Eufaula Creek artist Jon Tiger recently won the Heritage Award from the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee.

The winning art is entitled “Sings The Wolf Song.”

“I painted it in honor of my great, great grandfather, Jackson Lewis,” Tiger said.

Tiger said his grandfather, as a child, walked the Trail of Tears with his family from Alabama to Eufaula.

During the Civil War he served as a doctor in a regiment of Creek Indian Volunteers.

He later became a member of the Creek National Council and was also a representative of the Eufaula-Canadian Town.

“Our family story is told that he could travel at a fast pace as swift as the wolves move,” Tiger said. “While singing the song, four wolves – one red, one white, one gray and one black – would appear by his side but he doesn’t look at them.

“He got to his destination quicker singing the Wolf Song.”