In his notes accompanying this portrait, Miller reproduces a passage from John Greenleaf Whittier’s Mogg Megone (1834) whose principal character wields a scalping knife. Miller invokes Mogg Megone as a foil to highlight the admirable—in his opinion—qualities of his sitter, particularly that he “had not stained his hands with ‘human blood.’” (Ross, 6) According to Lisa Strong, Miller’s use of poetry in his descriptive notes “signals his willingness to use fiction to create a romantic characterization of his sitter.” (Strong, “Fact and Fancy,” 37)
