Sheheke-shote

#Sunday

From Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail:

As the men of the Corps passed by the Mandan villages on their way back to St. Louis in 1806, Captains Lewis and Clark convinced Sheheke-shote to join them to St. Louis, and then travel on to meet President Jefferson in the capital. Known by the Europeans and Americans as White Coyote, Sheheke was the prominent civil chief of the lower or principal Mandan village from 1804-1812. 

His wife, Yellow Corn, and their children, traveled with him, along with a translator, Rene Jessuame. First stop was St. Louis, then it was on to Charlottesville, Virginia, and finally to Washington to meet “The Great Father.”

The family’s return would be hampered by numerous delays, including incidents involving intertribal war, but the 36-month trip finally came to an end and the chief and his family were reunited with their Mandan people in September 1809. Even though some of his tribe thought he was too friendly with the whites, and others didn’t believe his fabulous stories of what he saw and experienced in the east, he remained chief until his death as a part of a Sioux attack on the Mandan villages in 1812.

This portrait of Sheheke-shote is by Charles Saint-Memin and was likely painted during his time in Washington. 




040217