Week 4 - Quakers & Native Americans- First Century Quaker History, v.72 (1983), pp. 103-119. 104 Quaker History THEEARLYQUAKERPERCEPTIONOFTHEINDIAN and settledin Pennsylvaniawerepredisposedtowarda favorable viewoftheIndianasa fellowhumanbeing.Therewere,indeed, RobertDaiutolo,Jr.* threeclearlyevidentthemesin Quakerwritingsconcerningthe PennsylvaniaIndian: onewasthat the Indian,livingpristinely, WhenQuakersarrivedin Pennsylvania,theybroughtwiththem wasinexplicablypurerthanthe European;anotherwasthat the a numberofbeliefsquitedifferentfromthoseoftheircountrymen, Indianenjoyedwell-beingandcontentmentbecausehiswayoflife beliefswhichpredisposedthemtowarda favorableviewof the wasidyllic;andanotherwasthattheEuropeanhadcorruptedthe Indians.Amongthesebeliefswasa basicconvictionofthebroth- purerIndianand hadpartiallydestroyedhis pastoralexistence. erhoodof man. TheInnerLightwasa fundamentalprincipleof AlthoughIndian civilizationhad noneof the comfortsand advan- Quakerism,and equalityof man beforeGodwasits corollary. tagesof a so-calledadvancedcivilization,yetit alsohadnoneof Quakerreligiousideology,predicateduponthe universalityof the the complexitiesandproblems.Livingin a crudestateseemedto InnerLight,maintainedthat allmenwerepotentiallyperfectable someQuakershardlyinferiorto the moraldangersof "huckster- and emphasizedthe peacefulcoexistenceof peoplesconsidered ing" and trade. equal.Anglicans,on the otherhand,werelatitudinariantoward JohnRichardson,an EnglishQuakerwholodgedat Pennsbury worldlyinequities enjoymentswhile asserted God and Puritans that Manorfortwoor threedaysin 1701,wellstatedthe essenceof hadselectedonlya smallportionofmankind—theelect—forsalva- tion. all Quakerperceptionsof the Indianwhenhe wrote: "I much desirethat allChristians(whethertheybesuchin realityor Pro- Englishmen, of relativegeographic Ethnocentric the products fessiononly) may endeavourto imitatethesePeoplein those isolationandtheindividualisticleaningsoftheReformation,sailed Thingswhich are so commendable...."2 What were someof abouttheworldwitha strongsenseof racialsuperiority.Having these"commendable"things?Mostobviouswerecourtesy,gen- made contact with black Africans and American Indians, seven- erosity,and kindnesswhileanother"commendable"thingcon- generally teenth-and eighteenth-centuryEnglishmen rankedthe cernedstandardsof morality.The purenessof the Indianwas as themselves as Indians inferiorto but superiorto the black evidentinhiskindlybehavior. Africanswhomtheyconsideredape-likeat best. Moreoverthese As earlyas 1658JosiahCoale,the famousEnglishtraveling Englishmenperceivedthe Indiansto be naturalbarriersto prog- minister,foundhimselfthe luckyrecipientof goodIndianhospi- ressastheforests,rivers,andmountainswere,andtheblackAfri- cans to be natural laborers who were to be enslaved in the name tality.WhiletravelingfromVirginiato LongIslandby wayof Pennsylvania,Coaleand his companionshappenedupon some ofprogress.1 "Susquehane'sIndians"(Susquehannocks)who"courtiouslyRe- In a societythat entertainedsuchviewson humaninequality ceived"and "Entertayned"them "withmuchRespect."After andexploitationtheQuakersstoodas"peculiar"exceptions.Con- threedaysthe travelers,guidedby severalSusquehannocks,had sideringtheirbeliefs,it wasonlynaturalthatQuakerswhotraveled coveredabouttwohundredmilesthroughthe wildernessbefore theirSusquehannockguidesbadethemgood-by.Afteraboutthree * RobertDaiutoloreceivedhis master'sdegreein historyfromVillanova hundredadditionalmilesCoaleand his companionsarrivedat Universityandisa historyteacher. anotherSusquehannockcampwheretheywereagain"verykindly 1. Fora briefbut incisivedescriptionof Englishmen'sattitudestoward entertayned."Becauseoneof theirpartyhad injuredhislegthe red menand blackmenseeWinthropD. Jordan,WhiteOverBlack: travelersremainedforsixteendays.Duringthistimethe Susque- AmericanAttitudesTowardthe Negro,1550-1812(ChapelHill,N.C., 1979)pp. 239-252;see alsoWilberR. Jacobs,"British-ColonialAttitudes hannocksdressedthe injuredman's festeringleg woundand and PoliciesTowardthe Indiansin the AmericanColonies,"in Attitudesof "shewedverymuchRespect"to theirguestsand gave"freelyof ColonialPowersTowardthe AmericanIndian, ed. by HowardPeckham andCharlesGibson(SaltLakeCity,1969),p. 84. 2. John Richardson,An Accountof the Life of that AncientServantof 103 JesusChrist,JohnRichardson. . . (London,1757),p. 135. Early Quaker Perceptionof the Indian 105 106 Quaker History theBesttheycouldget."SomeoftheseSusquehannocksaccom- SomeKingshave sold,otherspresentedme with parcelsof Land; paniedtheCoalepartytoa DutchsettlementinNewYork.3 the Pay or PresentsI madethem,werenot hoardedby the particular Owners,but the neighboringKingsand theirClansbeingpresentwhen LikeCoale,GeorgeFoxhimselfjourneyedthroughouttheEast the Goodswerebroughtout, the Partieschieflyconcernedconsulted, CoastofNorthAmericahavingnumerousmeetingswithIndians whatandto whomtheyshouldgivethem? To everyKingthen,by the ofvarioustribes.WhiletravelingfromMarylandto LongIsland handsof thePersonforthatworkappointed,is a proportionsent,so bywayof NewJerseyin 1672,he,RobertWidders,andGeorge sortedand folded,and withthat Gravity,that is admirable.Then that Pattison forded the Delaware River and entered the "Wilderness- King subdividethin like manneramonghis Dependents,they hardly leavingthemselvesan Equalsharewithoneof dieirSubjects. . .5 Country"whereonenighttheystumbleduponan Indianvillage. ThethreewearyQuakerswerereceived"verylovingly"bythe In SomeObservationsontheSituation,Disposition,andChar- chiefandhiswife,andtheystayedat the "King'sHouse."The acterof the IndianNativesof thisContinent(1784),Anthony IndianswhoattendedtheQuakerswere"veryrespectful"to them. Benezet,whohadtaughtattheFriends'SchoolinGermantownand LaterduringthejourneytheQuakersstayedfora timeat another thePublicSchoolof Friends(theLatinSchool)in Philadelphia, chief'svillagein NewJersey,and againthe Indianswere"very declaredthat the Indiansof Pennsylvaniahad actedas "nursing loving"tothem.4 fathers"totheearlysettlersofPennsylvaniaandWestNewJersey. TheIndianshadgrantedthesettlers"ampleroomforsetdements" WilliamPenn,whoresidedinPennsylvaniafortwoshortinter- andhad "freely"assistedthem"withthemeansofliving,at easy ludes(1682-1684and 1699-1701),admiredthe Delawares'ca- rates,"andsincetheearliestEuropean-IndiancontactstheIndians pacity forgenerosity,andin ALetterfromWilliamPenn,Proprie- hadmaintained"a strictcareandfidelityin observingtheirtrea- taryandGovernourofPennsylvaniainAmerica,totheCommittee ties,andfulfillingtheirotherengagements."6 oftheFreeSocietyofTradersofthatProvince,ResidinginLondon (1683),henoted,asanexample,howtheDelawarekingsgener- Delawareswereespeciallycourteouswhentheywereconversing, ouslyapportionedgoodsgiventhemin treatiesandin landsales: and theyadheredto strictrulesof courtesywhentheywerein councilto discussimportantmatters.In An Historicaland Geo- graphicalAccountof the Provinceand Countryof Pensilvania 3. JosiahCoale,"ALetterof JosiahCoale,1658(Journeyin America, and West-New-Jerseyin America(1698), GabrielThomas,a 1658),"Bulletinof FriendsHistoricalSocietyof Philadelphia,v. 6 (Novem- WelshQuakerwhoarrivedin Philadelphiashortlyafterit was ber 1914),pp. 2-5. The Susquehannocksinhabitedthe SusquehannaRiver basin.Theywereaccomplishedwarriorsandtradersandwerepolitically and militarilysuperiorto the Delawares,who inhabitedeasternPennsyl- vaniaandwesternNewJersey. 5.WilliamPenn,ALetterfromWilliamPenn,ProprietaryandGovernour of Pennsylvaniain America,to the Committeeof the FreeSocietyof 4. GeorgeFox, A Journalor HistoricalAccountof the Life, Travels, Tradersof that Province,Residingin London...To whichis Added Sufferings,ChristianExperiencesand LabourofLovein the Workof the an Accountof the City of Philadelphia,NewlyLaid Out ... (London, Ministry,of that Ancient,Eminentand FaithfulServantof JesusChrist, 1683),p. 6. Thisis thefirsteditionof theletter,whichisnoteworthyfor GeorgeFox... (London,1694),pp. 365-366.TheIndianswithwhom itsinformationaboutthe cultureandphysicalfeaturesof theseventeenth- Fox stayedwereprobablythe LenniLenapeor DelawareIndians. Lenni centuryDelawares,and whichis probablythe bestprimarysourceconcern- Lenape,translatedinto English,meant "original"or "common"people. ing the earlyQuakerperceptionof the Delawares.Overthe yearsQuaker The DelawareIndiansbelongedto the Algonquin-speakingtribesof the writersoften paraphrasedPenn withoutgivinghim due credit, but the easternwoodlandsof NorthAmerica.Beforethe foundingof Pennsylvania Quakerwriterswhoarequotedin thisarticledidprovideoriginaldescrip- in 1682therehad beenabouteightthousandDelawaresliving inthe terri- tionsand perceptions.A reprintof Penn'sLetter . . . to . . . the Free tory from LongIsland,NewYork,to Maryland;this stretchof territory Societyof Traderscanbe foundin AlbertCookMeyers,ed.,WilliamPenn's includedall of NewJersey,Delaware,and easternPennsylvania.The Dela- OwnAccountoftheLenniLenapeorDelawareIndians(Sommerset,N.J., warepopulationalongthe DelawareRiverwasat leasttwo or three thou- 1970),pp. 21-42.Theappendixof thisbookis valuableforits primary sand. The three main divisionsof the Delawaretribe were: (1) the sources,especiallythe earlydeedsforIndianland. Munsee(Wolftotembadge)in the north; (2) the Unami(Turtle) in the center: and (3) the Unalachtigo(Turkey)in the south. Generallythe 6.AnthonyBenezet,SomeObservationsontheSituation,Disposition,and UnamiinhabitedeasternPennsylvaniaand westernNewJersey,and early Characterof the IndianNativesof thisContinent(Philadelphia,1784), Quakerwritingsmostlydealtwiththem. p. 40. Early Quaker Perceptionof the Indian 107 108 Quaker History foundedandremainedforfifteenyears,avouchedthat"theynever minious,they seldomdifferwith their neighbours],or do themany harmor injury,exceptwhenintoxicatedbystrongliquor,of whichthey interruptor contradictoneanother,till twoof themhavemade arefond,to an enormousdegree![T]hisis thegeneralcharactergivenof an endof theirDiscourse;for if neversomanybe in Company Indiansbyall impartialwriters.12 onlytwomustdiscourseat a time,andtherestmustkeepSilence."7 JohnRichardson,havingwatchedtwocouncilsbetweenPennand NolessadmirablewastheIndians'morality,forit wassaidthat theDelawares,remarkedthat"theydidnot,norI supposeneverdo therewerenoprostitutesamongDelawarewomen,whoseconduct speak,two at a time, nor interferein the least one with another wasdecorous.GabrielThomassaidthat "theiryoungMaidsare thatwayin alltheirCouncils...."8AtonecouncilheandPenn naturallyverymodestand shamefac'd;AndtheiryoungWomen attended,PenngavesomeDelawares"MatchCoats"(clothes), whennewlymarriedareveryniceandshy,andwillnotsufferthe liquor,andsomeotherthings,but the speakerforthe Delawares Mento talkof anylasciviousMatters."13 directedPennto collectall the goodsand givethem to the Accordingto QuakerwritersDelawarewomenweremodel "Sachem"whowasto distributethem.Dulyimpressed,Richard- wives.Theywerethe "TrueServantsof theirHusbands"and sonrelatedhowthe "Sachem"distributedthe liquoramonghis theirhusbandswere"veryaffectionateto them."14Forsomeyears fellow Delawares: aftermarriagetheystayedwiththeirmothersto helpthemwith chores.15Theywere"Chaste,"and whenpregnanttheywould AstheaforesaidKingpouredouthisDrams,he onlymadea Motion "notadmitoftheirHusbandsEmbracesanymoretill[theirbabies with his Finger,or sometimeswith his Eye,to the Personwhichhe had been]Delivered."16 intendedto givetheDramto; so theycamequietlyandin a solid Quakersalsofoundthat Indianswereas intelligentas Euro- manner,withouteither Nod or Bow,any further than necessityre- quiredthemto stoop,whowereon their Feet,to him whosat on the peans.In hisHistoryofPennsylvania,completedin 1780butpub- Groundor Floor,astheirChoiceandManneris.9 lishedin 1797and 1798,RobertProud,the Englishscholarof LatinandGreekwhohadtaughtat the PublicSchoolof Friends Delawaresobservedamenities;theyoftengavethebesttheyhad (theLatinSchoolin Philadelphia,assertedthattheDelawarespos- to the white men who visited them. Gabriel Thomas himself was sessedan "immediatesenseandunderstandingof mentalobjects" served"Victualscut by themin theirCabbins,beforetheytook and that somepossessedintellects"evenof the highestnature." anyforthemselves."10"If anEuropeancomestoseethem,orcalls Delawarescountedby tens and reckonedtime "by moons."17 forlodgingat theirHouseor Wigwam,"saidPenn,"theygivehim PlainlyDelawareswerecapableofabstractreasoning. the best placeandfirstcut. If theycometo visitus,theysalute Indeedthe intellectof the Indiansmanifesteditselfsoopenly, uswithItahwhichisasmuchtosay,Goodbetoyou...."" effectively,and variouslyas to exciteadmirationand to arouse LiketheQuakersthe Indianswerea peaceablepeople,andthe speculationconcerningthedevelopmentaldisparitybetweenIndian Quakersoftendescribedthemas being"verylovingto onean- civilizationand Europeancivilization.The Delawares,for ex- other."AsthescholarlyBenezetstated: ample,werekeenbargainers.Pennaverredthat "I havenever seenmorenaturalSagacity,consideringthemwithoutthehelp. . . It is wellknownthat the Indians'deportmentto eachotheris peace- able and inoffensive;esteemingsuddenangerunbecomingand igno-

