Photographs (left to right): Great Blue Heron, Everglades, Florida; Mountain Stream, Adirondacks, New York; Indian Blanket Flower, New York

Wampum Belt Archive

 

Black Hawk Belt 2

Beauchamp 1901

NMAI 031905.000
Rows: 12
 
 
 

Description (Quoted Wampum Shop):

Black Hawk or Sauk Belt; As European settlements moved westward, so too the Indian nations drew together to avoid conflict between themselves and to seek strength in unity. It is believed that the Saux gave this belt to the Six Nations Confederacy after they assisted the Six Nations to defend their territory against European encroachment. After the war, the Sauk commemorated their participation by leaving a Wampum Belt which would reflect their alliance to the Six Nations. NMAI recorded this belt was once owned by Chief Black Hawk.

Purchased by George G. Heye in 1907, bought by Thomas R. Roddy from James Jamieson, Cayuga Chief in 1899.

References:

Bardeau, Eileen Wms., Edited by Jaré Cardinal, 2010. Definitive Seneca: It's In The Word, Published by Seneca-Iroquois National Museum.

Beauchamp, 1901. Wampum and Shell Articles Used by the New York Indians. NYS Mus. Bull. 41, pp. 321-480.

National Museum of the American Indian. Cat. No. 031905.000

Stolle, Nickolaus. 2016. Talking Beads: The history of wampum as a value and knowledge bearer, from its very first beginnings until today. Hamburg, Germany. ISSN 1437-7837

Tooker, Elisabeth. 1998. A Note on the Return of Eleven Wampum Belts to the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy on Grand River, Canada. Ethnohistory, Vol. 45, No. 2 (Spring), pp. 219-236.