George Catlin (1796–1872)

George Catlin spent several years journeying across the American West, chronicling the rapidly vanishing Native American tribes. This book is replete with not only his anthropological notes, but also reproductions of paintings he made, showing the visual splendor of these peoples. Of course, what he fails to acknowledge directly is that the Native Americans weren't just magically vanishing into thin air: they were vanishing thanks to the American imperial project of which Catlin was an show more integral part. Catlin rides out with the U.S. military to help put down some Native American groups on more than one occasion in here. There's a curious double project here on Catlin's part: both fascinated by the Native Americans, yet determined to see his people win out.

As for the book itself, it's hard reading if you yourself aren't interested in the ethnography of 19th-century Native Americans. Catlin visits a lot of different tribes, and his commentary soon becomes repetitive, often digressive and dull. He tries to liven things up on occasion, but he does this by including far more exclamation marks than should ever appear within a single sentence. show less

This book offers a pretty good overview of the manners, customs, and conditions of the North American Indians, er, just like the title says. But regrettably it is confusingly written. The author is more of an illustrator than writer, and his prose is often confusing and wandering. The first volume is better, mostly because it focuses on the extinct Mandan tribe and its practices. This second volume jumps around from place to place, but does contain a few amusing tales of his journey. Also, show more it would be nice if the illustrations were in color, rather than grayscale. Overall, I can't recommend the book for anyone other than those doing research on mid-19th century Native American customs and dress. It was a slog to read. show less

Not the same book as "My Life Amongst the Indians" by Catlin. The 'editor' Humphreys states in the preface that she combined multiple books by Catlin. She did not 'edit' Catlin - she rewrote him and the text is her mess. The excellent illustrations are all Catlin.

“Illustrations of the Manners, Customs, & Condition of the North American Indians” Volume 2 (of 2) by George Catlin

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS

PRINT:
© June 1, 1973; 978-1451687651; Dover Publications; 416 pages; Unabridged; English (paperback)

DIGITAL:
1. © The Project Gutenberg eBook (Original publication: United Kingdom: Chatto & Windus, Picadilly, 1876.) Release date: August 27, 2022 [eBook #68841] (Most recently updated: December 30, 2024) Credits: Richard Hulse, Robert Tonsing and the show more Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) (This is the version I read.)
2. © August 8, 2012; 978-0486156798; ASIN:‎ B00A739VWS; Dover Publications; 630 pages; Unabridged; English $(14.74 at Amazon.com)

AUDIO:
Not Available

FILM:
No.

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SERIES:
Illustrations of the Manners, Customs, & Condition of the North American Indians. Volume 2 of 2.

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
SELECTED:
Having enjoyed Volume 1 (also on Project Gutenberg), I wanted to read volume 2.
ABOUT:
George Catlin traveled across the plains from 1832-39 intent on meeting, befriending, painting, and studying numerous groups of Native North Americans. He wrote as many as 58 letters between the two volumes (along with three appendices); this one contains letters 32-58. In the first 57 letters, Catlin mostly refrains from sharing opinions and sticks to telling of his adventures. In Letter 58 he shares theories he has developed and his feelings about the tragedy of their removal from their lands, and in at least one case (Mandans) the extinction of their tribe.
OVERALL IMPRESSION:
I enjoyed reading of the author’s travels, observations, and interactions with the many tribes he visited, and of the honor he bestowed upon his hosts, and they upon him.

AUTHOR:
George Catlin
(From Wikipedia-most recent update August 25, 2025.)
George Catlin (/kætlɪn/ KAT-lin;[1] July 26, 1796 – December 23, 1872)[2] was an American lawyer, painter, author, and traveler, who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the American frontier. Traveling to the American West five times during the 1830s, Catlin wrote about and painted portraits that depicted the life of the Plains Indians. His early work included engravings, drawn from nature, of sites along the route of the Erie Canal in New York State. Several of his renderings were published in one of the first printed books to use lithography, Cadwallader D. Colden's Memoir, Prepared at the Request of a Committee of the Common Council of the City of New York, and Presented to the Mayor of the City, at the Celebration of the Completion of the New York Canals, published in 1825, with early images of the City of Buffalo.[3][4]

NARRATOR(S):
Not Applicable

GENRE:
Native American History; Indigenous History; Sociology

SUBJECTS (Not comprehensive):
Crow, Blackfoot, Pawnee, Sioux, Comanche, Mandan, Choctaw, Cheyenne, Winnebago, Creek, Assiniboin; Religious practices; Wild prairies; Buffalo; Horses; Native American History; Customs; Weapons; Hunts; Traditions; Personalities; Tribes; Society; Myths; Legends; Plains; Topography; Rivers; Boats; Steamers; Travel Modes; Costumes; Attire; Art; Painting; Tribal wars; Trading Posts; Fur Traders; Traders; Grooming practices; Superstitions; Animals; Skins; Feathers; Ornamentations; Medicine Bags; Anthropology

