Hawkeye State

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The Hawkeye State is a popular nickname for the state of Iowa and is said to have come from the scout, Hawkeye, in James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans, published in 1826. According to the Iowa State web site, "Two Iowa promoters from Burlington are believed to have popularized the name." The nickname was given approval by "territorial officials" in 1838, twelve years after the book was published and eight years before Iowa became a state.

The two men responsible for the promotion of this nickname are thought to be Judge David Rorer of Burlington and the newspaper publisher, James G. Edwards of Fort Madison and, later, Burlington. Burlington had been established in 1833 after the Black Hawk War of 1832. Mr. Edwards changed the name of his Burlington newspaper, The Iowa Patriot, to The Hawk-Eye and Iowa Patriot in tribute to his friend Chief Black Hawk. Rorer is said to have suggested "The Hawkeye State" after finding the name in The Last of the Mohicans while Edwards proposed the nickname "Hawk-eyes" in 1838 to "...rescue from oblivian [sic] a momento [sic], at least of the name of the old chief," Black Hawk. The Hawkeye is also the mascot of the University of Iowa.