The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1897-05-06
l1@|aRM45
RED JACKETS MEDAL.


Good VIII Token Given by Washington to
an Indian Chief.
The silver medal which Washington
gave to Red Jacket in 1892, which has
belonged to the sachems Of the Senecas
ever since, Is to be sold out of Indian
possession. 1t was last the property of
General Ely s. Parker, one of Grants
aids in the war for the Union, who was
the last sachem of the Six Nations.
General Parker's library of Indian his
tory and many other relics of historical
value as well as this unique medal of
honor will be sold presently, and the
Buffalo Historical society hopes to buy
it, but it ought to find a purchaser ir.
the United States government. for it is
a part of the history of the country.
In 1899 President Washington called
a council of Indian sachems to meet
him in Philadelphia. About so of the
most prominent chiefs responded. Wash
ington desired to bring about an i'm
provement in the moral and social con-
ditions of the Indian. The red man de-
sired to have their relations to the white
mems government defined. Neither OBJ
iect was attained, but the gathering
was nevertheless one Of Importance.
The conference was prolonged for over
six weeks, the Indians taking great time
to weigh every utterance of the white
men. At the close Washington gave to
Red Jacket, who had been eminent as
warrior and prophet, who was the
spokesman of all the chiefs and who was
chosen as the bearer of the presidents
peace message to the Indians, this
medal and a pipe made after the Indian
fashion in the form Of a tomahawk.
The pipe Red Jacket smoked to the
end Of his life, but the medal he pawned
time and again as security for his debts
for irewater at various barrooms, and
time and again it was redeemed. Not
withstanding Red Jackets attachment
to his pipe, no one knows where that is
but his medal, after many vicissitudes
of ownership, fell into the possession of
General Parker. 1t is Of silver, z by 3
inches. On its face an Indian is receiv-
ing from white man the pipe of peace,
while in the background man is p1ow-
ing. Below tbs figures is the inscription,
George Washington, President, 1872.
On the reverse is the shield of the
United States, ON the breast of spread
eagle, in one of whose talons is bunch
of arrows, in the other an olive branch.
Red Jacket was a name given him by
the Americans because at the time of
the Seneca chiefs alliance with the
British in the Revolution ne wore a mill
tary red coat which an officer had given
him. His native name was Sagoyewatha,
meaning "He who keeps awake" He
was not physically brave, though a
great leader i'll war. He was very proud
of the Washington medal, and when
Lafayette visited him in 1926 he wore
the medal, and he owned it when he
died in 1880.
Red Jacket himself attached a SYM
bolic meaning to the medal He said,
according to William L. Stone, who
wrote the life of the great orator: ''Its
costly material is mathematical of the
friendship which is ever to subsist be-
tween the United States and the In
dams, while its brightness indicates the
unsullied purity of the peace between
my own people and the whites. Its pure
surface will show the slightest tarnish
which may accidentally come upon it,
and both parties must in that case set to
work together to remove the blemish. -
On Red Jackets death the medal went
to James Johnson his successor in the
Eachemship, and, SO far as can be learn
ed, it drifted about for many years from
one family to another on the Cattarau-
gus reservation. 1t is even said that the
medal was once exhibited in dime mu.
scum, but that is doubtful, as it was in
the possession of the Indians in the
early sixties, when General Parker Sc
cured it.-Boston Transcript.