As we continue our series on Erie Street Cemetery, we look at Indian Chief, Joc-O-Sot. Joc-O-Sot (Walking Bear) was a Sauk Indian Chief born in 1810 and died, in Cleveland in 1844. He fought in the Blackhawk war and later in the 1830’s moved to Cleveland. He offered his services as a hunting and fishing guide to the residents of Cleveland.
He served as an Indian Ambassador to President Tyler. He traveled with a theater troupe teaching people about the Native American way of life. Joc-O-Sot even went to England and met with Queen Victoria. She was so impressed with him, she had a portrait of him commissioned by her royal lithographers. He most likely contracted tuberculosis overseas and as he returned home, he died in Cleveland.
Cleveland residents that knew him paid for his burial in Erie Street Cemetery. It is said that he had wished to be buried closer to where he was born (probably somewhere in current Minnesota or Wisconsin). It is also said that his burial here in Cleveland angered his spirit so much, that he cracked the headstone and he is known to haunt the cemetery and even disrupt Cleveland Indian Baseball games at Progressive Field, which is just across the street from the cemetery.
Brave in War – Valiant in Peace
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