a miserable remnant, and occupy lands south of the Kansas River. The road from Fort Independence' to Santa Fé passes through their territory.2

The POWHATANS constituted a confederacy of more than twenty tribes, including the Accohannocks and Accomacs, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Powhatan (the father of Pocahontas3), was the chief sachem or emperor of the confederacy, when the English first appeared upon the James River, in 1607. He had arisen, by the force of his own genius, from the position of a petty chief to that of supreme ruler of a great confederacy. He governed despotically, for no man in his nation could approach him in genuine ability as a leader and counselor. His court exhibited much barbaric state. Through fear of the English, and a selfish policy, he and his people remained nominally friendly to the white intruders during his lifetime, but after his death, they made two attempts [1622, 1644] to exterminate the English. The Powhatans were subjugated in 1644, and from that time they gradually diminished in numbers and importance. Of all that great confederacy in Lower Virginia, it is believed that not one representative on earth remains, or that one tongue speaks their dialect.

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On the Atlantic coast, south of the Powhatans, were the Corees, Cheraws, and other small tribes, occupying the land once inhabited by the powerful Hatteras Indians. They were allies of the Tuscaroras in 1711, in an attack upon the English, suffered defeat, and have now disappeared from the earth. Their dialect also is forgotten.

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Upon the great peninsula between the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, were the NANTICOKES. They were early made vassals, and finally allies, on compulsion, of the FIVE NATIONS. They left their ancient domain in 1710, occupied lands upon the Susquehanna, in Pennsylvania, until the Revolutionary War commenced, when they crossed the Alleghanies, and joined the British in the west. They are now [1856] scattered among many tribes.

The Original People," as the LENNI-LENAPES (who are frequently called Del

1 United States fort on the Missouri. Santa Fé is in New Mexico, 765 miles south-west of Fort Independence.

2 One of the most eminent of the Shawnee chiefs, was Cornstalk, who was generally friendly to the Americans, and was always ready to assist in negotiating an honorable peace between them and his own people. But he cordially united with Logan, the Mingo chief, against the white people in 1774; and during the same battle at Point Pleasant, his voice, stentorian in volume, was frequently heard, calling to his men, "Be strong! be strong!" He made his warriors fight without wavering, and actually sunk his tomahawk deep into the head of one who endeavored to escape. He was murdered by some exasperated soldiers at Point Pleasant. When he perceived their intent, he calmly said to his son, who had just joined him, "My son, the Great Spirit has seen fit that we should die together, and has sent you hither for that purpose. It is His will; let us submit." Turning to the soldiers, he received the fatal bullets, and his son, who was sitting near him, was shot at the same time. The celebrated Tecumseh-meaning a tiger crouching for his prey-who endeavored to confederate all the Western tribes in opposition to the white people, was also a Shawnee chief. See page 408.

5 This tribe numbered about three thousand warriors when Raleigh's expedition landed on Roanoke Island in 1584; when the English made permanent settlements in that vicinity, eighty years later, they were reduced to about fifteen bowmen. 6 Page 168.

7 This name has been applied to the whole ALGONQUIN nation. The Lenni-Lenapes claimed to have come from beyond the Mississippi, conquering a more civilized people on the way, who inhabited the great valleys beyond the Alleghany Mountains.

awares) named themselves, comprised two powerful nations, namely, the Minsi and the Delawares proper. The former occupied the northern part of New Jersey, and a portion of Pennsylvania, and the latter inhabited lower New Jersey, the banks of the Delaware below Trenton, and the whole valley of the Schuylkill. The FIVE NATIONS subjugated them in 1650, and brought them under degrading vassalage. They gradually retreated westward before the tide of civilization, and finally a portion of them crossed the Alleghanies, and settled in the land of the Hurons,' on the Muskingum, in Ohio. Those who remained in Pennsylvania joined the Shawnees, and aided the French against the English, during the French and Indian War.3 In 1768, they all went over the mountains, and the great body of them became friends of the British during the Revolution. They were at the head of the confederacy of Western tribes who were crushed by Wayne in 1794, and the following year they ceded all their lands on the Muskingum, and seated themselves near the Wabash. In 1819, they ceded those lands also, and the remnant now [1856] occupy a territory north of the Kansas River, near its mouth.

