2019 Central Committee Annual Meeting – Honoring First Nations

Honoring First Nations

It has been my practice to include some aspect of honoring our Native Americans in our Central Committee meetings, ranging from a simple “Land Acknowledgement” to more detailed explorations of Indian history with the presentation by the Baltimore YM Indian Affairs Committee or last year’s video in which modern First Nations people spoke of their experience. I have become increasingly uncomfortable with a simple Land Acknowledgement, however, asking myself is this just a “tip o’ the hat” gesture driven by the guilt feelings of this descendant of colonists? I don’t know, but I have come under the weight of a Query: How can I seek a better understanding and acknowledgement of the history, present and current presence of First Peoples as a step towards right relationship? In response, I want to share these excerpts from several sources with you.

Though many resources I read seem well researched and reliable, it is not possible for me to identify if any Native Americans contributed to the research or writing, and accounts sometimes differ significantly.

There are no Federally recognized tribes in Maryland but there are two state recognized tribes: The Tribes of the Piscataway and the Accohannock Tribe.

Reisterstown is located in Baltimore County, Md. The Historical Society of Baltimore County identifies the Susquehannock Tribe as a major inhabitant of this area, though many other tribes are identified by other historians as dwellers at various times. Indeed, a Maryland State website lists 51 different historical tribal names within the state!

Two of the main Indian tribes of Southeastern and Central Pennsylvania and Maryland were the Susquehannock and Lenape. The Leni Lenape, commonly associated with the Philadelphia area, are named by some authors in association with this area, though more so in northern Maryland in Cecil County. General descriptions say that the Susquehannock lived along the Susquehanna River and the Lenape lived along the Delaware River. Perhaps at one time they were part of the same tribe; however, by the 1300's there was a clear separation.

Lenni Lenape Lenape is Algonquian for The People. Lenni Lenape means something like the original people. Other Indians referred to the Lenape as grandfather. The precise origin of the Lenape is not known, but there is strong evidence that the Lenape are one of the oldest tribes. Likely, this is why other Indian tribes considered them the original people and the grandfather of all Indians.

Lord de la Warr, the governor of the Jamestown colony, mistaken re-named them the Delaware Indians. In the early 1600's, the Lenape were one of the first Indian tribes to come into contact with European settlers. Although the Lenape were severely respected by other Indians for their fierceness and tenacity as warriors, they preferred the path of peace. Unfortunately, this led them to be taken advantage of by the Europeans and other Indian tribes.

The Susquehannock The Susquehannock Indians resided along the Susquehanna River in Central Pennsylvania. They are thought to have split off from the Iroquois Mohawks around the year 1300.

Author: Frank Barch FGC Presiding Clerk Creation Date: 10/24/2019 Page 1 of 3 2019 Central Committee Annual Meeting – Honoring First Nations

Around 1500 they migrated from the area between Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Binghamton, New York to what is the modern-day Lancaster, Pennsylvania area. It is believed their territory included what is present day Dauphin County, Schuylkill County, Berks County and Northumberland County. In the early 1600's, they waged war against Iroquois tribes.

In 1675, the Susquehannock were defeated by other Indian tribes and were relocated to Maryland. They were renamed the Conestoga Indians. Eventually, they returned to the Lancaster area. The remnants of the Susquehannock tribe were massacred by the Paxton Boys.

The Paxton Boys were a group of backcountry Presbyterian Scots-Irish frontiersmen from the area around the central Pennsylvania, in the area now defined as Dauphin County, who formed a vigilante group in response to the American Indian uprising known as Pontiac's Rebellion. The Paxton Boys felt that the government of colonial Pennsylvania was negligent in providing them with protection, and so decided to take matters into their own hands.

