View from Floyd’s Grave, 1300 Miles above St. Louis

Media - 1985.66.398 - SAAM-1985.66.398_1 - 81518
Copied George Catlin, View from Floyd's Grave, 1300 Miles above St. Louis, 1832, oil on canvas, 11 1414 38 in. (28.536.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.398
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
View from Floyd’s Grave, 1300 Miles above St. Louis
Date
1832
Dimensions
11 1414 38 in. (28.536.6 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Keywords
  • Landscape — river
  • Western
  • Monument — gravestone — Floyd
Object Number
1985.66.398

Artwork Description

“‘Floyd's Grave’ is a name given to one of the most lovely and imposing mounds or bluffs on the Missouri River, about twelve hundred miles above St. Louis, from the melancholy fate of Serjeant Floyd, who was of Lewis and Clark's expedition, in 1806; who died on the way, and whose body was taken to this beautiful hill, and buried in its top, where now stands a cedar post, bearing the initials of his name . . . I landed my canoe in front of this grass-covered mound, and . . . several times ascended it and sat upon his grave, overgrown with grass and the most delicate wild flowers, where I . . . contemplated the solitude and stillness of this tenanted mound; and beheld from its top, the windings infinite of the Missouri, and its thousand hills and domes of green, vanishing into blue in distance, when nought but the soft-breathing winds were heard, to break the stillness and quietude of the scene. Where not the chirping of bird or sound of cricket, nor soaring eagle's scream, were interposed ‘tween God and man; nor aught to check man’s whole surrender of his soul to his creator.” George Catlin sketched this scene on his 1832 Missouri River voyage. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 32, 1841; reprint 1973)