Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/252

 236 REDOUTE RED RIVER dian name was O-te-ti-ani, "Always Ready," that of Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, "He keeps them awake," having been conferred upon him on his election to the dignity of a sachem. The name of Red Jacket arose from a richly em- broidered scarlet jacket presented to him by a British officer, which he always took great pride in wearing. Of his early history little is known except that he was remarkably swift in the chase, and was often employed as a messenger, first among his own people, and during the revolution as a runner for the Brit- ish officers on the border. In 1784, in a com- cil held at Fort Stanwix to negotiate between the United States and the Six Nations for the cession of lands, he spoke very eloquently against the treaty, but with no avail. A few years later Red Jacket had an interview with Washington, who gave him a silver medal. In 1809 he gave information to Erastus Granger, the Indian agent, of the organization by To- cumseh of an extensive league by which the Senecas were to be drawn into a combination against the United States. In 1810 he visited Washington, and delivered an able speech upon this subject before the secretary of war. In the war of 1812 he on several occasions gave advice which proved of essential service to the American array, especially on the eve of the battle of Chippewa. In 1829 Red Jacket visited New York on his way to Washington, and while there sat for his portrait to Robert W. Weir. Although in his 77th year, he was still strong and vigorous. In his later years he was grossly intemperate, but invariably ab- stained from fire water for a season before a council. Red Jacket was upon the war path during both conflicts between the United States and Great Britain, in the first on the British and in the second on the American side; but in neither did he win the right to wear the eagle plume. His character was marked by striking contradictions. He lacked firmness of nerve, but possessed unbending firmness of purpose and great moral courage. His intellectal pow- ers were of a very high order. He was a states- man of sagacity, and an orator of surpassing eloquence, yet capable of practising the lowest cunning; but he was still a patriot, and loved his nation and his race. His life has been writ- ten by W. L. Stone (8vo, Albany, 1867). HKIMH IK, Pierre Joseph, a French painter of flowers, born at St. Hubert, near Liege, July 10, 1759, died in Paris, June 19, 1840. He belonged to a family of painters, and, having settled in Paris, painted some of the most ele- gant flowers in the series known as the col- lection des velins, commenced under Louis XIV. In 1822 he became professor of vege- table iconography at the jardin da planter. His magnificent works, Lea liliacees (8 vols. fol., Paris, 1803-' 16), and Les roses (8 vols. fol., 1817-'24), are the finest known specimens of botanical illustration. A copy of the for- mer on vellum, with the original drawings, was purchased by the empress Josephine for 84,000 francs. He invented a method of paint- ing in colors, for which he received a medal from the society for the encouragement of national industry. REDPOLL. See LINNET. RED RIVER, a tributary of the Mississippi, and the last of considerable size which it re- ceives. It rises in N. W. Texas, in about lat. 34 40' N. and Ion. 102 10' W., and flows E. to the 100th meridian. Thence it follows a direction a little S. of E., separating Texas from Indian territory and Arkansas, and en- tering the latter state, bends at Fulton to the south, passes into Louisiana, and afterward flows 8. E., catering the Mississippi 341 m. above its mouth. Its length is about 1,200 m., and its basin is about 97,000 sq. m. in ex- tent. Its sources are in the fissures of an elevated and barren plain, the Llano Esta- cado, 2,450 ft. above the sea. For about 60 m. the banks rise perpendicularly from 500 to 800 ft. After leaving the Llano Estacado it flows over a broad bed of light shifting sands through an arid prairie country to the " cross timbers," a belt of woodland between the 98th and 97th meridians. Below this the river flows through rich and densely wooded alluvial bottoms. "Here the borders con- tract, and the water for a great portion of the year washes both banks, carrying the loose alluvium from one side and depositing it on the other, - in such a manner as to produce constant changes in the channel, and to ren- der navigation difficult. This character con- tinues throughout the rest of its course; and in this section it is subject to heavy inunda- tions, which often flood the bottoms to such a degree as to destroy the crops, and occa- sionally leave a deposit of white sand, ren- dering the soil barren and worthless." From its source to Fulton, Ark., about 600 m., the stream falls 2,208 ft.; thence to its mouth, 595 m., the fall is only 188 ft. The width between the banks 8 m. below the point where it issues from the Llano Estacado is 2,700 ft.; just be- low the mouth of the North fork, 2,000; 50 m. lower down, 2,100; at the mouth of the Big Wichita, 600; at Alexandria, La., 720; at the mouth of the Black river, 785; and at the entrance into the Mississippi, 1,800. "The depth varies inversely as the width, being only 6 or 8 ft., even in floods, throughout the desert, while it is some 50 ft. in the fertile region. In extreme low water a depth of 8 ft. may be depended upon below Alexandria, about 4 ft. thence to the head of the raft, and 1 ft. thence to Fort Towson (Indian territory). Steamers of 4 ft. draught can ascend to Shreve- port, La. (330 m. above its mouth), at any time except in extreme low water, but to Fort Towson or even Fulton for only about three months in the year, and frequently only run in one direction during a single rise." The river is generally highest from December to June or July, the rest of the year being the season of low water. The raft has teen a