



Produced by Roger Burch with scans from the Internet Archive.





{Transcriber's Note: Quotation marks have been standardized to modern
usage. Footnotes have been placed to immediately follow the paragraphs
referencing them. Transcriber's notes are in curly braces; square brackets
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{Illustration: Cover}




                           INDIAN BIOGRAPHY:


                                  OR,

                           AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT
                               OF THOSE
                 INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE BEEN DISTINGUISHED AMONG
                        THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVES

                                  AS

                       ORATORS, WARRIORS, STATESMEN,
                                 AND
                       OTHER REMARKABLE CHARACTERS.

                              * * * * *

                                  BY
                           B. B. THATCHER, ESQ.

                              * * * * *

                             IN TWO VOLUMES.
                               VOL. I.

                              * * * * *

                              NEW-YORK:

                      PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS,
                          No. 82 CLIFF-STREET

                              * * * * *

                                1836.




   [Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1834, by
   Harper & Brothers in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District
   of New-York.]




                              PREFACE.


The Author does not propose an elaborate explanation, nor an apology of
any kind, for the benefit of the following work. If it absolutely requires
either, he must even be content to have written it in vain, as no
statement or argument can give it any degree of vitality or popularity in
the one case or in the other.

He has regarded it, historically, as an act of mere Justice to the fame
and the memories of many wise, brilliant, brave and generous
men,--patriots, orators, warriors and statesmen,--who ruled over barbarian
communities, and were indeed themselves barbarians, but whose influence,
eloquence and success of every description were _therefore_ but the nobler
objects of admiration and the worthier subjects for record. Nor can
Philosophy look upon them without predilection. Comparatively
unopinionated and unaffected as they were,--governed by impulse and guided
by native sense,--owing little to circumstances, and struggling much
amidst and against them,--their situation was the best possible for
developing both genius and principle, and their education at the sane time
the best for disclosing them. Their Lives, then, should illustrate the
true constitution of man. They should have, above all other history, the
praise and the interest of "philosophy teaching, by example."

The strictly moral inducements which have operated on the Author's mind,
must be too obvious to require dissertation. We owe, and our Fathers owed,
too much to the Indians,--too much from man to man,--too much from race to
race,--to deny them the poor restitution of historical justice at least,
however the issue may have been or may be with themselves. Nor need it be
suggested, that selfishness alone might dictate the policy of a collection
such as the Author has endeavored to make this, were it only for the
collateral light which it constantly throws on the history and biography of
our own nation.

Nothing of the same character is before the public. What may be called an
Indian Biographical Dictionary has indeed recently appeared, and to that
the Author has gladly referred in the course of his researches; but the
extreme difficulty of doing justice to any individuals of the race, and at
the same time to _all,_ may be inferred from the fact that the writer
alluded to has noticed such men as Uncas in some six or eight lines, while
he has wholly omitted characters so important as Buckongahelas, White-eyes,
Pipe, and Occonoetota. On these, and on all their more eminent countrymen,
the Author has intended to bestow the notice they deserve, by passing over
the vast multitude distinguished only by detached anecdote, or described
only in general terms.

In fine, conscious of many imperfections, but also conscious of a strenuous
exertion to render them as few and small as might be, the Author submits
the Biography to the public, and especially to the candor of those whose
own labors, if not the results of them, have shown them the essential
fallibility of every composition like this. He will have reason to be
satisfied if it do good, as he will assuredly be gratified if it give
pleasure.

Boston, Sept. 10, 1832.




                              CONTENTS


 CHAP. I.--The Indian tribes of Virginia at the date of the Jamestown
  settlement; their names, numbers and power--The Powhatan
  confederacy--The Indian Village of that name--Powhatan--The
  circumstances of the first interview between him and the
  English--Opechancanough, his brother--Opitchipan--Reception of Captain
  Smith by Powhatan--Interposition of Pocahontas in his favor--Second
  visit of the colonists--Third visit, and coronation--Entertainment of
  Smith by Pocahontas--Contest of ingenuity between Powhatan and Smith;
  and between the latter and Opechancanough--Smith saved again by
  Pocahontas--Political manoeuvres of Powhatan and Opechancanough--Smith's
  return to Jamestown.

                                                                    page 9


 CHAP. II.--Conduct of Powhatan after Smith's departure for England, and
  causes of it--Hostilities resumed--Peace finally effected by the capture
  of Pocahontas--Manner of gaining this point--Marriage of Pocahontas with
  John Rolfe--Death and character of Powhatan--His person, manner of
  living, talents, influence. His method and means of warfare--The
  discipline of his warriors--The manner in which he availed himself of
  the English arms and science--Causes of his hostility towards the
  colonists--His dignity--Shrewdness--Independence--Courtesy--Liberality--
  Simplicity--Affection for his relatives--A review of various opinions
  entertained of him by various historians.

                                                                        40


 CHAP. III.--The family of Powhatan--His successor--Sequel of the history
  of Pocahontas--Her acts of kindness to the colonists at various times,
  and especially to Smith--His gratitude--Her civilisation, and
  instruction in Christianity--Her visit to England in 1616--Reception at
  Court--Interview with Smith--His memorial respecting her to Queen
  Anne--Her death and character--Her descendants.

