A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. I, Part 13

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851-1922; Smith, Ernest Gray
Publication date: 1909-1930
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre : Raeder Press
Number of Pages: 734

USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. I > Part 13

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"As regards the antiquity of the works of the Mississippi Valley, nothing can be affirmed with exactness. That many of them are very ancient, dating back by

* See page 100.

f See "Ancient Monuments in the United States, " Harper's Magazine, XXI : 177 (July, 1860).

thousands of years, seems to be fairly deducible from a variety of circumstances. Not only are they covered by primitive forests of trees, some of which have an antiquity of from 600 to 800 years, but even these forests appear to stand on the debris of others equally venerable, which preceded then, since the era of the mounds."

Gerard Fowke, of Chillicothe, Ohio, an archaeologist of experience and standing, has recently said* :

"So far as has yet been discovered, the Mound-builders could not build a stone . wall that would stand up. In the absence of springs or streams they could procure water only by excavating a shallow pond ; they could not even wall up a spring when one was convenient. They left not one stone used in building that shows any mark of a dressing tool. Their mounds and embankments were built by bringing loads of earth, never larger than one person could easily carry, in baskets or skins, as is proved by the hundreds of lens-shaped masses observable in the larger mounds. They had not the slightest knowledge of the economic use of metals-treating what little they had as a sort of malleable stone ; even galena, which it seems impossible they could have used without discovering its low melting point, was always worked, if worked at all, as a piece of slate or other ornamental stone would be.

"They left nothing to indicate that any system of written language existed among them, the few 'hieroglyphics' on the 'inscribed tablets' having no more significance than the modern carving by a boy on the smooth bark of the beech, or else being deliberate frauds-generally the latter in the case of the more elaborate specimens. They had not a single beast of burden, unless we accept the 'proof' offered by a New York author that they harnessed up mastodons and worked them. Beyond peddling from tribe to tribe a few ornaments or other small articles that a man could easily carry, or transport in a

canoe, they had no trade or commerce. * Again it is stated that the great magnitude of the works show a numerous population distributed over a wide area, but all subject to one great central power, with kings and chiefs and high priests and laws and established religious systems and despotic power and servile obedience.' If the assump- tion upon which all this is based were correct-namely, that the various works scattered through the Mississippi Valley were occupied at one time by one people-there would be some probability of its truth ; but the little that is definitely known points the other way- to distinct races of Mound-builders at widely separated periods of time."

Nearly all the large mounds in Ohio have been carefully explored by archæologists and others. The last one to be opened and leveled to the ground was known as "the Great Adena Mound," and was situated just north of Chillicothe. It was one of the largest known in Ohio, being originally twenty-six feet in height and 175 feet in diameter, and was located on the estate purchased over a hundred years ago by Gov. Thomas Worthington of Ohio. In 1809 Jacob Cist of Wilkes-Barré visited this mound and inade a drawing of its outlines, or ground-plan, which, together with a brief description of the same written by Mr. Cist, was published under the title, "Ruins of an Ancient Work on the Scioto," in the November, 1809, number of The Portfolio. Neither Governor Worthington nor any of his descendants would ever allow this mound to be disturbed ; but a few years ago the property passed out of the family's lands, and its exploration was at once arranged for by the Ohio State Historical and Archæological Society.

The work of removing the earth composing this mound occupied a force of laborers for several weeks in the Summer of 1901; but the operations were rich in results. Twenty-four skeletons were exhumed, together with numberless implements and ornaments of rare workinan- ship. Perhaps the most interesting find in the entire mound was alinost at the exact center of the base. Here a carefully constructed mauso- leum of logs was found, and in it the skeleton of an adult in a fine state of preservation. It was evidently that of the chieftan in whose honor the mound was begun, for with the skeleton were found a necklace made of bears' claws, a number of awls and spear heads of slate and horn, and a remarkable pipe eight inches in length and beautifully

* See the Vew York Tribune, December 20, 1903.

carved. Two other large 'mausoleums had been constructed on the base line a short distance from the center. In one of these was found the body of a child, about twelve years old. About the loins had been wrapped bands of cloth, much of which was, when discovered, still in fine condition ; and then, over all, was wound sheet after sheet of birch bark, held in place by splints of wood. The third mausoleumn was V-shaped, and in this was found the skeleton of an adult that had ou its arms a number of bracelets of beaten copper. Lying on the arm bones was a long, narrow gorget, held to the arm by one of the bracelets. Over the head of the skeleton of a child was a curious head- dress made of strips of mica about an inch in width, perforated at the ends with small holes. The inica composing this is believed to liave been brought from North Carolina, as in that State is the nearest known locality where the same grade of mica is found.

The most unique of the many remarkable Ohio mounds with which archaeologists, early and recent, have been familiar, is the one known everywhere as the "Serpent Mound." It is located in what for the past sixteen years has been called Serpent Mound Park, in Adams County, on the southern border of Ohio. This park is owned and carefully con- served by the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Along the eastern bank of Brush Creek-the western boundary of the park-a huge serpent, formed of yellow clay, stretches in graceful folds. It measures 1,254 feet in length, from four to five feet in height, with an average width of twenty feet. In front of its wide-extended jaws lies an oval mound, called "the egg," its major axis being one hundred and twenty feet and its minor axis sixty feet in length. The whole structure presents a strange and weird appearance -- fairly indicated by the accompanying illustration, reproduced from The Four-Track News (New York) of January, 1904, by courtesy of the publisher.