As the nearest belligerent Indians were some 200 miles west of Paxton, the men turned their anger towards the local Conestoga (or Susquehannock) Indians—many of them Christians—who lived peacefully in small enclaves in the midst of white Pennsylvania settlements. (The Paxton Boys believed or claimed to believe that these Indians secretly provided aid and intelligence to the hostile Indians.) In 1763 a group of more than fifty Paxton Boys marched on an Indian village near Millersville, PA, murdered the six Indians they found there, and burned the bloody cabin in which the killings were done. This was their first attack, but it did not stop there. The men later attempted to kill more Indian tribes. One of the more famous of the failed attempts being the march on Philadelphia. Later, colonists looking through the ashes of the cabin, found a bag containing the Conestoga's 1701 treaty signed by William Penn, which pledged that the colonists and the Indians "shall forever hereafter be as one Head & One Heart, & live in true Friendship & Amity as one People."

The remaining fourteen Susquehannocks were placed in protective custody by Governor John Penn in Lancaster. But the Paxton Boys broke into the workhouse at Lancaster and brutally killed and mutilated all fourteen. These two actions, which resulted in the deaths of all but two of the last of the Susquehannocks, are sometimes known as the "Conestoga Massacre". The Governor issued bounties for the arrest of the murderers, but no one came forward to identify them.

Outraged that the eastern establishment leaders would, as they saw it, defend Indians but not settlers, in early 1764 the Paxton Boys set their sights on other Indians living peacefully within eastern Pennsylvania, 140 of whom fled to Philadelphia for protection. About two-hundred and fifty Paxton men then marched on Philadelphia in January of 1764, where only the presence of British troops and Philadelphia militia prevented them from doing more violence. Benjamin Franklin, who had raised the local militia, negotiated with the Paxton leaders and brought an end to the immediate crisis. A third of the Indians subsequently died of smallpox contracted in the crowded barracks where they had been provided refuge.

A detailed article on the history of the Susquehannocks published on-line concludes:

The history of the Susquehannocks’ early European contact is full of exaggerations, contradictions, and misrepresentations. Archaeology has made evident that prior to the sixteenth century the Susquehannocks’ culture was very similar to their Iroquois ancestors. Conflict drove them away from the Iroquois while trade and more secure settlements drew them south. They indirectly

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discovered European wares and trade in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. It was trade that caught the attention of the Susquehannocks. Growing trade meant increasing interaction with Europeans. Though the present paper does not thoroughly engage the Susquehannocks history beyond the 1650s, common knowledge allows us to understand that Indian wars and European interaction was much the cause of the Natives’ destruction. Prior to their demise as a powerful people and discernable cultural entity, it was the European trade that brought the Susquehannocks to the pinnacle of prosperity. Trade was what enabled the Susquehannock Native Americans to come into their own as one of the most affluent and prosperous Native American cultures of the mid-Atlantic region. It was initially trade with the Dutch that brought ballistic arms to the Susquehannocks. Trade, as well as their ability using piracy to cause economic hardship for the Seneca and surrounding tribes enabled their expansion. Eventually the Swedes desired the services and friendship of the Susquehannocks. The Swedish trade brought the Susquehannocks onto another level in terms of military might and influence. The English were able to briefly threaten the power and land holdings of the Susquehannocks. However, the threat of the English was shortly thereafter defused with the treaties and alliance of 1652. This alliance further bolstered the Susquehannocks’ power and achieved them their greatest military arsenal and prosperity.

As I reach the end of this exploration, I’d like to return to the Leni Lenape. One author states: By the 1700's, the Lenape Indians were driven out of the Delaware River Valley into the Susquehannock region. Their numbers greatly reduced from conflict and disease, most of the remaining Delaware were relocated to Oklahoma by the mid-1800s.

This implies to me that the Leni Lenape are not modern residents of the Eastern US. In addition to recognizing the previous reference to the preference of the Leni Lenape for peace over combat, I’d like to refute this, and close with this modern video demonstrating an aspect of Leni Lenape history and spirituality. https://www.lenape-nation.org/2nd-project

Author: Frank Barch FGC Presiding Clerk Creation Date: 10/24/2019 Page 3 of 3