12.Benezet,op.cit., p.10. 7. GabrielThomas,An Historicaland GeographicalAccountof the 13.Thomas,op.cit.,pt. 2, p. 5. Provinceand Countryof Pensilvania;and West-New-Jerseyin America. . . 14.Penn,op.cit.,p. 5. (London,1698),pt. 2, p. 2. Accordingto Thomas,the Indiansof Penn- 15.SamuelSmith,The Historyof the Colonyof Nova-Caesaria,or New sylvaniaandWestNewJerseyspokethe samelanguageandlived"after Jersey(Burlington,N.J., 1765,p. 140.SamuelSmith,the Quakermerchant the samemanner."Ibid.,p. 13. whowas Secretaryof the King'sCounciland Treasurerof the Province, 8. Richardson,op.cit.,p. 135. livedin Burlington,NewJersey. 9. Ibid.,pp. 134-135. 16.Thomas,op.cit.,pt. 1,p. 50. 10.Thomas,op.cit.,pt. 2, p. 4. 17.RobertProud, The Historyof Pennsylvania,2 vols. (Philadelphia, 11.Penn,op.cit.,p. 5. 1797-1798),v. 2,pp. 308,315. Early Quaker Perceptionof the Indian 109 110 Quaker History of Tradition;and he willdeservethe Nameof Wise,that Outwits deur; "Anna" (mother)and "Netap"(friend)werewordsof themin anyTreatyabouta thingtheyunderstand."18However, sweetness.22 it wasobviousto PennandotherQuakersthat Indiancivilization SomeIndians,moreover,weregreatorators.Honayewus,the hadnotproducedthemonumentalachievementsofEuropeanciv- SenecaIndianwhowasalsoknownas the Farmer'sBrother,stimu- ilization,suchas cities,science,andliterature.AnthonyBenezet, latedJamesEmlen'simagination: havingstudiedseveralearlyandcontemporaryaccountsof Indian life,commentedthatthe rudimentaryIndiancivilizationwasthe The Fanner'sBrotheris a manof Largestature,the Dignity&Majesty resultnotofinferiorintellect,butofignorance,ofa differentway of hisappearance,hissonorousvoice&expandedaim,withthe forcible oflife,of differentvalues: Mannerof his Utterancedeliveredin a languageto us unintelligible '. . . remindedmeof the atient[ancient]Oratorsof GreeceandRome.23 If theirdispositionsandnaturalpowersare dulyconsidered,theywill be foundto be equallywithourowncapableof improvementin knowl- PennandhisfellowQuakerswerealsoimpressedbythepolitical edgeand virtue,and that the apparentdifferencebetweenus and them anddiplomaticacumenof theirIndianneighbors.Animportant is chieflyowingto ourdifferentwaysof life,anddifferentideasofwhat part of the governmentof the Delawareswasthe council,which is necessaryand desirable,and [to] the advantageof education.19 consistedof about two hundred Indians,who were mainly"the OldandWisemen"ofa particularIndianking's"Nation."The Oneoutstandingproductof Delawareintelligencewasherbal functionof the councilwasto givethe kingadviceconcerning medicine.Delawaresnursedtheirsickbackto healthby using warfare,peacemaking,trade,thesaleofland,andallotherperti- rootsandherbspreparedin variouswaysthattookfulladvantage nentinternalandexternalaffairs.Thekingdidnothing without oftheir"virtues."To securetheservicesof a proficientherbalist, the consentof the council. All Delawares,therefore,had a real Delawaresgavewhatevertheyhad,especiallywhena childwas stakeandvoicein theirgovernment.Pennsaid," 'Tisadmirable sick. The herbalistusuallyprepareda "Teranor Decoctionof to consider,howPowerfultheKingsare,andyethowtheymove some Rootsin SpringWater"and appliedit eitherinternallyor bytheBreadthoftheirPeople"2* externally.Sometimesthepatientsatin a sweathouseor bathed in coldwaterso that he coulddrivethe sicknessfrom his body.20 Whenin council,Delawareswereorderly,mannerly,and de- Anotherindicationof Delawareintelligencewasthe Delaware liberate;theycertainlydid notact as barbarians."TheKing," language,whichaccordingtoPennwas: said Penn, "sits in the middle of a half Moon, and hath his Council,the Old and Wiseon each hand; behindthem, or at a ... Lofty,yet narrow,but likethe Hebrewin Significationfull,like Shorthandin writing;onewordservethin the placeof three,and the restaresuppliedbytheunderstandingof the Hearer:Imperfectin their Ibid. Tenses,wantingin their Moods,Participles,Adverbs,Conjunctions, 22. Interjections:And I mustsay,that I knownot a languagespokenin 23.JamesEmlen,"TheJournalofJamesEmlenkepton a Tripto Canan- Europe,that hath wordsof moresweetnessor greatness,in Accentand daigua,NewYork,September15to October30, 1794to attend theTreaty betweenthe UnitedStatesand the SixNations,"ed. by WilliamN. Fenton, Emphasis,thantheirs....21 Ethnohistory,v. 12 (Fall, 1965),p. 304.Honayewuswasa SenecaIndian, and therefore he was a member of the Six Nations, which was a federation "Rancocas"and "Shackamaxon,"whichwerenamesof placesin of Iroquoistribesthat onceinhabitedupperNewYorkstate. Originallythe NewJerseyand Pennsylvania,respectively,werewordsof gran- tribesthat wereincludedin the federationwerethe Mohawk,Oneida,Onon- daga,Cayuga,and Seneca.About1570,led by Hiawathaand Dekanawida, thesetribesformedthe FiveNations,or IroquoisLonghouse.In 1722the TuscaroraIndiansof North Carolinajoined the federation,which then 18.Penn,op.cit.,p. 7. became die Six Nations. The Indians of the Six Nations have been herein 19.Benezet,op.cit.,p. 40. includedbecausethey exercisedpoliticalcontrolover all the smalltribes 20. Penn,op. cit.,p. 6; Meyers,op. cit.,app.,pp. 47-51;Proud,op.cit., in Pennsylvania,often lived within the borders of Pennsylvania,and often v. 2, pp.305-306,308;Thomas,op.cit.,pt. 1,p. 4; pt. 2, p. 7; Smith,op.cit., dealtwithQuakersand Pennsylvaniagovernmentalofficials. pp. 137,139. Penn,op.cit.,p. 7. 21.Penn,op.cit., p.5. 24. Early Quaker Perceptionof the Indian 111 112 Quaker History littledistance,sittheyoungerFry,inthesamefigure."2'Asthis in Godandin theimmortalityofthespiritandpossessedconcepts Indianspokeeveryonesatquietlyandlistened.Aftercarefuland of goodand evil. The Indianreligionappealedto the Quakers prolongedconsiderationthe councilmadeitsdecision.Theslow- becauseit wassimpleandinformal.Penn,whostudiedtheDela- ness with which Delawares deliberated reminded Gabriel Thomas warereligion,stated: oftheslownesswithwhichSpaniardsdeliberated.26 Whilewaitingfor the representativesof the tribesof the Six ThesepoorPeople[theDelawares]areundera DarkNightin things relatingto Religion,the Traditionof it; yet theybelievein God and Nationsto convenefor a treatyat Canandaigua,NewYork,in immortality,withoutthehelpofMetaphisic;fortheysay,Thereis a 1794,JamesEmlen,a PennsylvaniaQuakerandmiller,became greatKing that made them, whodwellsin a gloriusCountryto the impatient,then composedhimself,then meditatedupon these Southwardof them,and that the Soulsof the goodshallgo thither, Indians who were so deliberate: wheretheyshallliveagain.30

