Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians

by George Catlin

Overview

Although he is best known for his paintings of Native Americans, George Catlin (1796–1872) also wrote books about his experiences among the indigenous peoples of the United States. During the 1830s he travelled widely in the western frontier regions with the aim of documenting the vanishing cultures of the Indians, and managed to meet 48 groups. This was a critical time for Native Americans, as US government policies were forcing many tribes off their ancestral land and onto reservations west of the Mississippi River. Catlin's two-volume work, published in 1841, is a compilation of his letters and field notes, and includes over 300 drawings of people, artefacts and animals. Catlin, following the Romantic tradition, expresses admiration for the 'honest and honourable' Indians, and disgust at 'civilised man' having made them 'victims to whiskey, the small-pox and the bayonet'. Volume 2 focuses on tribes in Arkansas, Texas and Florida.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108033183
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/22/2011
Series:	Cambridge Library Collection - North American History
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	428
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.94(d)

Table of Contents

32. Cantonment Leavenworth; 33. Grouse shooting before the burning prairies; 34. Ioways; 35. St. Louis; 36. Pensacola, Florida; 37. Transit up the Arkansas river; 38. Fort Gibson; 39. Mouth of the False Washita and Red River; 40. Sickness at the Mouth of False Washita; 41. Great Camanchee village, Texas; 42. Description of the Camanchee village, and view of; 43. The regiment advance towards the Pawnee village; 44. Camp Canadian; 45. Return to Fort Gibson; 46. Alton, on the Mississippi; 47. Trip to Florida and Texas, and back to St. Louis; 48. Flatheads, nez Percés; 49. Shawanos; 50. Fort Snelling, near the Fall of St. Anthony; 51. Fourth of July at the Fall of St. Anthony; 52. The author descending the Mississippi in a bark canoe; 53. The author and his bark canoe sunk in the Des Moine's Rapids; 54. Côteau des Prairies; 55. 'Story of the Dog' told; 56. Author's return from the Côteau des Prairies; 57. Fort Moultrie; 58. North Western Frontier; Appendices.