Chief Mahaska

Mahaska, or "White Cloud"
Maxúshga, Maxúhga
Mahaska, from Futon's Red Men of Iowa, 1882.
Iowa tribe leader
Succeeded by	Francis White Cloud
Personal details
Born	1784 Near Burlington, Iowa
Died	1834 (aged 49–50) Near the Nodaway River, Iowa
Spouse(s)	Rantchewaime ("Female Flying Pigeon")
Relations	Brother, No Heart (Notchimine, Nacheninga, etc.)
Children	Francis White Cloud
Parents	Mauhawgaw ("The Wounding Arrow")
Nickname(s)	Hard Heart

Mahaska (archaic Ioway Maxúshga pronounced [mõxuʃꜜkɐ]; contemporary Maxúhga), or White Cloud, (1784–1834) was a chief of the Native American Iowa tribe. His son, also named Mahaska, was better known as Francis White Cloud.

Mahaska was born into the Iowa tribe. He became chief at an early age after killing several enemy Sioux to avenge his father’s death by them.

Later Mahaska killed a French trader in an argument; he was arrested and imprisoned in St. Louis, Missouri. After he escaped, he led a raid against the Osage.

Afterward, he decided that his father’s death was finally avenged. Mahaska lay down his arms and adopted the lifestyle of the European-American settlers, building a log home and farming. He refused to let his braves avenge the death of an Iowa chief named Crane at the hands of Omaha Indians in 1833. When several Iowa killed six Omaha warriors, Mahaska assisted in their arrest.

The next year one of the Iowa escaped from Fort Leavenworth and killed Mahaska by shooting him in the back as he sat by his campfire. He was buried along the Nodaway River in Edna Township, Cass County, Iowa. Mahaska became a symbol to settlers of the virtues of his native lifestyle, and of the possibility of peace between natives and settlers.

Sculptor Sherry Edmundson Fry's earliest public commission was a bronze statue of Mahaska. Recently restored, it still stands on its pedestal in the courthouse square of Oskaloosa, which is the governmental seat of Mahaska County, Iowa, in the southeastern section of the state. At the right of the base is the artist's signature "S.E. Fry, 1907".