McKENNEY, Thomas Lorraine, author, born in Hopewell, Somerset County, Maryland, 21 March, 1785; died in New York city, 19 February, 1859. He was educated at Chestertown, Maryland, and engaged in business at Georgetown, D. C. In 1.816 he was appointed superintendent of the United States trade with the Indian tribes. In 1824, the bureau of Indian affairs having been organized in connection with the war department, Mr. McKenney was placed in charge of it. In 1826 he was made a special commissioner with Lewis Cass to negotiate an important treaty with the Chippewa Indians at Fond du Lac, in the territory of Michigan. In 1823, an effort having been made by interested parties to injure his fair fame, a speech that he delivered in his own defence before a committee of congress, greatly increased his reputation as an honest and capable superintendent of Indian affairs, he published "Sketches of a Tour to the Lakes, etc." (Baltimore, 1827), with many illustrations of Michigan life and scenery, and was also the author, in connection with James Hall, of "A History of the Indian Tribes," illustrated with 120 colored Indian portraits (3 vols., Philadelphia, 1838-'44). The high price of the volume ($120) has restricted it to the public libraries and to private collections. He also wrote "Essays on the Spirit of Jacksonianism as Exemplified in its Deadly Hostility to the Bank of the United States, etc." (Philadelphia, 1835), and "Memoirs, Official and Personal, with Sketches of Travels among the Northern and Southern Indians, etc." (2(1 ed., New York, 1846).