We findit requisiteto seekfor patienceto awaitthe arrivalof the OtherIndiansreferredto Godasthe"greatspirit"or "greatGod" Indians;theybeinga peopleremarkablydeliberatein theirproceedings; whohadcreatedeverythingincludingalltheearth.31 havingno extensiveschemesin view,theirwantsbeingconfinedwithin a narrowcompass,Timethe mostpreciousthingin the World,is held Ononeoccasionin 1701JohnRichardsonhearda conversation with them in little estimation.27 betweenPennanda Delawareinterpreterandrecordedit andhis ownthoughtsaboutitsmeaning: Indianwomensometimesspokein councilbecauseIndianmen acknowledgedthatsomeIndianwomenwerewiserthanthey. In WilliamPennsaid,he understoodtheyowned[acknowledged]a superior 1706ThomasChalkley,an EnglishQuakerwhohad settledin Power,andaskedtheinterpreterWhattheirNotionwasof Godin their Philadelphiawithhiswifeand threechildren,wastoldby some ownWay? The Interpretershewed,by makingseveralCircleson the Groundwithhis Staff,till he reducedthe lastinto a smallCircumfer- SenecaandShawneeIndianslivingat "Conestogoe"(Conestoga), ence,and placed,as he said,by wayof Representation,the greatMan Pennsylvania,thatnothingwasdonein councilwithouttheadvice (as theytermedhim) in the middleCircle,so that he couldseeover "ofanancientgravewomen."23 all the otherCircles,whichincludedall the Earth. Andwe querying, In councilsandtreatiesforlandandtradeDelawarediplomats Whatthey ownedas to Eternity,or a futureState? The Interpreter said,Theybelievedwhensuchdiedas wereguiltyof Theft,Swearing, skillfullybargainedwith their Europeancounterparts.Having Lying,Whoring,Murder,&c,theywentintoa verycoldCountry,where held numerouscouncilswith the Delawares,Penn avowedthat dieyhadneithergoodfatVenison,norMatchCoats,whichiswhatthey theywere"asdesyning[designing],asI haveeverobservedamong useinsteadof Cloathsto coverthemwithal,beingin onepiecein the thepolitestofourEuropeans."29ObviouslytheDelawareswerea formof a Blanketor Bed-covering:But thosewhodied clearof the formidablepeoplewhentheychoseto be. aforesaidSins,go into a finewarmCountry,wheretheyhad goodfat Venisonand goodMatchCoats,Thingsmuchvaluedby theseNatives. Especiallyimportantto Quakerswas the Indianreligion—a I thought,inasmuchas thesepoorcreatureshad not the knowledgeof religionnotunlikethatoftheQuakersin somerespects.Quakers Godby the Scriptures,as wehavewhoare calledChristians,but what ascertainedthat Indians,thoughignorantof the Bible,believed Knowledgetheyhad of the supremeBeingmustbe by an inwardSen- sation,or by contemplatinguponthe Worksof Godin the Creation,or probablyfrom someTraditionhandeddownfromFatherto Son,by 25. Ibid. whichit appears,they acknowledgea future State of Rewardsand Punishments;the former of which they expressby Warmth,good 26.Thomas,op.cit.,pt. 1,p. 51. 27.Emlen,loc.cit.,p. 291. Cloathingand Food,and the latter by Nakedness,piningHungerand 28.Thomas Chalkley,"Journal, or HistoricalAccount,of the Life, piercingCold.32 Travels,and ChristianEcxperiences,of that Ancient,FaithfulServantof JesusChrist,ThomasChalkley. . .," in A Collectionof the Worksof ThomasChalkley(Philadelphia,1749),p. 49. 30. Penn,op.cit.,p. 6. 29. Pennto RobertBoyle,5th Day,6th Month (August),1683,Robert 31.Emlen,loc,cit.,pp. 296, 301. Boyle,TheWorksof. ..RobertBoyle,5vols.(London,1744),v. 5, p.646; alsoquotedin Meyers,op.cit.,p. 45. 32. Richardson,op.cit.,pp. 136-137. Early Quaker Perceptionof the Indian 113 114 Quaker History Indians,moreover,haddevelopedsecularconceptsofgoodand lives,by a fixt Obedienceto their greaterKnowledgeof the Will of evil. Theybelievedthat therewasa good"Manetta"(spirit) God;for it weremiserableindeedfor us to fall underthe just censure of the poorIndian Conscience,whilewe makeprofessionof thingsso whichtheyworshippedandthattherewasa bad"Manetta"which far transcending.36 they endeavoredto avoid.33In his Good Order Establishedin Pennsilvania& NewJersey(1685),ThomasBudd,an English Pennchargedthe Europeanswithcorruption,fortheyhadin- Quakerwholivedin Americafrom1692to 1694,recordedwhat troducedinsidiousliquortotheDelawares: the IndianOckanickonsaidaboutIndianconceptsof goodand evil: "Thereare twoWayes,a broadWay,and a straitWay; Their [the Delawares']rest is not disturbedfor maintenence;theylive therebe twoPaths,a broadPath and a straitPath; the worst,and by their pleasures,fowlingand fishing;the sonsof providence;better withouttradition,unlessthat they have got had beenbetter,for the the greatestNumbergo in the broadPath, the bestand fewestin Dutch,English,and Swedeshavetaughtthem drunkeness.This they the strait Path."34, are the worsefor thosetheyshouldhave beenbetterfor; and thisthey DelawareburialritualclearlyindicatedthatDelawaresbelieved are not so darkas not to seeand say. So that the lowdispensationof in theimmortalityofthesoul.Delawarespreparedtheirdeceased the poorIndianout shinesthe livesof thoseChristiansthat pretend fortheafterlifebydressingthemintheirownclothesandbybury- anhigher.37 ingthemingravesmarkedeitherbyshortgrassorbydirt. During AnthonyBenezet,writingat a timewhenIndianhostilitiesonthe burialthe nearestof kinof the deceasedflungsomethingsinto frontierwerecommonplace,blamedthewhitemenfortheIndians' the hole as tokensof their love. Often kettles,utensils,and other discontentment: householdthingswereburiedwiththe deceasedfor usein the "other World." When a "Person of Note" died far from home Much of their blamableconductnow complainedof, is certainly his friendscarriedhis bodybackhomefor burial. Delawares imputableto a longcontinuedtrainof fraudulentand corruptpractices mournedthedeadforoneyear,duringwhichtimetheyblackened in our intercoursewiththem,especiallythe fatalintroductionof strong their faces.35 drink,of whichtheyhaveoftencomplained,and desiredit mightnot be broughtamongstthem,by whichinsteadof allayingthe fermentof Afrequentthemein QuakerwritingswasthattheIndianswere corruptnature,by a goodexample,and the goodinstruction,whichour moreChristianthanmostChristians.Penn,for example,praised superiorknowledgewouldenableus to givethem,toomanyhavebeen the Delawaresfor theirgreaterknowledgeof goodand eviland instrumentalin workingthemup to a stateof distraction,whichwhen fortheirgreaterunderstandingofthewillofGod,andat thesame it has burstforthin vengeanceuponourselves,is madea pretencefor destroyingthem,as tho' theywerewhollythe aggressors.38 timehe reproachedpretendedChristiansandreprobatedtheirin- decorousconductregardingtheDelawares: Onedevelopmentthat obviouslyworriedQuakerswasalcohol abuseamongallthe Indians.Whetherthereasonwaspsychologi- Theworstis,thatthey[theDelawares]aretheworsefortheChris- tians,whohavepropagatedtheirVices,andyieldedthemTraditionfor cal or physical,the Indiansof varioustribesseemedcompletely ill,andnotforgoodthings.ButaslowanEbbastheyareat,andas unabletouse"SpiritousLiquors"inmoderation,astheydidnearly gloriusas their Conditionlooks,the Christianshavenot out-liv'dtheir everythingelse.Becausethe Europeans,especiallytheDutchmen, sightwithalltheirPretentionsto anhigherManifestation:Whatgood theEnglishmen,andtheSwedes,hadsoldthemliquors,Delawares, thenmightnot a goodPeoplegraft,wherethereis so distincta knowl- declaredPenn,hadbecome"greatloversof strongLiquors,Rum edgeleftbetweenGoodandEvil? I beseechGodto inclinethe Hearts ofallthatcomeintotheseparts,to outlivetheKnowledgeof theNa- especially"and theyhad exchangedtheirbestskinsand fursfor them. Penndescribedwhathappenedto Delawareswhenthey

