 |
| Wunagisa—Chief Moses Keokuk. (Ginter & Allen Tobacco Cards. 1888) |
After Keokuk’s death, his son assumed control of the tribe.
Wunagisa visited Washington in 1852. “Keokuk’s father was made a chief because
he was considered a good man and a true friend to the whites,” explained the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs. “The great white chief (General Winfield Scott)
made him a chief. I see no reason why young Keokuk, if he is as good a man as
his father was, should not continue to be your chief.
“But I would say to young Keokuk he ought to recollect how it is he
derived his honorable distinction. It was because his father was a good man, a
good friend to the whites, and disposed to listen to the advice of the
government and conduct himself properly.”[i]
That last line was the government’s formula for success and how they
measured a native chief’s ability. If young Keokuk wished to remain chief of
the Sac and Fox, he needed to do what the government wanted and continue along his
father's path.
Wunagisa converted to the Baptist religion in 1878 and changed his name to Moses Keokuk. As part of his conversion, he gave up one of his two wives, stopped drinking and gambling, and moved out of his bark wigwam.
