Mohican Seminar 2 The picture titled John Sergeant and Chief Konkopot, painted by noted twentieth-century artist Norman Rockwell, shows the Mohican chief talking with the minister in the Mission House at Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Such conversations were made possible by trader Jochem Van Valkenburgh, who taught the Mohican language to Sergeant (see Chapter 2). Used by permission of the Norman Rockwell Family Agency, Copyright 1976, the Norman Rockwell Family Entities. Mohican Seminar 2 The Challenge—An Algonquian Peoples Seminar Edited by Shirley W. Dunn New York State Museum Bulletin 506 2005 The University of the State of New York The State Education Department Albany, New York 12230 www.nysed.gov THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Regents of The University ROBERT M. BENNETT, Chancellor, B.A., M.S. ................................................................... Tonawanda ADELAIDE L. SANFORD, Vice Chancellor, B.A., M.A., P.D. ............................................. Hollis SAUL B. COHEN, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. ................................................................................. New Rochelle JAMES C. DAWSON, A.A., B.A., M.S., Ph.D. ................................................................... Peru ANTHONY S. BOTTAR, B.A., J.D. ....................................................................................... North Syracuse MERRYL H. TISCH, B.A., M.A. ......................................................................................... New York GERALDINE D. CHAPEY, B.A., M.A., Ed.D. .................................................................... Belle Harbor ARNOLD B. GARDNER, B.A., LL.B. ................................................................................... Buffalo HARRY PHILLIPS, 3rd, B.A., M.S.F.S. ............................................................................... Hartsdale JOSEPH E. BOWMAN,JR., B.A., M.L.S., M.A., M.Ed., Ed.D. .......................................... Albany LORRAINE A. CORTÉS-VÁZQUEZ, B.A., M.P.A. ................................................................ Bronx JAMES R. TALLON,JR., B.A., M.A. ................................................................................... Binghamton MILTON L. COFIELD, B.S., M.B.A., Ph.D. ........................................................................ Rochester JOHN BRADEMAS, B.A., Ph.D. .......................................................................................... New York CAROL BELLAMY, A.B., J.D. .............................................................................................. Brooklyn ROGER B. TILLES, B.A., J.D. .............................................................................................. Great Neck President of The University and Commissioner of Education RICHARD P. MILLS Chief of Staff Counsel and Deputy Commissioner for Legal Affairs KATHY A. AHEARN Chief Operating Officer Deputy Commissioner for the Office of Management Services THERESA E. SAVO Deputy Commissioner for Cultural Education CAROLE F. HUXLEY Director of the New York State Museum CLIFFORD A. SIEGFRIED Director, Research and Collections Division JOHN P. HART The State Education Department does not discriminate on the basis of age, color, religion, creed, disability, marital status, veteran status, national origin, race, gender, genetic predisposition or carrier status, or sexual orientation in its educational programs, services and activities. Portions of this publication can be made available in a variety of formats, including braille, large print or audio tape, upon request. Inquiries concerning this policy of nondiscrimination should be directed to the Department’s Office for Diversity, Ethics, and Access, Room 530, Education Building, Albany, NY 12234. Requests for additional copies of this publication may be made by contacting Publications Sales, Room 3140, Cultural Education Center, New York State Museum, Albany, NY 12230. © The New York State Education Department, Albany, New York 12230 Published 2005 Printed in the United States of America Copies may be ordered from: Publication Sales 3140 CEC New York State Museum Albany, New York 12230 Phone: (518) 402-5344 Fax: (518) 474-2033 Web address: http//www.nysm.nysed.gov/publications.html Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2005926863 ISBN: 1-55557-224-3 ISSN: 0278-3355 [Cover] Detail from a 1710 painting of the Mohican chief sachem, Etowaukaum. National Archives of Canada. See page 22 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ............................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION . 1 CHAPTER 1 The River beyond the Mountains: Native American Settlements of the Upper Housatonic during the Woodland Period . 