33.Proud,op.cit.,v. 2,p. 311;seealsoSmith,op.cit., p.141. 34. ThomasBudd, Good Order Establishedin Pennsylvaniaand New 36. Penn,op.cit., p.7. 1683, Jersey(n.p.,1685;rep.ed.,Cleveland,Ohio,1902),p. 69. 37. Penn to RobertBoyle,5th Day, 6th Month (August), Boyle, op.cit.,v.5, p.646;alsoquotedinMeyers,op.cit.,p. 45. 35.Thomas,op.cit.,pt. 1,p.4;pt.2,pp.2-3;Penn,op.cit.,p.6;Smith, op.cit.,p. 137. 38.Benezet,op.cit.,pp.41-42. Early Quaker Perceptionof the Indian 115 116 Quaker History had drunkmuchliquor: "If theyareheatedwithLiquors,they with a relishfar superiorto thosewhoare pent up in crowdedand populouscities,are combinedto makethis the mostpleasantvisit I arerestlesstilltheyhaveenoughto sleep;that istheircry,Some havepaid the Indians,and inducedme to believe,that beforethey moreand I willgo to sleep;but whenDrunk,oneof the most becameaquaintedwithwhitepeopleandwereinfectedwiththeirvices, wretchedestSpectaclesin the World,oftenBurning&Sometimes theymusthave beenas happyas any in the world.41 killingoneanother."39It seemedthatintemperanceinfluencedthe conduct of the Indian: the drunk Indian was neither courteous In a similarveinJamesEmlenwho,withSavery,Parrish,and norgenerousnor kind. DavidBacon,wasattendingthetreatyconfessed: In his Observationson the Inhabitants,Climate,Soil, Rivers, Productions,Animals,andOtherMattersWorthyofNoticeMade Perhapsno peopleare greatermastersof theirtime[;]hencein their publictransactionswe often complainof their beingtedious[.][N]ot by his to Mr.JohnBartram,In TravelsfromPennsylvaniaOnon- consideringthat they & we estimatetime with very difftjudgmtswe dago,Oswegoand the LakeOntario,In Canada(1751),John are veryapt to condemnany naturalpracticeswhichdifferfromour Bartram,the Quakerbotanistand explorer,describedhowthe own,but it requiresa greaterconquestoverprejudices& morepene- drunkEnglishmandifferedfromthedrunkIndian: trationthan I am Masterof clearlyto decidethat we are the happier people.42 AnEnglishmanwhenverydrunkwillfallfastasleepfor the mostpart, but an Indian,whenmerry,falls to dancing,running,and shouting, Amongthe characteristicsof the Indiansof Pennsylvania,New whichviolentactionprobablymaydispersethefumesoftheliquor,that Jersey,andsouthwestNewYorkaboutwhichQuakerswrotewas hadhesatstillor remainedquiet,mighthavemadehimdrowsy,and theirmarvelousphysique.TheIndianswerepowerfullybuiltand whichis evencarriedoffby continuedagitation.40 seemedto lackanykindofphysicaldeformityandto retaintheir PennsylvaniaQuakersweresoconcernedaboutthe alcoholprob- physicalvitalitythroughouttheir unusuallylonglives. Quaker lemamongIndiansthattheypushedforandperiodicallyobtained observersoftheIndiansrarelyfailedto noteat leastoneofthese increasinglystrongerrestrictionsontradingliquorwiththem. physicalpeculiarities.In hisletterto the FreeSocietyof Traders In 1794WilliamSavery,a PhiladelphiaQuaker,summarized Pennmadethisoft-quotedobservation:"They[theDelawares] aregenerallytall,streight,well-built, of hisviewof the Indianwayof lifewitha noteof envy.He and and singularproportion; JohnParrish,anotherPhiladelphiaQuaker,had riddenon horse- they tread strongand clever,and mostlywalkwith a lofty Chin ____"43 backfromCanandaigua,NewYork(whereon behalfof the Six Nationstheywereattendinga treatywiththe UnitedStates)to Whileattendingthetreatyat Canandaigua,NewYork,in 1794, the "Farmer'sBrother'sencampment,whichcontainedaboutfive Emlenfrequentlyconversedwithmembersof the Six Nations. hundredIndians."The campwasbesidea brook.It had about Havinghadampleopportunityto seetheIndianphysiquefirst- seventyor eightyhuts. Deermeathungoutsidethesehuts,and hand,hesurmisedthat"itisveryraretoseeanydeformedpersons thereappearedto bean abundanceofvariousfoods.Indianmen amongstthe Indians. . . [andbecausetheyforbear]hardLabor andwomenwerebusilydoingtheirdailytasks,andmany"pretty theirlimbsretaintheirpliabilityto... anadvancedage[;]hence children"wereplaying.AUthis madeSaverycontemplatethe theyarealsoremarkablefortheirswiftnessinrunning."OneIn- advantagesoftheIndianwayoflife: dianinparticular"excited"Emlen,forEmlenhadneverpreviously seen"apersonwhoseframewassowonderfullyformedforexpedi- The easeand cheerfulnessof everycountenance,and the delightfulness tion in travelling."ShortlythereafterEmlenlearnedfromthe of the afternoon, whichtheseinhabitantsof the woodsseemedto enjoy,

