At midnight on Friday, 17 October, he left Milwaukee, taking the overnight train to the Chippewa reservation in Spooner, Wisconsin. The last leg of the trip was a 34-mile drive through spectacular pine forests. Upon arrival de Valera was greeted by what the Irish Press described as "3,000 red men". There followed a ceremony during which he was made a chief of the Chippewa Indians.

The first foreigner to be so honoured, he was given the title Nay-naw-ong-gay-be, which translates as 'dressing bird' or 'dressing feather'.

It was also the name of one of the historic tribal chiefs who signed the 1854 treaty between the Chippewa and the US government.

If the photograph of de Valera in full headdress is the moment from his day on the reservation that has endured through history, the contemporary newspapers ran with a more formal shot of the visitor shaking hands with Chief Wolf and Padis Kedanyeve, the Chippewa's principal medicine woman. If the purposes of this entire sojourn in America were fund-raising, battling for recognition, and raising the profile of the Irish cause, the photo opportunity that allowed headlines, such as, "Chief of Ireland now Chief of Chippewas", certainly came under the latter heading. It also offered a chance to link the Irish cause with that of another downtrodden people who had been wronged by a larger power.

"The ceremony took place in an open field
at which there were Indian dances and speechmaking. The Head Man of the Tribe, Joe Kingfisher, presented the Irish Chief with a handsome beaded tobacco pouch and moccasins."

De Valera also received an elaborate wampum belt and, according to one Chippewa oral history he, in return, gifted his hosts a number of rifles. If he did, that detail was left out of the official account of the trip, thus avoiding headlines linking the Irish government with arming the Indians.

"In later years Father spoke again of his time with the Chippewa in Wisconsin," wrote his son Terry de Valera. "As part of the initiation ritual, the chief of the tribe and the chief elect had to draw a little blood, then mix the blood to signify their brotherhood. This did not appeal to my father, so he somehow managed to avoid this part of the ceremony without causing offence."

The Chippewa paraphernalia ended up being put to good use later in the de Valera home. "My brothers and I were delighted," wrote Terry de Valera.

"We could play cowboys and Indians with real things. Ruairí always insisted that we took the Indians' side."

Extracted with the permission of the publisher the O'Brien Press from 'De Valera in America' by Dave Hannigan, price €14.99/ £11.99 paperback. Available from booksellers
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