Wée-sheet, Sturgeon's Head, a Fox Warrior
Smithsonian American Art Museum

Wée-sheet, Sturgeon's Head, a Fox Warrior

George Catlin, born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872 · 1832

oil on canvas
Smithsonian American Art Museum
CC0 — Public Domain
Smithsonian American Art Museum

“The Sacs and Foxes, who were once two separate tribes, but with a language very similar, have, at some period not very remote, united into one, and are now an inseparable people, and go by the familiar appellation of the amalgam name of ‘Sacs and Foxes’ . . . These people have sold so much of their land lately, that they have the luxuries of life to a considerable degree, and may be considered rich; consequently they look elated and happy, carrying themselves much above the humbled manner of most of the semi-civilized tribes, whose heads are hanging and drooping in poverty and despair.” (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 56, 1841; reprint 1973)

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