                                                                        66


 CHAP. IV.--Sequel of the history of Opechancanough--Renewal, by him and
  Opitchipan, of the treaty of peace--Finesse by which he extended his
  dominion over the Chickahominies--Preparations for War--Causes of
  it--Profound dissimulation under which his hostility was
  concealed--Indian custom of making Conjurers--Manoeuvres against the
  English interest--The great massacre of 1622; circumstances and
  consequences of it--particular occasion which led to it--Character and
  death of Nemattanow--Details of the war subsequent to the
  massacre--Truce broken by the English--New exertions of
  Opechancanough--Battle of Pamunkey--Peace of 1632--Massacre of
  1641--Capture of Opechancanough by  the English--His death and
  character.

                                                                        77


 CHAP. V.--Biography of other Virginian chieftains--Opitchipan--Some
  particulars respecting Tomocomo--His visit to England, interview with
  Captain Smith, and return to America--Japakaws, chief sachem of the
  Patowomekes--His friendship for the English--Ill treatment which he
  received from them--Totopotomoi, successor of Opechancanough--His
  services--His death in 1656--Notices of several native chiefs of North
  Carolina--Granganimo who dies in 1585--Menatenon, king of the
  Chowanocks--Ensenore, father of Granganimo; and Wingina, his
  brother--Plot of the latter against the Hatteras colony--His
  death--Comment on the Carolinian Biography.

                                                                        95


 CHAP. VI.--Synopsis of the New England Indians at the date of the
  Plymouth settlement--The Pokanoket confederacy--The Wampanoag
  tribe--Their first head-Sachem known to the English, Massasoit--The
  first interview between him and the whites--His visit to Plymouth, in
  1621--Treaty of peace and friendship--Embassy sent to him at Sowams, by
  the English--Anecdotes respecting it--He is suspected of treachery or
  hostility, in 1622--His sickness in 1623--A second deputation visits
  him--Ceremonies and results of the visit--His intercourse with other
  tribes--Conveyances of land to the English--His death and
  character--Anecdotes.

                                                                       115


 CHAP. VII.--Massasoit succeeded by his son Alexander--The occasion of
  that name being given by the English--History of Alexander previous to
  his father's death--Covenant made with Plymouth in 1639--Measures taken
  in pursuance of it, in 1661--Anecdote illustrating the character of
  Alexander--Notice of the charges made against him--Examination of the
  transaction which led to his death--Accession of Phillip--Renewal of the
  treaty by him--Interruption of harmony--Supposed causes of it--Measures
  taken in consequence--Philip's submission--Letter to the Plymouth
  Governor--Second submission in 1671--Remarks on the causes of Phillip's
  War.

                                                                       141


 CHAP. VIII.--Preparations for war between Philip and the Colonies--Great
  excitement of the times--Deposition of Hugh Cole--Immediate occasion of
  hostilities--Commencement of them, June 24th, 1675--Summary sketch of
  the war--Consequences to the parties engaged--Exertions, adventures and
  escapes of King Philip--His death--Anecdotes respecting
  him--Observations on his character--His courage, dignity, kindness,
  independence shrewdness, and self-command--Fate of his family--Defence
  of his conduct.

                                                                       159


 CHAP. IX.--The Narraghansett tribe; territory and power--Chief Sachems at
  the date of the English settlements in New England--Canonicus associates
  with himself Miantonomo, his nephew--Their treatment of Roger Williams
  in 1634--Hostility to the Plymouth Colony--Invited by the Pequots to
  fight the English--Treaty negotiated at Boston, in 1636, by
  Miantonomo--War with the Pequots and result of it--Subsequent hostility
  between Miantonomo and Uncas--Sequassen--Battle of the
  Sachem's-Plain--Capture of Miantonomo--Sentence of the English
  commissioners upon him--Execution of it.

                                                                       177


 CHAP. X.--Consideration of the justice of the Commissioners sentence upon
  Miantonomo--Their reasons, as alleged--The charge against him of
  ambitious designs--Of employing the Mohawks--Of breaking the league of
  1638--"Concerning the Pequot squaws"--Of hostility to the English--Of
  peculation--Proofs of his fidelity and friendship--Causes of complaint
  by him and Canonicus against the English--Character of both
  Sachems--Their treatment of Roger Williams--Letters of that
  gentleman--Anecdotes--Death of Canonicus.

                                                                       198


 CHAP. XI.--Canonicus succeeded by Pessacus--Mexhan--Ninigret, Sachem of
  the Nianticks--Proposals made by them to the English, and by the English
  in return--They commence hostilities against Uncas--The English resolve
  to make war upon them--They make concessions--Their visits to
  Boston--Subsequent movements against Uncas. An armed party sent against
  Ninigret and Pessacus--They are accused of a league with the Dutch
  against the English.

                                                                       210


 CHAP. XII.--Sequel of the lives of Ninigret and Pessacus, from
  1653--Various accusations, deputations, and hostile movements between
  them and the English--Controversy between Ninigret and Harmon
  Garrett--Application for justice in 1675--Conduct of Ninigret in
  Philip's War--Consequences of it--His death--Death of Pessacus--Some of
  the charges against the former considered--His hostility to Uncas, and
  the Long