39. Penn,op.cit.,p. 6. 41.WilliamSavery,A Journalof theLife,Travels,andReligiousLa- 40.John Bartram,Observationson the Inhabitants,Climate,Soil,Rivers, bours,ofWilliamSavery,LateofPhildelphia,comp,anded.byJohnathan Productions,Animals,and otherMattersWorthyof NoticeMade by Mr. Evans(London,1844),pp. 82-83. JohnBartram,In hisTravelsfromPennsylvaniato Onondago,Oswegoand 42. Emlen,loc.cit.,p. 333. the LakeOntario,In Canada(London,1751),pp. 15-16. 43. Penn,op.cit.,p. 5. Early Quaker Perceptionof the Indian 117 118 Quaker History otherIndiansthat the appropriatelynamedSharpShinswasthe Jewswereto journeyto a landnot plantedor known,and this "swiftestRunner[messenger]in the SixNations,"a messenger landmighthavebeenAmerica.AsPennsurmised,theJewsmight whosefamelayinhishavingcompleteda ninety-milejourney"in havemadethearduousjourney"from[the]Easter-mostpartsof but a little more time than from Sunrise to Sunset."44 Asiato the Wester-mostpartsofAmerica."MoreovertheIndians DavidBacon,an untutoredPhiladelphiaQuaker,visiteda near- were"oflikeCountenance,"andin manywaystheywerelikethe by Indiancampwherehe saw"grannywagusan oldIndian Jewsof"Dukes-placeorBerry-streetinLondon."TheIndiansof woman"whoperhapswasonehundredyearsoldand whohad Pennsylvania,forexample,agreed"inRites"withtheseJews.Penn journeyedoveronehundredmilesto liveat chiefCornPlanter's notedof the former:"Theyreckon[time]by Moons;theyoffer camp.Baconalsomet an eighty-year-oldIndianmanwhowas theirfirstFruits,theyhavea kindofFeastofTabernacles;theyare "veryactiveandhealthy."TheoldIndianmankepta tavernat saidto laytheirAlterupontwelveStones;theirMourninga year an Oneida Indian settlement where he "served seafood dishes to andCustomsofWomen[arelikethoseoftheJews.]"49 Americans,thoughhe couldnotspeakEnglish."45 JohnBartram,ontheotherhand,sawtheAmericanIndiansas ButforQuakersthemoststrikingof the Indian'sphysicalfea- possiblyoriginatinginseveralplaces.Heassertedthattheaccounts tures washis familiarcountenance.Indeedmostcontemporary ofknownvoyagesfromEuropetoAmericabeforeColumbuswere QuakerhistoriansbegantheirchaptersonthePennsylvaniaIndian neither"fabulous,norevenimprobablefromeitherthe lengthor bynotingthattherewasa facialsimilaritybetweentheIndianand difficultiesoftheway."Thereforeit wasprobablethattheDanes theEuropean,or betweentheIndianandtheJew. TheIndian's and Norwegianswhohad sailedto Greenlandhad sailedon to mostprominentfacialfeaturewasa nosemorelikethe "Roman" placesin NorthAmericasuchasNewfoundlandor thegulfofthe noseoftheEuropeanthanlikethe "flat"noseoftheEastIndian St. LawrenceRiver. Evenif the Danishand Norwegiannavigators or the blackAfrican.Theblack-haired,tawnyIndianresembled and sailorshad beentoo unskilledat that timeto makesuchvoy- theItalian,buthehadeyesthatwere"littleandblack,notunlike ages,theymightwellhavereachedNorthAmericabychance,and a streight-look'tJew['s]."i6There was, in fact, but one obvious theknowledgeofsuchvoyagesmighthavebeenlost.50 differencebetweentheIndianandtheEuropeanor theJew: the Bartramtheorizedthat Asianslikethe Danesand Norwegians Indianwasbeardlessbecausehecutoffhisbeardat anyevidence couldhavemadevoyagesto NorthAmericaalso.Asiansmight of hair.47AsPennremarkedin hisletterto the FreeSocietyof havesailedfromislandtoislanduntiltheyreachedNorthAmerica, TraderstheDelawareshad"ascomelyEuropean-likefacesamong forthereweremanyislandsbetweenAsiaandNorthAmericasepa- them asonyoursideoftheSea."48 ... ratedonlyby narrowchannels,somewithineyesightof onean- Sincethewhitemanfirstencounteredtheredman,thequestion other.AsproofBartramciteda storythat a Canadianhad told aboutthe red man'soriginhas beenfrequentlyasked.William him. The Canadian knew an Indian woman who lived in Canada Pennadvancedthe theorythat the AmericanIndianswerede- and whomhe had not seenin manyyears.Whiletravelingin scended from the lost tribes of Israel. Penn believed that the China,he had seena womanwholookedexactlylikehisacquaint- IndiansofPennsylvaniawere"oftheJewishRace,"thatis,"ofthe ance.He approachedherandquestionedher. Shetold himthat stockof the TenTribes."PerhapsGod'sjudgmentwasthat the shewasfromCanadaand that shehad beencapturedby some Indiansof a neighboringtribe. Shesaidthat overthe yearsshe hadbeenpassedfromonetribeto anotheras a warprizeor as 44. Emlen,loc.cit.,pp.296-297,317. 45. DavidBacon,"SomeAccountof ourjourneyto Cannadargue[Canan- daigua]... to Attenda Treatywith the Six NationsSeptember15 to November27, 1794,"MS Diary,p. 16. Complanter(Gysntwahia)wasan influential Seneca chief. 49. Penn,op. cit., p. 7; see alsoThomas,op. cit., pt. 2, p. 2. "Dukes- place"and "Berry-street"werestreetsat the centerof the Jewishquarter 46. Penn,op.cit., p.5. of seventeenth-centuryLondon. 47. Thomas,op.cit.,pt. 2,p. 3. 48. Penn,op.cit., p.5. 50. Bartram,op.cit.,pp. 75-76. Early Quaker Perceptionof the Indian 119 a gift. He wasconvincedthat the Indianwomanwithwhomhe The Captivity of Elizabeth Hanson: A Quaker Kidnapped by Native Americans in 1725 hadconversedin Chinawastheselfsameacquaintance.61 by Samuel Bownas. Simon Webb, Langley Press (2016), pp. 7-35 Bartram,however,proposeda "moreprobable"theory.This theoryheld that eitherEgyptian,Phoenician,or Carthaginian  marinersmighthavemadevoyagesduringwhichtheirshipswere sweptfromthecoastofGuineatothecoastofBrazilortheAntilles of SouthAmerica.Heretheseancientpeoplesmighthavedegen- eratedinto a primitivestate,losingtheirknowledgeof sophisti- catedarts andsciences;andeventuallytheymighthavemigrated to NorthAmericaand to Pennsylvania.52 Anothertheoryproposedby Bartramwas extremelysimple, reasonable,and plausible:Godhad peopledNorthAmerica,as Hehadpeopledothercontinents.53 Duringthe centuryfollowingthe settlementof Pennsylvania, Quakerswhotraveledand livedin Pennsylvaniaperceivedthe localIndiansto be a peoplewhoweresimilarto themselves,who werenolesshuman,nolesswiseormannerlythanthey,andwhose wayof lifewaspraiseworthy.Indianswerephysicallysuperiorto EuropeansandAmericansandpotentiallytheirintellectualequals. IndiansresembledItalians,Spaniards,and Jews,all of whom Quakersthoughtmembersof the brotherhoodof man. Possibly Indiansweredescendedfromancientpeoples,suchasJews,Egyp- tians,Carthaginians,or Phoenicians.Indianshad builta rudi- mentarycivilization,and mostimportantfor Quakerstheybe- lievedin Godand in the immortalityof the souland possessed conceptsof goodand evil—all withoutthe helpof the Bibleor formalreligiousstudy.Indians,likeQuakers,had a simpleform of worship.For the Friends,theirrelationshipwiththe Indians vindicatedtheirbeliefin the universalityof the InnerLightand fortified their conviction that human relations should be based on theprincipleofbrotherhoodstemmingtherefrom.



51. Ibid.,pp.76-77. 52.Ibid.,p. 77. 53.Ibid.,p. 75. Quaker dream; the dream that peaceful, faithful behaviour can somehow dissolve the need for fear nineteen. By 1725 they had nine children, including a?d .violenc~, even in the most unpromismg Mercy, who was just fourteen days old when she SituatiOns. Ltke all the best dreams, this Quaker was abducted along with her mother. dream has been known to come true, but in the The fact that Elizabeth had just given birth dange.rous circumstances of eighteenth-century would have made her ordeal even more shocking to Amenca the dream easily transformed itself into a Bownas's original readers. In those days it was nightmare. believed that a woman should 'lie m' (take a lot of bed-rest) for a period after a confinement: it was Nearly fifty years before the famous incident at thought that failure to do so would cause the uterus Easton Township, the English Quaker Samuel to become deformed. Bownas visited a fellow-Quaker called Elizabeth Quaker communities began to be established in Hanson at her horne near the town of Dover, New the New World very soon after Quakerism first Hampshire. Hanson told Bownas a story so appeared in England, in the middle of the remarkable that he wrote it down and made a book seventeenth century. In the early years, Quakers on 'i out of it. In case the tale might be thought as fanciful both sides of the Atlantic were persecuted by the as traveller's tales sometimes are, the book ended religious and secular authorities They were with a note to the effect that, in 17 41, another regarded as dangerous heretics by some adherents of Samuel, Samuel Hopwood, had heard the same story the other churches. Quakers often refused to attend from the same woman. Anglican church services and, when they did at.tend It was the story of how, in the summer of the what they called 'steeplehouses', they sometimes previous year, Elizabeth Hanson and four of her deliberately disrupted the service The Quakers' o~ children had been kidnapped by Native Americans. religious services, called Meetings, took place m bare unadorned rooms and consisted, as they do Elizabeth was the granddaughter of John Meader toda~ in England, of long periods of sile~~e born in the European version of England in th~ punctuated by 'Ministry' inspired by the Hol~ Spmt. 1620s. His son, Elizabeth's father John Jr., was born These unplanned Meetings contrasted with the in Oyster River (now Durham) New Hampshire, highly regulated services of the Church of England, around 1660 Elizabeth herself was born at Oyster which closely followed the patterns laid down in the River m 1684. That makes her forty years old when Book ofCommon Prayer she was kidnapped in 1725. She had married John Some English Quakers refused to pay tithes for Hanson of Knox Marsh m 1703, when she was just the maintenance of the Established Church and, as

