White Sulphur papers; or, Life at the springs of Western Virginia

BLACK HAWK KEO KUK. 71
I went with an interpreter at Washington to see
Black Hawk. I found him a much smaller man
than I had supposed him to be, apparently about
sixty years of age, plainly dressed, in a calico shirt,
with blue lee^CTincrs, and rinsrs in his ears. I told liim
I was glad to- see him, and had long heard of him
as a great warrior. He said he was a great man
once when he was a Chief, but now, that the whites
forgot to come and shake hands with him ; and with
an expressive countenance, he pointed to a room,
where Keokuk then was surrounded by the crowds
who flocked to see him. Keokuk was one of the
finest specimens of a man I had ever seen—a model
of nature for the sculptor,
and he reminded you of
Persico's statue of war at the capitol. He had a
tall and commanding figure, and the stamp- of a
nobleman on his face, and was looked after as he
walked along, with admiration. He w^ore a rich
scarlet robe, flung over a dress of the same colored
material, and the ornaments and presents about his
person, were of the richest kind.
No C almuc Tartar,
in his most showy costume,
finer advantage than Keo Kuk.
ever appeared to
He was the head
the Sacs and Foxes.
An Indian agent from the west, gave me an
account of another speech of this great orator, made
at a time when the Winnebagoes had threatened to