Co-ee-há-jo, a Chief

About this artwork

In January 1838, George Catlin traveled to Fort Moultrie, near Charleston, South Carolina, to paint the portraits of chiefs and warriors who were imprisoned for their involvement in the Seminole War. Among them was Seminole chief Co-ee-há-jo, and the war’s celebrated leader, Osceola. To gain access to the men required the intervention of the secretary of war, who ordered the fort’s commanding officer to provide any assistance that Catlin needed. Time was of the essence since Osceola had fal...

About the Artist

George Catlin · 1796–1872

George Catlin (1796–1872), born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Putnam Catlin and Polly Sutton—who had been captured by Native Americans during the 1778 Battle of Wyoming—initially pursued a legal career. Trained at Litchfield Law School, he was admitted to the bar in 1819 but abandoned law after two years to study art in Philadelphia in 1823. Self-taught as a portraitist, Catlin quickly gained ...