I. Origin
Whence came they?
No written language exists to tell the story of their race and only
a few specimens of “picture writing” are preserved to throw light on
the Indian’s past, hence our present day knowledge is based chiefly
on legendary lore which like most traditions is not always
authentic.
The historians of early days would seem to have been possessed of
vivid imaginations. Note for example the record of Captain
John Smith who explored on the Eastern Shore in
1608. “They were noble warriors. One was like a giant
the calf of whose leg was three-quarters of a yard about, and all
the rest of his limbs so answered to that proportion, that he seemed
the goodliest man we ever beheld. His hair, the one side was
long, the other shaved close, with a ridge on his crown like a
cock’s comb. His arrows were five-quarters long, headed with
the splinters f a white crystal-like stone, in the form of a heart,
an inch broad and an inch and a half more long. These he wore
in a wolf’s skin at his back for a quiver, his bow in one hand and
his club in the other.” Reading this we can only say “And
there were giants in those days.”
II. Tribes
The chief tribe of the
Eastern Shore was the Algonquin. They covered a vast area and from
them sprang the sub-tribes such as Delaware, Nanticoke, Choptank,
etc. These tribes were shore Indians and lived by fishing.
Generally speaking they were peace-loving, gentle, and noted for
making and selling weapons, or bowls of soapstone to the neighboring
tribes who prized them
highly.
The Delawares were a branch of of the
Algonquins from which sprang the Netegro or Nanticokes and from this
tribe the Nanticoke River gets its name. Indians figured
extensively in Eastern Shore history because of all the Algonquins
they were the most warlike. Their fighting spirit was probably
developed in part both before and during Colonial days through
frequent attacks on the Algonquins by the fierce Susquehannoughs, a
branch of the more northern Six Nations which had wandered south
from New York and Pennsylvania and had become separated from their
people. In colonial days these warlike Susquehannoughs not
only massacred the whites but swooped down on the gentle Algonquin
tribes with death dealing attacks.
Again, in the heart of the savage
might makes right. The Nanticokes were the most numerous
sub-tribe of the Algonquins hence the desire for power may have
developed their savage instincts. This aggressiveness of
the Nanticokes extended not only toward the weaker camps
III. Policy of Maryland
The policy of this
colony as shown by the attitude of the Governors was one of
“justice, moderation and kindness.” Land acquired from the
natives was, if possible, paid for by giving hoes, broadcloth, axes,
etc., thus maintaining peaceful relations between the white and red
men.
Self-protection, too, was a strong incentive on both sides.
The Indians outnumbered the white settlers and this same justice,
moderation and kindness was the best means of self-protection from
the savage, while through their friendship for the whites, the
Algonquin hoped safety from the Susquehannough.
The chief business relation between
the whites and Indians was the bartering of guns or ammunition for
hides.
To avoid any possible difficulty in
trading with the Indians, a privilege was granted every white
inhabitant of Dorchester County to trade with them without license,
only at Captain Henry Trippe’s house,
in 1680. Previously the Governor had issued special licenses
to individual traders who could go to the Indian camps and there
trade, often selling them guns and ammunition, in violation of the
trading regulations, which caused much trouble between colonists and
the native Indians.
This privilege was during the time
when Caroline was in part included in Dorchester County.
IV. Indian Wars
Maryland as a whole
was comparatively free from Indian incursions and the history of the
Eastern Shore gives record of only two organized expeditions to
repel the savage,--one active and one incipient. They were as
follows:
The first expedition came in 1639
when various Indian troubles on Eastern Shore led Lord
Baltimore to send an expedition across the Bay.
McSherry says, “The armament consisted of two
pinnaces and a skiff manned with thirty good shot or marksmen who
were drafted or pressed, and several volunteers. To equip and
victual this force the Governor was under the necessity of sending a
shallop to Virginia to procure a supply of arms, ammunition and
food.”
The second or incipient expedition
was 1642 when Indian outbreaks were rumored. The Nanticokes
had planned to cross the bay to Western Shore and attack the white
settlers there.
Governor Calvert anticipated their actions and
appealed to the Governor of Virginia, to join him, as previously, in
raising a force of approximately 200 men to repel the Indians.
He also declared that we might call martial law, and establish a
“deadline” extending from the Pawtuxent River to the Potomac.
Hearing of this preparation for their reception the Nanticokes
weakened and a truce was declared before active warfare began.
V. Continuation of Peace Policy
The original
peace policy is shown throughout the remainder of this account.
At Saint Mary’s, April 13, 1669, the following act was passed for
the “Continuance of peace with the protection of our neighbors and
confederate Indians at Choptank River.”
CHARLES CALVERT, ESQUIRE, Governor.
It being most just
that Indians, the ancient inhabitants of this province, should
have convenient dwelling place in this their native country,
free from the encroachments and oppression of the English, and
more especially such who are in danger to be destroyed by their
neighbor nations our enemies, and whereas Ababco
Hatsawapp and Tequassimo have
of late given large testimonies of their fidelity towards us in
delivering up the murderers of Captain John
Odber for which they are in danger to be cut
off and destroyed by the Wiccomesses and their confederates, the
Matwha Indians. Be it enacted that all the lands lying within a
certain district shall be unto said Ababaco
Hatsawapp and Tequassimo and
the people under their government, under the yearly rent of six
beaver skins, to be paid to the lord Proprietary of this
province.
VI. Treaties
There is recorded but one official treaty with the Indians, namely,
The Treaty With Nanticokes, 1704.
