Ah-tón-we-tuck, Cock Turkey, Repeating His Prayer

George Catlin, born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872 · 1830

George Catlin described Cock Turkey as “another Kickapoo of some distinction, and a disciple of the Prophet; in the attitude of prayer also, which he is reading off from characters cut upon a stick that he holds in his hands.” Ah-tón-we-tuck’s prayer stick was used for twice-daily recitations of a prayer adapted from the teachings of a Methodist missionary. The artist probably painted this portrait at Fort Leavenworth (in today’s Kansas) in 1830. (Catlin, <i>Letters and Notes</i>, vol. 2, no. 47, 1841; reprint 1973)