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The MOHEGANS were a distinct tribe, on the Hudson River, but the name was given to the several independent tribes who inhabited Long Island, and the country between the Lenni-Lenapes and the New England Indians. Of this family, the Pequods, inhabiting eastern Connecticut, on the shores of Long Island Sound, were the most powerful. They exercised authority over the Montauks and twelve other tribes upon Long Island. Their power was broken by the revolt of Uncas against his chief, Sassacus," a short time before the appearance of the white people. The Manhattans were seated upon the Hudson, in lower Westchester, and sold Manhattan Island, whereon New York now stands, to the Dutch.s The latter had frequent conflicts with these and other River Indians. The Dutch were generally conquerors. The Mohawks, one of the FIVE NATIONS,10 were pressing hard upon them, at the same time, and several of the Mohegan tribes were reduced to the condition of vassals of that confederacy. Peace was effected, in 1665, by the English governor at New

9

York. In the mean while, the English and Narragansets had smitten the Pequods," and the remaining independent Mohegans, reduced to a handful, finally took up their abode upon the west bank of the Thames, five miles below Norwich," at a place still known as Mohegan Plain. Their burial-place was at Norwich, and there a granite monument rests upon the grave of Uncas. The tribe is now almost extinct-"the last of the MoUNCAS' MONUMENT. hicans" will soon sleep with his fathers.13

1 Page 23.

5 Page 22.

9 Page 140.

Page 19. 6 Page 86. 10 Page 23.

3 Fourth Period, Chap. XII.
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11 Page 87.

* Page 374.

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12 Note 4, page 340.

13 The last known lineal descendant of Uncas, named Mazeon, was buried in the Indian cemetery, at Norwich, in 1827, when the remnant of the Mohegan tribe, then numbering about sixty, were present, and partook of a cold collation prepared for them by a lady of that city. The most noted leaders among the New England Indians known to history, are Massasoit, the father of the renowned King Philip; Caunbitant, a very distinguished captain; Hobomok; Canonicus; Miastonomoh; Ninigret, his cousin; King Philip, the last of the Wampanoags; Canonchet, and AnnaWe shall meet them in future pages.

wan.

The

The Aboriginals who inhabited the country from Connecticut to the Saco River, were called the NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. The principal tribes were the Narragansets in Rhode Island, and on the western shores of Narraganset Bay; the Pokonokets and Wampanoags on the eastern shore of the same bay, and in a portion of Massachusetts; the Nipmucs in the center of Massachusetts; the Massachusetts in the vicinity of Boston and the shores southward; and the Pawtuckets in the north-eastern part of Massachusetts, embracing the Pennacooks of New Hampshire. These were divided into smaller bands, having petty chiefs. The Pokonokets, for example, were divided into nine separate cantons or tribes, each having its military or civil ruler, but all holding allegiance to one Grand Sachem. They were warlike, and were continually engaged in hostilities with the FIVE NATIONS, or with the Mohegans. English and Dutch effected a general peace among them in 1673. afterward [1675], Metacomet (King Philip) aroused most of the New England tribes against the English. A fierce war ensued, but ended in the subjugation of the Indians and the death of Philip, in 1676.1 The power of the New England Indians was then completely broken. Some joined the more eastern tribes, and others took refuge in Canada, from whence they frequently came to the border settlements on errands of revenge. These incursions ceased when the French dominion in Canada ended in 1763. When the Puritans came" [1620], the New England Indians numbered about ten thousand souls; now [1856] probably not three hundred representatives remain; and the dialects of all, except of the Narragansets, are forgotten.

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Two years

Most of the
A few

Eastward of the Saco River were the Abenakes. The chief tribes were the Penobscots, Norridgewocks, Androscoggins, and Passamaquoddies. These, with the more eastern tribes of the Micmacs and Etchemins, were made nominal Christians by the French Jesuits; and they were all firm allies of the French until the conquest of Canada by the English, in 1760.* ABENAKES, except the Penobscots, withdrew to Canada in 1754. scattered families of the latter yet [1856] dwell upon the banks of the Penobscot River, and wanderers are seen on the St. Lawrence. Like other New England tribes, they are rapidly fading, and will, doubtless, be extinct before the dawn of another century.