8 9 -

pacifists, they would not undergo military service Quakers, were whipped out of Dover, New when it was required of them. They refused to swear Hampshire on the orders of one Richard Waldron, of oaths, including even the oath of allegiance to the whom more later. Still raw from over a hundred reigning monarch. They irritated their critics by stripes each on their naked backs, the ~omen w~re refusing to raise their hats in respectful greeting, or dragged through snow and ice, thrown mto freezmg to remove them on entering a house, or even a water, then set in the stocks. This event IS church. They would not bow or scrape after the remembered in Whittier's poem How the Women fashion of the age, and they spoke using the familiar Went from Dover: 'thou' and 'thee' rather than the more respectful 'you'. Many seventeenth and eighteenth century Bared to the waist, for the north wmd's gnp Quakers also spoke out against the use of slaves, And keener sting of constable's whtp which some people, including some Quakers, saw as The blood that followed each hissing blow I mdispensable to the prosperity of many of the Froze as 1t spnnkled the wmter snow. ·.~ British colonies. ~~ The authorities in England and America Dover was the town John Hanson brought his new ~~ harboured a deep suspicion of Quakerism that often bride home to in 1703. bordered on the irrational. The Quakers were As well as religious intolerance, the Quaker suspected of aiding supposed Jesuit plots against community at Dover had to deal with the Protestant England. Quaker ideas were also consequences of war. From 1721 to 1725, there was confused with those of less harmless groups, such as great hostility between the British in New England the Fifth Monarchy Men. Ann Austin and Mary and the French in Canada. This antagonism was Fisher, the first Quaker missionaries to visit New giVen extra sharpness by religious differences. In England, were immediately locked up at Boston, and France the Roman Catholic Church still had a great then deported to Barbados in August, 1656. They deal ;f sway. The British settlers were. highl~ were considered to be so dangerous that anyone suspicious of the French Catholics and then Jesmt caught even talking to them was liable to be fined priests. In their tum, the French regarded the £54. Protestant rosbifs as heretics. Even atrocity was justified in the eyes of the Relations between the two sides were also authorities if they thought it might weaken the complicated by the involvement of man_y ~ative resolve of this demonised people. In 1662 Ann American tribes who had lived for centunes m the Coleman, Mary Tompkins and Alice Ambrose, three east of the North American continent. Although their

10 11 numbers had been depleted by the wars and diseases allowed them into their country when they were the Europeans had brought with them, the Indians forced north by the British. The fact that many of were still a force to be reckoned with at this period. them had become Roman Catholic 'Praying Indians' The whites treated them with a confusing mixture of gave them yet another reason to be loyal to their fear, suspicion, envy, admiration, exasperation, white fellow-Catholics. respect, disgust and gratitude. Many of the tribes of New England and Canada The British were probably the most standoffish were long-standing members of the Abenaki about the Indians; the French were more friendly. alliance, which they had formed as a protective They even made a point of persuading their male shield against the Mohawks. The Mohawks settlers to arnve sans women so that they would be themselves were a dominant part of the Iroquoian able to marry natives. Those Jesuit priests took the Confederacy. In their culture, which was based in trouble to hve among the natives, to learn their ways the valley of the Mohawk River, the women farmed, and their language and to endeavour to convert them while the men hunted in the winter and autumn, and to Christiamty from the inside, as It were fished in the summer. Eventually the Mohawks The secular authorities among the French also found themselves on the losing (British) side m the recognised the value of the Indians as allies. They American War of Independence, and many took often made excellent soldiers: they could live in refuge in Canada. Today, there are only a few highly mobile groups which left no trail in the forest thousand Mohawks left. (or at least none that the British could follow). They Most Abenaki regarded the British as enemies knew the lie of the land, and they could travel on and the French as friends, most of the time. The foot, or via the lakes and rivers, carrying their Mohawks, in theu turn, tended to side with the canoes over 'portages' between the waters When British, as they had with the Dutch. Elizabeth they found a likely target, they could stnke suddenly Hanson and her children were, however, kidnapped and with deadly force, then melt mto the woods. by a group of Mohawks who were loyal not to the They could be quite merciless with their enemies , British but to the French. and they combined French weapons and strategy In the 1720s, Indian raids on British houses, with the traditiOnal ways they had used against rival farms and settlements could be blamed in part on the tribes for centuries. French. Small armies of Native Americans would Many Native Americans may have thought they make their way south from Canada, or radtate out I I had good reasons to fight for the French side. They ' from French strongholds inside New England. I felt obliged to the French Canadians who had

12 13 The British needed little excuse to fight the scalps were supposed to act as evidence of numbers native tribes they distrusted and, through them, their killed, although scalping doesn't always imply death French associates. In 1722 Samuel Shute, Governor - it is possible for a human to survive such an injury. of Massachusetts, declared war on the Indians: John Evans, a great-uncle of the Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier, was scalped and left for dead 'I do therefore hereby declare and proclaim the satd during an Indian raid m the 1720s. He recovered eastern Indians ... to be robbers, traitors and enemtes to from his wounds and lived another fifty years. hts Majesty King George .. and that they be henceforth For devotees of old-fashioned cowboy films, proceeded agamst as such willing and requirmg all hts scalping is usually associated exclusively with the Majesty's subjects, as they shall have opportumty, to do Native American side, but it may not have originated and execute all acts of hostility against them And all milttary commtssion-officers are hereby authorised and with them. Some ancient Old World civilisations commanded to put this declaration and order mto used other parts of the human body, such as severed execution.' hands, to keep a tally of the dead. The technique was also applied to animals· in European cities such as The resulting conflict is little-known in Europe, and London, workers in the extermination busmess were goes under different aliases in the American history­ sometimes paid a fixed sum for each rat-tail they books. The names are related to different phases in managed to collect. the war, and to the dominant characters in each In colonial America scalping served a multiple phase. They included Dummer's War, Greylock's purpose - a scalp was proof that a victim had War, Rasle's War and Lovewell's War. probably been killed, and also that his or her body Economic interests play a part in most wars, and had been mutilated (the mutilation might serve to the war that started in Massachusetts in 1722 was no provoke the enemy, or to spread terror among them). exception. It was partly motivated by the British The colour, texture and smell of the han on the scalp desue for land and for the control of trade-routes. might also be proof that a Native American had Both sides in what is usually called Dummer's killed a European, or that a European had killed a War employed the same grisly tactic to motivate Native. their forces, and to ensure that they paid them The rewards posted for scalps by both sides strictly by results The method made use of a form meant that some campaigns in the Indmn wars of the of mutilation known as scalping: both the French eighteenth century were organised as commercial and the English offered large rewards for every speculations. Unfortunately the scalps of civilians human scalp handed in by their combatants. The and combatants were of equal value as they couldn't

14 15 really be told apart, so non-combatants became who was the first to bring this kind of industry to the targets. area. Waldron was born in England, and emigrated The bounty on a human scalp could be large, but to the New World in 1635. He seems not to have the pnces paid for a whole living person could be been a man who was much troubled by the pangs of larger. It was possible for the Indians to sell white conscience. He happily broke the law by selling hostages as slaves, or to return them to their families alcohol and guns to the Native Americans, and he in exchange for a ransom. Sometimes captives seems to have deliberately caused some of them to would be sold to middle-men (or 'chapmen') who get into debt to him. then re-sold them. An obvious advantage of this When trading with the Indians, he also gave false arrangement was that the middle-man could not be measure by blatantly using the old trick of holding arrested as the actual kidnapper. down one side of the scales with his hand. This hand Sometimes captives were valued for themselves, was cut off by the Indians who killed Waldron and not for the ransom they would bring Native during the massacre. It was this same Waldron who Americans would steal white children and adopt had caused the Quaker women to be whipped out of them by force. The men would also abduct women Dover in 1662. to become their wives. Some Native American Native Americans were a familiar sight around groups had been so severely reduced that they Cochecho, but in 1676 their numbers were swollen resorted to these desperate measures just to maintain by hundreds of Indians fleeing a war against the their numbers. English in Massachusetts. In that year, an army of The area around Elizabeth Hanson's home town white men appeared and were about to engage the of Dover seems to have had more than its fair share Indians in a stand-up battle, but employed trickery of the troubles that spilled over from the wars of the instead All the Indians were told to gather for time. It had been subject to Indian abductions and 'wargames'. The Massachusetts Indians, suddenly other attacks for many years before Elizabeth surrounded by white soldiers, were then sifted out Hanson was spirited away. A famous massacre from the locals. Many of the Indians captured were occurred at Cochecho in 1689, when twenty-nine later hanged or enslaved. whites were killed, and twenty-seven abducted and By 1687 the local Native Americans had lost taken north to Canada. much of their land to the white man, and their Before the massacre, Cochecho was a thriving ancient freedoms were being restricted. Their little place with a sawmill and an Indian trading­ resentment seems to have become very evident. post. The sawmill was owned by Richard Waldron,

