Note post, note 195 — Chapter XI

[195] Clarmont (Clermont) had been tribal leader for some time. Lieutenant James Biddle Wilkinson, who visited the Verdigris village in 1807, while exploring the Arkansas River under orders from General Zebulon M. Pike, reported that “Clermont, or the Builder of Towns,” was the most influential man of the nation, and that his hereditary right to rule the Grand Osage had been usurped during his infancy by White Hair. If this be true, Clermont was but regaining his rights when he supplanted Tálai. Clermont was said to possess four wives and thirty-seven children.—Ed.