We now come to consider the most interesting, in many respects, of all the aboriginal tribes of North America, called IROQUOIS by the French. The prefix “Huron” was given, because that people seemed, by their language, to form

a part of the IROQUOIS nation, and like them, were isolated in the midst of the ALGONQUINS, when discovered by the Europeans. The great body of the IROQUOIS Occupied almost the whole territory in Canada, south-west of the Ottowa River, between Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron; a greater portion of the State of New York, and a part of Pennsylvania and Ohio along the southern shores of Lake Erie. They were completely surrounded by the ALGONQUINS, in whose southern border in portions of North Carolina and Virginia, were the Tuscaroras and a few smaller Iroquois tribes.' The Hurons occupied the Canadian portions of the territory, and the land on the southern shore of Lake Erie, and appeared to be a distinct nation; but their language was found to be identical with that of the Iroquois. The Hurons consisted of four smaller tribes, namely, the Wyandots or Hurons proper, the Attiouandirons, the Eries, and the Andastes. The two latter tribes were south of the lake, and claimed jurisdiction back to the domains of the Shawnees.*

2

Those "Romans of the Western World," the FIVE NATIONS, or IROQUOIS proper, formed a confederacy composed of the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk tribes, all occupying lands within the present State of New York. They fancifully called their confederacy the Long House. The eastern door was kept by the Mohawks; the western by the Senecas; and the Great Council fire was with the Onondagas, at the metropolis, or chief village, near the present city of Syracuse. The French, as we have observed, gave them the name of Iroquois; the ALGONQUINS called them Mingoes. At what time the confederacy was formed, is not known. It was strong and powerful when the French discovered them, in 1609, and they were then engaged in bloody wars with their kinsmen, the Wyandots."

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1 The Southern Iroquois were the Tuscaroras, Chowans, Meherrins, and Nottoways. The three latter were upon the rivers in lower Virginia, called by their respective names, and were known under the general title of Tuscaroras.

2 Neutral Nation. When the Hurons and FIVE NATIONS were at war, the Attiouandirons fled to the Sandusky, and built a fort for each of the belligerents when in that region. But their neuOne party trality did not save them from internal feuds which finally dismembered the tribe. joined the Wyandots; the other the Iroquois.

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4 Mingoes, Minquas, and Maquas, were terms more particularly applied to the Mohawk tribe, who called themselves Kayingehaga, "possessors of the flint." The confederation assumed the title of Aquinuschioni, "united people;" or as some say, Konoshioni, "cabin builders."

5 The time of the formation of the confederation is supposed to have been at about the year 1539. According to their own tradition, it was about two generations before the white people came to trade with them. Clarke, in his history of Onondaga county, has given, from the lips of an old chief of the Onondaga tribe, that beautiful legend of the formation of the great confederacy, which forms the basis of Longfellow's Indian Edda, "HI-A-WAT-HA." Centuries ago, the story runs, the deity who presides over fisheries and streams, came from his dwelling-place in the clouds, to visit the inhabitants of earth. He was delighted with the land where the tribes that afterward formed the confederacy, dwelt; and having bestowed many blessings on that land, he laid aside his Divine character, and resolved to remain on earth. He selected a beautiful residence on the shore After a of Te-ungk-too (Cross lake), and all the people called him Hi-a-wat-ha, "the wise man." while, the people were alarmed by the approach of a ferocious band of warriors from the country north of the great lakes. Destruction seemed inevitable. The inhabitants thronged around the lodge of Hi-a-wat-ha, from all quarters, craving his wise advice in this hour of great peril. After solemn meditation, he told them to call a grand council of all the tribes. The chiefs and warriors from far and near, assembled on the banks of Lake Oh-nen-ta-ha (Onondaga). The council-fire blazed three days before the venerable Hi-a-wat-ha arrived. He had been devoutly praying, in silence, to the Great Spirit, for guidance. Then, with his darling daughter, a virgin of twelve years, he entered his white canoe, and, to the great joy of the people, he appeared on the Oh-nen