16 17 Fearing the worst, the settlers started fortifymg century, in February 1675, when Native Americans houses and settmg up garrisons with high walls. destroyed much of the town of Lancaster, On the night of the 27th of June, 1689, the Massachusetts, and killed or kidnapped many of Indians employed a well-coordinated Trojan Horse Mary's friends and relatives. tactic to get their assault off to a good start Native She was with the Indians for 'eleven weeks and women, sheltering behind the settlers' fortifications, five days', during which time she was forced to opened the gates and let in the American equivalents cover a lot of ground with them (they were trymg to of the Greek warriors, Odysseus and Agamemnon. evade an English army sent out to recapture the One Margaret Otis' father was killed in the hostages). subsequent raid on his garrison at Cochecho, as were Much of Mary's long account of her captivity is two of his other children. The infant Margaret, her taken up with details of the dreadful food she had to mother and two more children were abducted by the eat. Although they had caused the death of one of Indians and taken to Canada. Margaret was raised in her children, Rawlinson could not help admiring a convent there, having become a Roman Catholic some things about her captors. She was amazed by like her mother, and went on to marry a Frenchman. the stamina of the Indians, who were able to travel When she became a widow at the age of twenty­ great distances very fast, despite carrying all their five, she abandoned her life in Quebec and went belongings, along with their children and old folks, back south with an English soldier, Thomas Baker. on their backs. She was astonished to see the Native Baker became her second husband. At her Roman Americans crossing a wide river with no trouble - a Catholic baptism she had been re-named Christine. cold, inhospitable river that stopped the pursuing Back among English-speaking Protestants, she English army in its tracks. She was mystified as to became Margaret again. how they managed to find sufficient food m such Ehzabeth Hanson's birthplace of Oyster River, barren surroundings, particularly in those days when New Hampshire, was the site of another massacre in the British had a policy of destroying Indian crops. 1704. At that time, her uncles Nicholas and The natives treated Mary Rawlinson with a Nathaniel Meader were killed Elizabeth would then mixture of cruelty and kindness Some gave her have been a married woman of about twenty food, while others threatened her, kicked her, lied to Dover and the surrounding area were not, of her and stole from her. King Philip, a leading figure course, the only places from which white people among the Wampanoag Indians at that time, treated were abducted by Native Americans. Mary her with particular kindness, even though she Rawlinson had been abducted in the previous committed the social faux pas of refusing to share a

18 19 pipe of tobacco with him. She was able to barter the Indians before they left the outskirts of with her captors for food and other necessities by Haverhill. doing sewing and knitting for them. In her account, Hannah and her nurse, Mary Neff, ended up with she states very clearly that she only saw an Indian a family of twelve natives, who, Mather tells us, drunk on one occasion, and she hints that none of prayed three times a day, as well as before meals and the native men attempted to have sex with her. at bed-time. They were 'idolaters'(meaning Roman Rowlandson insisted on drawing all sorts of Catholics) who had learned their Christianity from lessons from her story, for instance about God's the French. providence. Despite its glib, preachy aspect, her At night in camp, when their captors were all narrative still has a great deal of honest emotion in asleep, Hannah persuaded the nurse and an English it. Her account of what we would now call post­ boy who was there to help her try to kill them all. traumatic stress syndrome speaks to us very directly: They managed to kill and scalp ten, but two escaped into the forest. Hannah returned home triumphant 'I can remember the t1me when I used to sleep quietly and was handsomely rewarded for the scalps. She Without workings in my thoughts, whole nights together, became the first woman in the United States to have but now 1t IS other ways With me. When all are fast about a statue erected to her. me, and no eye open, but His who ever waketh, my thoughts are still upon things past ' As a pacifist Quaker, the murder of her captors would not have been an option for Elizabeth The captivity narrative of Hannah Duston, taken Hanson. In fact, what Quakers call the Peace from Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1697, is Testimony even prevented the Hansons from hiding remarkably similar to Elizabeth Hanson's, at least at away from the Indians when there was reason to the beginning. Her story is told in Cotton Mather's expect an attack. Magnalia Chrzstz Amerzcana. Like Hanson, Hannah Various sources state that there were defensible Duston had recently given birth to a child, and was places where the Hanson family could ~ave 'lying in'. Like her, she was taken away without her sheltered in the summer of 1725, but they dectded husband: he was occupied during the attack in not to. securing the escape of seven of his eight children (he The Hansons' religious objections to bolting for did this by riding at the back of the column of cover have a very good scriptural basis. The New escaping children and firing at the Indians with his Testament has many passages that exhort the rifle). The eighth child, the newborn, was killed by righteous to banish fear. In Matthew 10:28 we are

20 21 told to 'fear not them which kill the body, but are Quakers, whom they would have referred to as 'the not able to kill the soul'. At 2 Timothy 1:7 we read world's people'. In a garrison, the Hansons would that 'God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of have found themselves cheek-by-jowl with fellow­ power, and of love, and of a sound mind'. Hebrews Christians who did not share their views about how 13·6 says 'the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear life should be lived. These people might have passed what man shall do unto me'. These passages and the time drinking, gambling, playing music and even others hke them no doubt helped to strengthen the dancing. One of the Hanson daughters might also Hansons' resolve. have caught the eye of one of the world's young It has been a charactenstic of Quaker belief men (as in fact later happened). In the eighteenth through the ages that Quakers recognise 'that of century, marriages between Quakers and non­ God'; a pure, immortal element that strives for good, Quakers were not looked on with much favour. in the hearts of all people. Any decision of the But would the Hansons have been safe from Hansons to retreat into a garrison house would also Indian attack in a gamson anyway? As the have implied a distrust of the Native Americans, and Cochecho massacre demonstrated, the security of a failure to accept that this streak of good existed in garrison houses could not be guaranteed. A print them. reproduced on the Dover Public Library website The bravery of the Hansons was very Quakerly. shows a group of Indians preparing to roll a burning From the first, the Quakers were generally very open cart down a hill into the wall of a garrison house. and fearless in their faith and practice. It took a lot Old photographs ofNew Hampshire garrison houses of boldness to interrupt the sermon of a show that, though solidly built, they were wooden 'steeplehouse' priest, and an even greater measure of structures that could have been extremely vulnerable courage to attend a public Meeting for Worship in to such tactics. the morning, when one might be arrested and end Samuel Bownas's account of the captivity of the day in prison. Elizabeth Hanson counts as one of the so-called There might also have been practical reasons 'captivity narratives' of colonial America. These why the Hansons insisted on keeping themselves narratives do not always reflect well on the Indians and their children out of the garrison. The Hansons themselves. They tend to be one-sided, in that they were farmers, and a farm can quickly go to rack and do not present the Indian point of view, and they do rum if the farmer and his family desert it. As not take much notice of the many kidnappings of Quakers, they might also have been trying to put Native Americans by the whites, or of their some social distance between themselves and non- wholesale displacement of entire Indian nations. In

22 23 fact, the kidnapping of Native Americans began transplantation, as are the children in the Narnia with Christopher Columbus, who abducted ten stories of C.S. Lewis. Lewis also wrote science­ friendly Taino Indians from the island of San fiction. the hero of his novel Out of the Silent Planet Salvador in 1492. Is similar to Elizabeth Hanson because he, hke her, The Native Americans could not always treat is abducted. their captives well, partly because their own living The central character of a typical myth-like story conditions were being put under pressure by the undergoes dangerous adventures, making both actions of rival tribes, including the Europeans. enemies and friends along the way. He or she White captives were bound to find conditions in an typically reaches a very low pomt, when survival Indian camp disturbing, not least because of the seems Impossible, before bouncmg back and alien culture in the midst of which they suddenly returning to the normal world The heroine or hero found themselves. usually returns to the normal world with some precious acqmsition. This IS often a special form of The captivity narratives are a non-fiction literary knowledge or wisdom which makes the central genre that is little-known in Europe. Because some character 'master of the two worlds' Not all of these of them were written by women, or feature women elements are present m Elizabeth Hanson's captivity as their central characters, they have recently stirred story, but enough are there to explain some of interest among readers keen to restore women to Samuel Bownas's motivation for making a book out their rightful place in literature and history. of it. As literature, the stories seem to look back to Hanson's story IS a reminder that real-life ancient European tales of children abducted by adventures do not always follow the satisfying fairies or 'gypsies', and forward to science fiction, outlines of fiction, or of myths and legends. Her fantasy and magic-realist narratives. In the typical lowest point occurs right at the begmning of her 'mythic' adventure, as described by Joseph story, a fact which overshadows the whole narrative Campbell in his book The Hero With a Thousand and makes a complete victory over her sufferings Faces, the central character is taken out of the quite impossible. She does not defeat the 'Indian normal world into a strange new world which, it is Captain', the obvious villain of the piece, although discovered, had been existing parallel to the normal she certainly unnerves him Her behaviour durmg world all along. her troubles suggests that she was wise, patient and Lewis Carrol's Alice is a good example of a faithful right at the beginning. She has little to gam heroine who undergoes this sort of temporary from her experience, except for fame, which, as the

24 25 case of Elizabeth Fry demonstrates, is not always a them bemg identified only in terms of the nature of good thing for Quakers. their relationship to the 'Indian Captain'. The author may also have been confused as to Samuel Bownas is the author of Elizabeth Hanson's which children were abducted with Hanson, since he story, but he is so unobtrusive as an author that the seems to think her eldest daughter was taken, tale comes over as Elizabeth's own. In fact, an 1824 something which is not confirmed by the work of edition of Bownas's book, published at Dover, does the old historians, or of modern genealogical not even include the author's name on the title-page. researchers. Bownas also seems to have been Like that other eighteenth-century dissenting writer, mistaken about the ages of the Hanson children at the author of Moll Flanders, Bownas allows his the time of the abduction. The story also lacks many heroine to speak for herself. Although it looks place-names, and the reader is starved of much unattractive on a printed page, the author of the detail about the clothes and appearances of the book is perhaps best thought of as characters. After the first few pages, all sense of 'Hanson/Bownas'. time is lost, so that, when the onset of the colder The question of how Bownas's book was written weather is mentioned, it is the first clue we have that is a real puzzle. Did Bownas use some kind of more than just days have passed. shorthand? There were shorthand systems in use at Bownas's lack of control of his material is also this time, but Bownas might have developed his own revealed by his repetitions, for instance of the details idiosyncratic approach. Did the author write while of the food Hanson and her children were given to Elizabeth Hanson spoke to him, or did he jot eat, and the way extreme hunger made them come to everything down later? In other words, how many of find it acceptable. the words and phrases in the book are Elizabeth's Despite its flaws, Bownas's account of the own? captivity of Elizabeth Hanson does succeed in Certain features of the text suggest that Bownas putting over some of the character of the woman, wrote it after he had lost track of some of the details. and the central theme - of patience in adversity - The most striking of these is his total failure to comes over very powerfully. The book is also much include any ofthe names of Elizabeth Hanson's nine more accessible for modem readers than many children (the exception to this is a memorably Quaker writings of the seventeenth century. By strange new name given to one of the children in Bownas's time, English prose had evolved into Canada). The Indians also remain nameless, most of somethmg very similar to modem prose. As has always been the case, it was most effective when it

