Petalesharo

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Petalesharo (ca. 1797—ca. 1832) was a Pawnee Chief who saved a Comanche girl^{[dubious – discuss]} from being sacrificed in 1817 (in present-day Nebraska). During his visit to Washington, he was presented with a silver medal memorializing the act, with the inscription "bravest of the brave". The medal was recovered in Howard County, Nebraska in 1883 and is in the collections of the American Numismatic Society in New York. Petalesharo was met by James Fenimore Cooper and inspired him to write The Prairie.^[1]

Petalesharo became a subject of paintings by Charles Bird King (Young Omahaw, War Eagle, Little Missouri and Pawnees) and Samuel F.B. Morse (The Old House of Representatives).