In the year 1649, the FIVE NATIONS resolved to strike a final and decisive blow against their western neighbors, and, gathering all their warriors, they made a successful invasion of the Wyandot, or Huron country. Great numbers of the Wyandots were slain and made prisoners, and the whole tribe was dispersed. Some of the fugitives took refuge with the Chippewas; others fled to Quebec, and a few were incorporated into the Iroquois confederacy. Yet the spirit of the Wyandots was not subdued, and they claimed and exercised sovereignty over almost the whole of the Ohio country. They had great influence among the ALGONQUIN tribes,' and even as late as the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, the principal cession of lands in Ohio to the United States was made by the Wyandot chiefs in council. They, too, are reduced to a mere remnant of less than five hundred souls, and now [1856] they occupy lands on the Neosho River, a chief tributary of the Arkansas.

2

Being exceedingly warlike, the FIVE NATIONS made hostile expeditions against the New England Indians3 in the East, the Eries, Andastes, and

ta-ha. A great shout greeted him, and as he landed and walked up the bank, a sound like a rushing wind was heard; a dark spot, every moment increasing in size, was descending from the clear sky. Fear seized the people; but Hi-a-wat-ha stood unmoved. The approaching object was an immense bird. It came swiftly to earth, crushed the darling daughter of Hi-a-wat-ha-was itself destroyed, but the wise man was unharmed. Grief for his bereavement prostrated him in the dust for three days. The council anxiously awaited his presence. At length he came: the subject of the peril from invaders was discussed, and after deliberating a day, the venerable Hi-a-wat-ha arose and said:

"Friends and Brothers-You are members of many tribes and nations. You have come here, many of you, a great distance from your homes. We have met for one common purpose-to promote one common interest, and that is, to provide for our mutual safety, and how it shall best be accomplished. To oppose these foes from the north by tribes, singly and alone, would prove our certain destruction. We can make no progress in that way. We must unite ourselves into one common band of brothers; thus united, we may drive the invaders back; this must be done, and we shall be safe.

You, the MOHAWKS, sitting under the shadow of the 'Great Tree,' whose roots sink deep into the earth, and whose branches spread over a vast country, shall be the first nation, because you are warlike and mighty.

"And you, ONEIDAS, a people who recline your bodies against the 'Everlasting Stone,' that can not be moved, shall be the second nation, because you give wise counsel.

"And you, ONONDAGAS, who have your habitation at the 'Great Mountain,' and are overshadowed by its crags, shall be the third nation, because you are greatly gifted in speech, and mighty in war.

"And you, CAYUGAS, a people whose habitation is the 'Dark Forest,' and whose home is everywhere, shall be the fourth nation, because of your superior cunning in hunting.

"And you, SENECAS, a people who live in the Open Country,' and possess much wisdom, shall be the fifth nation, because you understand better the art of raising corn and beans, and making cabins.

"You, five great and powerful nations, must unite and have but one common interest, and no foe shall be able to disturb or subdue you. If we unite, the Great Spirit will smile upon us. Brothers, these are the words of Hi-a-wat-ha-let them sink deep into your hearts. I have said it."

They reflected for a day, and then the people of the "Great Tree," the "Everlasting Stone,' the "Great Mountain," the "Dark Forest," and the "Open Country," formed a league like that of the Amphyctioni of Greece. The enemy was repulsed, and the FIVE NATIONS became the terror of the Continent. Then Hi-a-watha said, I am

"The Great Master of Breath calls me to go. I have patiently waited his summons. ready-farewell!"

Myriads of singing voices burst upon the ears of the multitude, and the whole air seemed filled with music. Hi-a-wat-ha, seated in his white canoe, rose majestically above the throng, and as all eyes gazed in rapture upon the ascending wise man, he disappeared forever in the blue vault of heaven. The music melted into low whispers, like the soft summer breeze; and there were pleasant dreams in every cabin of the FIVE NATIONS on that blessed night. 2 Page 374.

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