Red Jacket (Sagoyewatha)

In the American Revolution, Onondowahgah (Seneca) chief Sagoyewatha fought for the British, who gave him the name “Red Jacket” because he wore their red coat. He switched loyalties in the War of 1812, convincing members of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy in New York to fight on the U.S. side. Although in his sixties, he fought bravely at the battles of Fort George (1813) and Chippawa (1814). Appalled by heavy casualties among his own warriors as well as Haudenosaunee from Canada who fought with the British, Sagoyewatha persuaded the Native Americans on both sides to withdraw from the conflict.

This painting is one of four copies of a portrait that Robert Walter Weir made during Sagoyewatha’s visit to New York City in 1828. Wearing a cos-tume he considered “appropriate to his character” and a peace medal presented to him by George Washington, he stands before a backdrop of Niagara Falls beneath a stormy sky.