest of the Imagination, 27; Roehm, Letters of Ceorge Catlin. 305-307;William H. Truettner, A Study of Catlin's Indian Callery (Washington,Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979), 44-52.



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later. By then the Iowas remained largely peaceful, for theyrealized that whites would demand their removal for anyserious acts of violence.^-T he Iowas would be among the very few hands thatmanaged to forestall the forces of Indian removalthat threatened the Kansas and Nehraska tribesthroughout the remainder of the nineteenth century. In hisstudy of the Michigan Ottawas, historian James McClurkenpoints out that the few bands that managed to survive thepotent forces of removal did so by creating their own inter-nal programs of compliance with white definitions of civili-zation. Like the Michigan Ottawa s, the Iowas rem ained trueto their Indian identities while acting "white" to mollify adominant society that would otherwise have demandedtheir removal.^^

The Iowas survived the removal era mostly on theirown terms, steadfastly maintaining traditional culturalpractices well into the twentieth century. They eventuallysurrendered most of their lands, and by the turn of thetwentieth century the majority had moved to Oklahoma.However, the Iowas still claim a 2,100-acre reservationalong the borders of northeastern Kansas and southeast-ern Nebraska.^ Several years ago Pete Fee, an influentialmember of the Kansas and Nebraska Iowas, explained thatalthough his people n:\ay have lost many of the old tradi-tions and their clan relationships are now considerablyweaker, they have persevered. The Iowas, Fee noted, "be-lieve that the family unit is the most important aspect ofour culture, of our relationships ... and one of the thingsthat keeps us together and makes us strong." If they onlycould revive the old traditions and ways, the Iowas wouldbecome even strong er as a peop le. Fee was op timistic aboutthe chances for tribal cultural revitalization. "I believe thateverything that the creator gave us in the beginning is stillhere," he explained. "Our medicine is still here. Even ourclan affiliations and relationships are still here. The wayto get them back sometimes isn't clear." Fee still strives to

52. Herring, Enduring hidians of Kansas. 81-85, 95-97.53 . James M. McClurken, "'We Wish to Be Civilized': Ottawa-Ameri-can Political Contests on the Michigan Frontier" (Ph.D. diss., MichiganState University, 1988).54. For information on the present-day Iowa tribe of Kansas and Ne-braska, see "Baxoje, the loway Nation," http: //ioway.nat iveweb.org/io-wayksne.htm.

find that clarity, researching tribal history, practicing tra-ditional tribal rituals, and urging others to follow in hispath."Today nearly five thousand descendants of WhiteCloud, Ncumonya, and the other Iow as live in Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and elsewhere and are among the foumillion Americans claiming to be Indians in the 2000 U.Scensus. C atlin and the others were plainly w rong in believing that American Indians would vanish, absorbed somehow into the dominant white society. The artist was alsoclearly m istaken if he truly believed that Indians were no-ble savages. Catlin's noble Indians, like Europe's romanti-cized peasants and work ers, never really existed; they w erestereotypes created by artists, writers, and entrepreneurs.Whether gen uine Romantics or mere opportunists, Cat-lin and other whites, and sometimes even Indians like theIowas, helped pe rpetuate a false image of America's trihapeople s. As historian Patricia Nelson Limerick has pointedout, "the imagethe noble, happy, pristine, uncontaminated Indianhad always been a great deal easier to deawith than the diverse and complicated human beings whohad come to be known as Indians."^ Although Limerickwas discussing the idealized view of Indians, she may jusas well have been referring to Sand's noble workers andpeasants. Human societies, however primitive they mightappear, are far more complex than Catlin, Sand, and othenineteenth-century thinkers ever imagined. Efforts to rescue the Noble Savagewhether American Indians or thelower classes of Europewere therefore fruitless, for it isnot possible to save something that never existed.Today, despite immutable evidence to the contrary, theNoble Savage myth persists. Thom Ross, a Seattle-basedartist who uses Western themes in his paintings, recentlylamented that audiences still demand the Noble Savageand, indeed, are even angered when they get somethingdifferent. According to Ross, most of today's artists, unwilling to risk cen sure and the resulting loss of a sale, con

tinue to provide the public with "overly done cliches" froma mythical American West, including the stereotypical Indian, the "stoic faced, seemingly unhappy man who is inth e act of communing with birds or spirits or something

55. Interview with Clarence Warren "Pete" Fee, White Cloud, KansasJuly 21 , 1992; transcript in possession of author.56. Limerick, Legacy of Conquest. 185.

G E O R G E C A T L I N AND THE I O W A I N D I A N S IN E U R O P E , 1843-1845 243


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Wlicn the author hitcrvh'wcii Clarence Warren "Pete" Fee at White Cloud, Kansas, in July 1992 , this trihal elder was dressed us n iiiiieteeiilh-tury Indmn. Fee donned traditional Iowa ^arb, his head shaved with the exception of a crest of hair to which was a ffixed feathers, much as GeorCatlin had portrayed the Iowas in his paintings a century and a half earlier. Photograph by Ken Engquist, Wichita, Kansas.



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Such appeals, however, continue to fall on deaf ears.

ospective buyers wh at they wantan idealized no-belief in and craving for the N oble

r the past wron gs do ne to Indians. It could be a long-

lic's love of historythe m ore colorful and m ythical theHistorian Brian Dippie no ted that Am ericans of all eth-

ythical images resoundingly over anything that

57. Thom Ross, "Undiscovered History: The Thoughts of ThomWestern Historical Quarterly 35 (Summer 2004): 215-224.

might uncover the harsh realities of nineteenth-centurywestward expansion. Nicholas G. Rosenthal, another histo-rian, has recently no ted that cultural perceptions of Indiansas noble savages remain "so strong and enduring that con-temporary Indians are commonly treated as anachronismsand anom alies, or simply ignored al together. " 'The Iowas, meanwhile, continue their efforts at cul-tural revitalization. This revival, however, is not some at-tempt to recreate a modern-day Noble Savage to peddle togullible white tourists. Lance M. Foster, an anthropologist,artist, and enrolled member of the Kansas and NebraskaIowas, recently noted that such a revival is sought becauseit would strengthen tribal bonds. Foster has been involvedfor over two decades in efforts to preserve Towa language

and culture, dedicating himself to bringing the tribe backtogether "so that we may once again know each other asrelatives and help each other maintain our identity as lo-way people." Foster dismissed the Noble Savage conceptaltogether. "People have just got to realize," he said, "thatIndians are human beings with all the good and bad thatgo with that."'^'*

58. Rosenthal, "Native American Actors on Hollyv\'ood's Frontier,"347; Brian Dippie, "Drawn to the West," Wi'stcrn Historical Quarterly(Spring 2004): 5-26.59. Lance M. Foster, member of Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska,telephone interview by author, August \, 2005. See also "Baxoje, the low ayNation."

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catlin, selling the noble savage

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