Primary TIME:
1830's

Primary LOCATION:
United States

DEDICATION:
Not found

EXCERPT: (from LETTERS AND NOTES ON THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. LETTER—No. 32.)
FORT LEAVENWORTH, LOWER MISSOURI.
“The readers, I presume, will have felt some anxiety for me and the fate of my little craft, after the close of my last Letter; and I have the very great satisfaction of announcing to them that we escaped snags and sawyers, and every other danger, and arrived here safe from the Upper Missouri, where my last letters were dated. We, (that is, Ba’tiste, Bogard and I,) are comfortably quartered for awhile, in the barracks of this hospitable Cantonment, which is now the extreme Western military post on the frontier, and under the command of Colonel Davenport, a gentleman of great urbanity of manners, with a Roman head and a Grecian heart, restrained and tempered by the charms of an American lady, who has elegantly pioneered the graces of civilized refinements into these uncivilized regions.

This Cantonment, which is beautifully situated on the west bank of the Missouri River, and six hundred miles above its mouth, was constructed some years since by General Leavenworth, from whom it has taken its name. Its location is very beautiful, and so is the country around it. It is the concentration point of a number of hostile tribes in the vicinity, and has its influence in restraining their warlike propensities.

There is generally a regiment of men stationed here, for the purpose of holding the Indians in check, and of preserving the peace amongst the hostile tribes. I shall visit several tribes in this vicinity, and most assuredly give you some further account of them, as fast as I get it.

Since the date of my last epistles, I succeeded in descending the river to this place, in my little canoe, with my two men at the oars, and myself at the helm, steering its course the whole way amongst snags and sand-bars.

Before I give further account of this downward voyage, however, I must recur back for a few moments, to the Teton River, from whence I started, and2 from whence my last epistles were written, to record a few more incidents which I then overlooked in my note-book. Whilst painting my portraits amongst the Sioux, as I have described, I got the portrait of a noble Shienne chief, by the name of Nee-hee-o-ee-woo-tis, the wolf on the hill (plate 115). The chief of a party of that tribe, on a friendly visit to the Sioux, and the portrait also of a woman, Tis-see-woo-na-tis (she who bathes her knees, plate 116). The Shiennes are a small tribe of about 3000 in numbers, living neighbours to the Sioux, on the west of them, and between the Black Hills and the Rocky Mountains. There is no finer race of men than these in North America, and none superior in stature, excepting the Osages; scarcely a man in the tribe, full grown, who is less than six feet in height. The Shiennes are undoubtedly the richest in horses of any tribe on the Continent, living in a country as they do, where the greatest herds of wild horses are grazing on the prairies, which they catch in great numbers and vend to the Sioux, Mandans and other tribes, as well as to the Fur Traders.

These people are the most desperate set of horsemen, and warriors also, having carried on almost unceasing wars with the Pawnees and Blackfeet, “time out of mind.” The chief represented in the picture was clothed in a handsome dress of deer skins, very neatly garnished with broad bands of porcupine quill-work down the sleeves of his shirt and his leggings, and all the way fringed with scalp-locks. His hair was very profuse, and flowing over his shoulders; and in his hand he held a beautiful Sioux pipe, which had just been presented to him by Mr. M‘Kenzie, the Trader. This was one of the finest looking and most dignified men that I have met in the Indian country; and from the account given of him by the Traders a man of honour and strictest integrity. The woman was comely, and beautifully dressed; her dress of the mountain-sheep skins, tastefully ornamented with quills and beads, and her hair plaited in large braids, that hung down on her breast.

After I had painted these and many more, whom I have not time at present to name, I painted the portrait of a celebrated warrior of the Sioux, by the name of Mah-to-chee-ga (the little bear), who was unfortunately slain in a few moments after the picture was done, by one of his own tribe; and which was very near costing me my life for having painted a side view of his face, leaving one-half of it out of the picture, which had been the cause of the affray; and supposed by the whole tribe to have been intentionally left out by me, as “good for nothing.” This was the last picture that I painted amongst the Sioux, and the last, undoubtedly, that I ever shall paint in that place. So tremendous and so alarming was the excitement about it, that my brushes were instantly put away, and I embarked the next day on the steamer for the sources of the Missouri, and was glad to get underweigh.

The man who slew this noble warrior was a troublesome fellow of the same tribe, by the name of Shon-ka (the dog). A “hue and cry” has been on his track for several months; and my life having been repeatedly 3threatened during my absence up the river, I shall defer telling the whole of this most extraordinary affair, until I see that my own scalp is safe, and I am successfully out of the country. A few weeks or months will decide how many are to fall victims to the vengeance of the relatives of this murdered brave: and if I outlive the affair, I shall certainly give some further account of it.[1]"

RATING:
5 stars.

READ FROM 3/9/2024 TO 9/19/2025 show less