26 27 didn't fly too far from the words and phrases of Since Hanson and Bownas were both Quakers, ordinary speech. True, Bownas often uses colons they used the old Quaker names for the days of the and semi-colons where modem writers might use week and the months of the year. Names like full stops, but this gives the narrative a breathless, 'Friday' and 'January' were considered to be pagan, headlong quality in some passages that is very so numbers were substituted. Hanson was abducted engrossing. in August, which we would think of as the eighth The use of old-fashioned religious terminology month, but August was the sixth month in 1725, as m parts of the text gives it a certain starchmess, but until 1752 March was counted as the first month, in this is also a reminder of how Bownas and Hanson Britain and her colomes. It was in 1752 that the probably thought and spoke during their lives. Bntish changed from the Julian to the Gregorian Typical phrases of this type would include 'In this calendar, skipping eleven days in the process, so that sore extremity it was providentially ordered', and 'I Wednesday, 2"d September 1752 was followed by 111 was thankful to God, as the moving cause'. Thursday 14 • Hanson/Bownas also indulges in Puritanical . The language of the text also shows signs of judgements about the wastefulness and some familiarity with popular medical ideas of the improvidence of the Indians, and truisms about how time. The Indian Captain frequently shows an 'ill , hunger can make the most loathsome food palatable. temper', because he is 'naturally hot and The Protestant work-ethic rears up when Hanson passionate'. This terminology is consistent with tries to use her hard work about the camp as a way ancient ideas about the four 'humours' that were to justify her survival to the Indian Captain. supposed to make up the personalities of all people. The text includes a number of phrases familiar to Hanson clearly thought that the Captain had a frequent readers of the King James Version of the 'temper'(or 'mixture') in which choler (yellow bile) Bible, which was only about 110 years old in the predominated, making him fiery and prone to anger 1720s. These include 'bitterness of death' (1 Samuel 15:32), 'over all his works' (Psalm 145:9) and 'die Samuel Bownas (1677-1753), who also wrote the in the wilderness' (Exodus 14:11 & 12, Numbers well-regarded A Description of the Qualifications 21 :5 & 26:65). Hanson/Bownas often puts these Necessary to a Gospel Minister was born in phrases into the text without the use of italics, or any Westmorland, England, of Quaker parents. He other conventions that might suggest that a quotation underwent a profound change in his attitude to is being used. religion when a travelling Quaker minister, young Anne Wilson, challenged him with the words:

28 29 'A traditiOnal Quaker, thou comest to the meeting as thou Bownas was imprisoned on Long Island, where went from it, but art no better for thy coming, what wilt he was visited by a local 'Indian king'. The king and thou do m the end?' three of his attendants stayed a night and nearly two whole days with Bownas. Samuel explained Bownas didn't wait until the end, but soon became a Quakerism to them, and they gave him some idea of travelling Quaker minister himself Much of his their own religion, which, according to Bownas, was autobiography, An Account of the Life and Travels of similar to Quaker Christianity in some ways. Samuel Bownas, is concerned with the business of Bownas's friendly time with the Indians is 'travelling in the ministry', an activity that took him reminiscent of meetings between George Fox, the to America on two occasions. It was on his second founder of Quakerism, and the Indians he visit to the New World that he twice visited 'the encountered on his own travels in America. A widow Hanson, who had been taken into captivity Meeting at Rhode Island in 1672 was typical of his by the Indians'. experiences among the Native Americans: On his first visit to America, Bownas's efforts were very much impeded by the activities of George 'They sat down like Friends, and heard very attentively Keith, the 'Quaker apostate'. Keith had been a while I spoke to them by an interpreter, an Indian that Quaker, but had reverted to Anglicanism. He made it could speak Enghsh well After the meetmg they his business to speak at Quaker Meetings, to try to appeared very lovmg, and confessed that what was said to them was Truth tum his listeners away from their faith. He seems to have seen Bownas, who was by then an experienced Later, in Carolina, George Fox encountered a white and effective Minister, as a threat to his mission. doctor who could not believe that the Indmns In November 1702 Bownas and Keith were both possessed that sacred spint within them that Fox preaching simultaneously in a bam at a place called believed would bnng them closer to God Fox's Hempstead. The bam was so large that there was response was characteristically simple and room for both meetings, but soon listeners started to devastating: desert Keith and drift over to hear Bownas. Keith sent one William Bradford, a New-Yorker, over to 'I called an Indian to us, and asked him whether when he his rival to jot down what he said. This record lied, or did wrong to any one, there was not somethmg m became the basis for a trumped-up charge that put him that reproved him for It He said there was such a Bownas in prison, quite illegally, for nearly a year. thmg m him, that did so reprove h1m; and he was ashamed when he had done wrong, or spoken wrong So

30 31 we shamed the doctor before the Governor [of Carolina] than it was worth, and that they had been thrust out and the people .. ' into regions of the continent that were much less congenial. He was distressed to hear of whites This belief that remorse of conscience shows supplying rum to the natives, sometimes in evidence of the Spirit of God in a person, of any exchange for goods such as furs, that the natives race, re-surfaces in Bownas's account of the could not easily spare. captivity of Elizabeth Hanson. The narrative Writing in 1683, William Penn, the Quaker describes how, in the opinion of the Indian Captain's founder of Pennsylvania, also showed great concern wife, he has been made sick by God because of his about the drinking habits of the Indians: 'They are cruelty to his captives. grown great lovers of strong liquors, rum especially; and for it exchange the richest of their skins and More than sixty years after Samuel Bownas's furs'. Penn, who believed at one time that the imprisonment, the New Jersey Quaker John Indians were descended from the ancient Hebrews, Woolman, not content with merely visitmg local noted a more general corruption of Indian manners, Indians, deliberately set out to find them in an and he knew where to place the blame: inhospitable region of the North American Continent, and at a time when the Indians were on ' ... the worst Is, that they are the worse for the Christians the war-path. who have propagated their vices, and yielded them Woolman's intentions toward the Indians were traditiOn for Ill, and not for good thmgs.' far more humble and honourable than those of some Americans of European extraction, who regarded the Penn's view of the Indians may have owed natives as necessarily inferior to members of their something to the ideas of the French essayist Michel own white Christian tribe. In his Journal, Woolman de Montaigne (1533-92). In his essay On Canmbals states that he sought out the Indians so that he might Montaigne, who had met some Brazilian Indians at gain 'some Instruction from them, or they be in any Rouen, maintained that these 'cannibals' were Degree helped forward by my following the morally superior to Europeans. He suggested: Leadings of Truth amongst them'. Woolman seems to have had a very clear and 'We are justified in calling these people barbarians by modern understanding of the predicament of the reference to the laws of reason, but not m companson with ourselves, who surpass them in every kind of Native Americans in the 1760s. He understood that barbarity.' their land had been bought from them for far less

32 33 paying to avoid service as local constables for many John Woolman dreamed of a fairer and (as we might decades. say today) more sustainable lifestyle for both the Samuel Bownas was particularly concerned that American and European tribes in the New World, the Dover Quakers should record their sufferings which he felt would prevent hardship and conflict. properly, and this concern may have been another He also understood how desperate whites had been part of his motivation for publishing his version of driven into hurting the natives' cause. He knew that Elizabeth Hanson's captivity, even though he had poor frontier settlers, oppressed by rents and debts, seen a previous printed account in Dublin. This might try to seize the natives' lands in a desperate business of the recording of sufferings (of the sort attempt at economic survival. that might be termed 'persecutions' in non-Quaker Samuel Bownas's encounter with the Indians on language) was considered very important by Long Island in 1702 may have been a motivation for Quakers at this period, and large 'books of his visits to Elizabeth Hanson at Dover in 1726. suffenngs' were compiled. Like many others of his generation, he seems to have found the Native Americans fascinating. When he first came to Dover, Bownas, who concerned himself with the efficient running of Quaker Meetings, found the Dover Quakers 'raw'. They ordered their affairs 'but indifferently, chiefly occasioned for want of some better hands to write and keep their books in order'. At Dover, the Quakers sometimes had a hard time because they refused to help pay the wages of Anglican clergymen, and because, as Bownas puts it, they were expected to 'bear arms'. This may have involved some sort of service or training connected to a local militia, as was the case among the white settlers in Barbados. It would appear that some of the local Quakers may have paid money to avoid the bearing of arms, much as men in England had been

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The Captivity of Elizabeth Hanson: A Quaker Kidnapped by Native Americans in 1725 by Samuel Bownas. Simon Webb, Langley Press (2016), pp. 60-61

Kari Elizabeth Rose Thompson, “Inconsistent Friends: Philadelphia Quakers and the Development of Native American Missions in the Long Eighteenth Century,” Ph.D. thesis, The University of Iowa, May 2013, pp.53-80

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