7 TIMOTHY BINZEN CHAPTER 2 A Dutchman at Indiantown: A Perspective on the Stockbridge Mission . 19 STANLEY JOSEPH CHAPTER 3 The Westward Migration of the Munsee Indians in the Eighteenth Century . 31 JAMES D. FOLTS CHAPTER 4 The Mohican Presence on the Susquehanna River in New York . 49 SHIRLEY W. DUNN CHAPTER 5 Oral Historical Insights into Rogers’ Raid on the St. Francis Abenaki Village in 1759 . 71 HERIBERTO DIXON CHAPTER 6 When Congress Acted: The Mohican Reservation and the Act of 1871 . 83 JAMES W. OBERLY CHAPTER 7 Mohican Music, Past and Present . 97 CD containing selections of this talk and music . Back Cover DAVID P. MCALLESTER CHAPTER 8 New York State’s Mohicans in Literature . 103 WARREN F. BRODERICK Contributors . 123 Table of Contents vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Frontispiece: John Sergeant and Chief Konkopot at the Stockbridge Mission: Painting by Norman Rockwell done about 1974. ii Figure 0.1. Tintype of Cornelia Albright Schoonmaker, the daughter of a Mohican woman. 3 Figure 1.1. Map outlining a study area in the Upper Housatonic watershed. 8 Figure 1.2. Table of information on archaeological sites in the Upper Housatonic area. 15 Figure 2.1. Detail from a Norman Rockwell painting featuring Konkapot, a Mohican sachem. 20 Figure 2.2. A London painting of the Mohican sachem, Etowaukaum, done in 1710. 22 Figure 2.3. Detail from a deed granting Stockbridge land to Johannis Van Valkenburgh. 28 Figure 3.1. A map of Munsee locations in Pennsylvania and New York. 32 Figure 4.1. Detail from a map showing Indian communities along the Susquehanna River. 54 Figure 4.2. Map showing Fort Johnson and Mohican communities on the Susquehanna. 57 Figure 4.3. Modern photograph of cornfields near Oquaga, on the Susquehanna River. 59 Figure 4.4. View of the Susquehanna River (above Owego). 67 Figure 5.1. Map of the St. Lawrence River locating Odanak/St. Francis. 72 Figure 5.2. Map of the St. Francis River, showing the changing locations of Odanak. 73 Figure 5.3. Detail of a 1759 painting showing an Indian warrior at Lake George. 74 Figure 7.1. Cover for Ni-Tcang, by Brent Michael Davids, Mohican composer. 98 Figure 7.2. Transcription of the music to “Passamaquoddy Snake Dance Song.” . 99 Figure 7.3. “Seneca Quiver Dance Song,” recorded by William Fenton. 100 Figure 8.1. Cover illustration from Maeleska: the Indian Wife of the White Hunter. 108 Figure 8.2 Illustration from Hawkeye: A Sequel to the Deerslayer of James Fenimore Cooper, showing Niagara Falls. 110 Figure 8.3. Cover illustration from The Legend of Utsayantha. .......................................... 114 Figure 8.4. Drawing of a temporary Indian camp at Lake Utsayantha. 114 Figure 8.5. Illustration from The Legend of Utsayantha: a villain hides in a tree. 115 Figure 8.6. The Prospering ........................................................................ 117 Figure 8.7. Song of the Mohicans ................................................................... 119 viii List of Illustrations PREFACE It has become an annual event for the present. The seminars, therefore, are designed Native American Institute, a non-profit group to call attention to the important historic originally sponsored by Columbia-Greene record of the area’s Algonquian residents. Community College, and for the New York The chapters in this volume are papers pre- State Museum, located on Madison Avenue in sented at two conferences at the New York Albany, New York, to present a seminar on State Museum: the Algonquian Peoples Semi- the subject of the Algonquian Indians of New nar of March, 2001, and the one of March, 2002. York’s Hudson Valley and nearby states of While each paper is identified by the year it the northeast. The seminars were begun as was presented, for reasons of continuity the conferences to be devoted to the study of the papers are arranged in order by topic, rather Mohican Indian nation, but the title and sub- than by the year they were given. A future vol- ject were quickly broadened to include the ume will follow the same format and will history of the many groups who speak the include papers from the 2003 and 2004 Algo- various Algonquian tongues of the area. nquian Peoples seminars. The seminars were initiated out of recogni- Acknowledgments: The seminars which tion that the historic presence of Algonquian produced these papers have been the work of groups in New York has been overshadowed many people who have been interested in the by attention paid to the Iroquois. However, it presence and contributions of the varied is Algonquian remains and evidence of Algo- Algonquian groups of the Hudson River Val- nquian lives that archaeologists find in the ley and surrounding area. The Seminar of Hudson River Valley, in the eastern Mohawk 2001 was arranged by Professor Richard Pow- Valley, on Long Island, and in New England. ell, of Columbia-Greene