Young Omahaw, War Eagle, Little Missouri, and Pawnees

These Plains Indian chiefs were among many who traveled to Washington to meet with the president to negotiate their territorial rights with the government. War Eagle wears James Monroe's presidential peace medal, valued by Native Americans as a sign of status and worn on all formal occasions. The artist painted the chiefs with a war axe, blood-red face paint, and eagle feathers atop their heads, reinforcing the romantic image of Indians as noble savages.