Autry Exhibition

In reference to John Vanderlyn’s 1804 painting, “The Death of Jane McCrea,” mentioned in William Wilson’s Dec. 3 review of the Gene Autry Museum’s “Native Americans” exhibition:

Being born and raised very close to the site of Jane McCrea’s death, I find it appalling to read that “such images carry a subtext of the white man feeling sexually threatened by Indian virility. . . .”

Anyone who knows Revolutionary War history knows that Jane McCrea wasn’t raped or sexually abused.

The point is that Jane McCrea’s death aroused American fury and fear and solidified those emotions. In time to come, an American army, swollen with volunteers, who figured their own families might well meet the McCrea fate despite British promises, defeated Gen. Burgoyne and forced his surrender in 1777.

PETE LIAPES

Running Springs, Calif.