OSAGE MOHONGO (SACRED SUN) & OTHERS ARRIVE IN FRANCE
At age 18, Sacred Sun and 4 other Osage members traveled to France with David Delauney. Arriving in Le Havre, they were greeted by a crowd of excited French citizens. At first, the Osage were treated well. They stayed in nice hotels, ate rich food, rode in carriages to operas, and met King Charles X. On February 10, 1828, Sacred Sun bore twin daughters in Belgium giving one to a wealthy Belgian woman. Delaunay then ran out of money & was imprisoned. With Delaunay in prison, the Osage were left on their own. In 1829, the Marquis de Lafayette sent Sacred Sun, her baby & 2 other Osage back to America. She and her daughter arrived safely in Virginia in late 1829, but the others died of smallpox. The other 3 Osage joined her a few months later in Washington, D.C. where Charles Bird King painted a portrait of Sacred Sun and her child. Later in 1830, Sacred Sun returned to her tribe now living in Oklahoma Territory. She is reputed to have lived there for another 6 years.
Source: “Sacred Sun,” The State Historical Society of Historic Missourians. Retrieved 6/3/2020, https://historicmissourians.shsmo.org/historicmissourians/name/s/sacredsun/ Portrait: Charles Bird King (1785-1862), 1830. Public Domain.
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