Say-say-gon, Hail Storm, War Chief

George Catlin, born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872 · 1845

George Catlin described Hail Storm as “a fine and intelligent Indian,” thirty-one years old. Hail Storm was among the Canadian Ojibwe who joined Catlin in Paris in the late summer of 1845, having heard of the Iowa's successful engagement in Catlin’s traveling show. In early October the Ojibwe entertained Louis Philippe and the royal family at Saint-Cloud with ball games and dances, and the king reciprocated by asking Catlin to display the Indian Gallery in the Salle de Séance at the Louvre. After moving the collection to the palace, Catlin took the Ojibwe to Belgium for a series of appearances, but several contracted smallpox in Brussels, and the remainder of the tour was canceled. Catlin parted from the group in Antwerp in January 1846. (Truettner, The Natural Man Observed, 1979)