People's Poems

[Great chief and most heroic sire,]

The Comment, The Yearbook of Keokuk Senior High School, Keokuk, Iowa, 1929
Great chief and most heroic sire, The wisdom of your counsel fire, Through generations of success Makes possible our K. H. S. Your life has earned you true and lasting fame. Great chief, all honor to your name.
Added April 21, 2026. View this poem at source. Chief Keokuk was recognized by the U.S. Government as the leader of the Sac and Fox. The poem appears under a photograph of the Keokuk Memorial in Keokuk, Iowa. The memorial is still there. While it was meant to honor Chief Keokuk, there are rumblings online that the statue by sculptor Nellie Walker is not a likeness of the chief but rather a portrait of a general plains Indian. During its installation, a man named William Kerr had two of his fingers (reportedly) stuck under the statue. Alone, he chopped off his fingers so that he could run for help. "K.H.S." refers to the name of the high school. — JV
00025 U.S. pre-1931