Indian Woman procuring Fuel.

Title

Indian Woman procuring Fuel.

Description

View shows an Indian woman procuring fuel (wood). Published by Charles Edward Wagstaff & Joseph Andrews.

ca. 1853

Artist

Eastman (1808-1875)

Seth Eastman, one of the first artists of the American West, learned his craft at West Point in the 1820s. After graduation, he was stationed on post in the then untamed Great Lakes region and began sketching Indians and topographical subjects. His work was so outstanding that he was recalled to the academy. Eastman later served in Florida in the Seminole War and returned to the Midwest where he became very close to many Indians, including the Sioux, Winnebago, and many other tribes. He was selected to illustrate with steel engravings and lithographs the monumental government publications, History, Condition, and Future Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States (1850-1857). Thereafter, he was among the very best artists in the West. Eastman was appointed a general, he decorated the rooms of Congress, and was a trustee of the National Gallery. Eastman's old and rare steel engravings and lithographs are available in beautiful watercolors.

Historical Description

The first European settlement in what is now U.S. territory was established by the Spanish at St. Augustine in Florida in 1565. The first permanent English colony was Jamestown in Virginia, which came into existence in 1607, shortly after Frenchmen established a first colony in what later became Canada. The arrival of the emigrant ship "Mayflower" at Plymouth Colony in 1620 is considered an important symbolic date. Swedish colonies on the Delaware and Dutch settlements around New York (Nieuw Amsterdam) were taken over by England. Apart from the British, only the French and Spanish were able to achieve lasting political importance. For Spain, its colony of Florida had only a secondary function compared to its large possessions in Central and South America. France, on the other hand, limited its settlement to its core colonial territory on the St. Lawrence River (New France), while still retaining a strong economic interest in its remaining territories between the Mississippi River and the thirteen colonies of the British. To cover the fur trade routes, these territories, otherwise not settled by Europeans, were protected by a system of forts and alliances. The British colonies, on the other hand, were under high immigration pressure, which led to a constant westward shift of the settlement boundary. This occurred partly according to state plan (by a single colony) and partly in wild colonization against British and Indian resistance. The conflicting interests clashed in the French and Indian War of 1754 to 1763. The war was a sideshow in the global confrontation between Britain and France, the Seven Years War. Most Indian tribes fought on the side of the French. The British side was awarded all of the French territories east of the Mississippi River (except New Orleans) and the French-populated areas around Quebec and Montreal in the peace treaty of 1763. Spain had sided with its French kin during the war. After the war, it had to cede Florida to the British and received as compensation the previously French territory west of the Mississippi. The government in London demanded that the colonists bear a higher share of the costs of the postwar settlement. The colonies resisted taxation There were boycotts and acts of resistance, such as the Boston Tea Party, which found an initial climax in the Boston Massacre. London eventually stationed more soldiers, which further fueled secessionist tendencies in the thirteen colonies. In 1775, British soldiers sparked the War of Independence when they dug up a colonial arsenal. A Continental Congress convened, giving military supreme command to George Washington. On July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies proclaimed the Declaration of Independence.