“It is agreed upon that from this day forward there be an
Inviolable peace and amity between the Right Hon’ble and the
Lord Propry of this Province and the Emperor on Nanticoke upon
the articles hereafter in this treaty to be agreed upon to the
worlds end to endure and that all former acts of hostility and
damages whatsoever by either party sustained be buried in
perpetual oblivion.
“That the said Emperor of Nanticoke shall
deliver up all Indians that shall come into his dominion that
are, or shall be, enemies to the English and further that if any
Indian subject to the said Emperor shall be obliged to deliver
such Indian p to the Governor of this Province as a prisoner.
“Forasmuch as the English can not easily distinguish one
Indian from another, that no Indian shall come into any
Englishman’s plantation painted and that all the Indians shall
be bound to call aloud before they come within three hundred
places of any English man’s cleared ground and lay down their
arms whether Gunn, Bowes or Arrows or other weapons, for any
English man that shall appear upon his call to take up, and in
case no one appears, that he shall leave his arms if come
nearer, and that afterwards by calling aloud endeavour to give
notice to the English of his nearer approach, and if any English
man shall kill any Indian that shall come unpainted and give
such notice, and deliver up his arms as aforesaid, he shall die
for it as well as an Indian that kills an English man, and in
case the English and the Indian meet in the woods accidentally
every Indian shall be bound immediately to throw down his arms
upon call, and in case any Indian so meeting an English man
refuse to throw down his arms upon call shall be deemed as an
enemy.
“The privilege of hunting, crabbing, fowling and fishing
shall be preserved to the Indian inviolable.
“That every Indian that killeth or steleth an hog or
calfe or other beast or any other goods shall undergo the same
punishment that an English man doth for the same offence.
The marke of Vnnacok Casimon.”
VII. Migration
By harassing the Nanticokes the Six Nations had brought them
into subjugation; also in a treaty with the white had stipulated
that these Indians be permitted to leave Maryland. About 1750
the majority of the Nanticokes migrated north, carrying with them
the bones of their fathers, as was their custom. Part of the
tribe went to Canada West, near Lake Erie, part of Wyoming Valley,
Pa., and part to Otsiningo (now Binghampton), New York.
Following this migration we find that
in 1761 those Nanticokes in Wyoming Valley appealed through the
Governor of Pennsylvania to Maryland for permission to return for a
remnant of their tribe yet remaining in that state. The appeal
was granted and the remaining Indians were permitted to migrate.
Two appeals were made by Nanticokes
for land monies. That part which had withdrawn to Canada West
petitioned in 1852 through their chief and headsmen, that the
Maryland Assembly grant them certain annuities for which tradition
claimed had once been paid their tribe for land rights.
The Maryland Assembly declared the
claim faulty and the petition was denied.
Again, we find in 1767 the Nanticokes from Otsiningo, New York
making a similar appeal through one Ogden, Atty. In this case
the appeal was granted but not seemingly for the amount asked, for
the records add that, Sir William Johnson,
England’s chief Indian agent “made up the difference at the expense
of the Crown.”
So the Indians wandered away, lost
their tribal identity and were blighted by civilization. Then with
all this in 1761 came smallpox. In the Nanticoke tribe alone
from 1763 to 1773 the warriors were reduced from 700 to 300.
Soon all that was left on the Eastern Shore to mark the home of the
Red Man was their camp sites or the relics often found in field and
forest.
VIII. Miscellaneous
A further
account of the Nanticoke Indians comes from one of their
chiefs—White by name.
“Every Indian being at liberty to pursue what occupation
he pleases, my ancestors, after the Lenape came into their
country, preferred seeking a livelihood by fishing and trapping
along the rivers and bays to pursuing wild game in the forests;
they therefore detached themselves and sought the most
convenient places for their purpose. In process of time they
became very numerous, partly by natural increase, and partly in
consequence of being joined by a number of the Lenape, and
spread themselves over a tract of land and divided into separate
bodies. The main branch of the Nanticokes proper were then
living on what is called the Eastern Shore of Maryland. At
length the white people crowded so much upon them that they were
obliged to seek another abode and as their grandfather, the
Delaware, was himself retreating back in consequence of the
great influx of the whites, they took the advice of the Mengroe
(mingo’s) and bent their course to the large flats of Wyoming,
where they settled themselves, in sight of the Shawanos town,
while others settled higher up the rivers, even as high as
Chemenk (Shenango), and Shummunk, to which places they emigrated
at the beginning of the French War.
“Nothing,” said White, “equaled the decline of my tribe
since the white people came into the country. They were
destroyed, in part by disorders they brought with them, by the
smallpox and by the free use of spirituous liquors to which
great numbers fell victims.”
“The Nanticoke, the
Choptanks and the Metapeake Indians, descendents of the
Delawares, were first seen along the bay shores of Talbot county
by Captain John Smith and his
exploring party from Virginia in 1608 and later by Claybourne
and his trading party four or five years before Lord
Baltimore’s Colonists landed at Saint Mary’s, near the mouth
of Saint Mary’s river. They had a peculiar and sacred respect
for their dead. The corpse was buried for some months and then
exhumed and the bones carefully cleaned and placed in an
‘Osuary,’ called manot-kump, (Manito) with the local termination
or rather signification, “place of the mystery spirit.” When
their tribes moved from one place to another they carried the
bones of their dead with them. When they emigrated, about the
middle of the 18th century and settled in northern Pennsylvania,
they carried their sacred relics with them, in bags on their
back, and buried them near the present site of Towanda. The
Indian name literally meant “where we bury our dear.’ ”
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