Nearly fifty years ago E. G. Squier wrote* of this mnound :

"It is unquestionably, in many respects, the most extraordinary and interesting

inonument of antiquity yet discovered in the United States. *

* It cannot be supposed to be the offspring of an idle fancy or a savage whin. In its position, and the harmony and elaboration of structure, it bears the evidences of design ; and it seems to have been begun and finished in accordance with a matured plan, and not to have been the result of successive and unmeaning combinations."

* In "Ancient Monuments in the United States."

100

For a very full and interesting account (with many illustrations) of the "Serpent Mound," and other pre-historic remains in the Ohio Valley, the reader is referred to two articles by Prof. F. W. Putnam (previously mentioned) in The Century Magazine, XVII: 698, 871 (March and April, 1890).

The oldest tribe or nation of Indians within the present limits of the United States (excluding Alaska and the Island possessions), of which there is a distinct tradition, was the Alleghan, Allegewi or Tal- ligewi. Its name is perpetnated in that of the principal mountain- chain or system traversing the country-the Allegheny. This "semi- civilized" tribe, or, perhaps, confederacy, had the seat of its power, at a very early period, in the valley of the Ohio River and its confluent streams, and there are evidences that the ancient Alleghans and their allies and confederates lived in fixed towns, cultivated the soil and, without much doubt, were the Mound-builders. According to Indian tradition the Alleghans, driven from their ancient seats by a combina- tion against them of the Lenni Lenapés (Delawares) and the Mengwes, or Mingoes (Iroquois), fled southward .*

"About the period 1500-1600 those related tribes whom we now know by the name of Algonkins [or Algonquins] occupied the Atlantic coast from the Savannah River on the south to the Strait of Belle Isle on the north. The whole of Newfoundland was in their possession ; in Labrador they were neighbors to the Eskimos; their northernmost branch dwelt along the southern shores of Hudson Bay, and followed the streams which flow into it from the west. * East of the Alleghenies, in the valleys of the Delaware, the Potomac and the Hud- son, over the barren hills of New England and Nova Scotia, and throughout the swamps and forests of Virginia and the Carolinas, their osier cabins and palisadoed strongholds, their maize fields and workshops of stone implements were numerously located."+

There has been some difficulty in properly locating the tribe from which the Algonkin family has taken its name, but it is generally believed that it had its seat somewhere in Canada, between the St. Lawrence River and Hudson Bay. Tradition points to that region, and there the language of the Algonkin stock is found in its purest and inost archaic form. The majority of the members of this original tribe apparently divided at a very early day into two branches, the one follow- ing the Atlantic coast southward, and the other the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes westward At the period previously mentioned (1500- 1600) the Algonkins composed the largest family of North American Indians, and the area occupied by thein was more extensive than that of any other linguistic stock. In New England they were known as Abnakis, Pequots, Narragansetts, etc .; on the Hudson, as Mahikans, Mohicans or Mohegans ; on the Delaware, as Lenni Lenapés ; in Mary- land, as Nanticokes ; in Virginia, as Powhatans, while the most southern representatives of this family, or stock, were the Shawanoes, Shawanese or Shawnees, who once lived on the Tennessee River, and were closely related to the Mahikans of New York.

* See pages 97 and 102; also, Heckewelder's "Tradition of the Lenape Migration," in "Pennsylvania- Colonial and Federal," I : 27.

+ Daniel G. Brinton, in "The Lenâpé and their Legends" (1885).

101

Most of the tribes mentioned were agricultural, raising maize, beans, squashes and tobacco ; but they were nomadic-shifting from place to place as the hunting and fishing, upon which they chiefly depended, required-although during the greater part of the year they occupied fixed residences in villages or towns. "They were," says Brinton, "skillful in chipping and polishing stone, and they had a definite, even rigid, social organization. Their mythology was extensive, and its legends, as well as the history of their ancestors, were retained in memory by a system of ideographic writing, of which a number of specimens have been preserved. Their intellectual capacities were strong, and the distinguished characters that arose among them displayed in their dealings of war or peace with the Europeans an ability, a bravery and a sense of right on a par with the famed heroes of antiquity." Schoolcraft says *: "The Algonquin language has been more culti- vated than any of the North American tongues. Containing no sounds of difficult utterance, capable of an easy and clear expression, and with a copious vocabulary, it has been the favorite medium of communica- tion on the frontiers from the earliest times. The French at an early period made themselves masters of it ; and, from its general use, it has been sometimes called the court language of the Indian. In its various etlinological formis, as spoken by the Delaware, Mohican, Shawnee

* * and by many other tribes, it has been familiar to the Englishi colonists from the respective eras of the settlement of Virginia, New York and New England." Etymologists tell us that there are 131 words of Algonkin derivation in the English language-incorporated therein before the Algonkins were compelled to "move on" from their ancient territory towards the setting sun. Some of these words are: "Chip- munk," "hickory," "hominy," "menhaden," "moccasin," "moose," "mug- wump," "musquash," "pemmican," "persimmon," "pappoose," "pone," "porgy," "'possum," "powwow," "raccoon," "samp," "skunk," "squash," "squaw," "succotash," "Tammany," "tantog," "terrapin," "toboggan," "tomahawk," "totem," "wigwam," "woodchuck."

All the Algonkin tribes who dwelt north of the Potomac, on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay, and in the basins of the Delaware and Hudson rivers, claimed near kinship and an identical origin, and were at times united into a loose, defensive confederacy. The members of this confederacy were: (1) the Mahikans, or Mohegans (sometimes called "River Indians"), of the Hudson, who occupied the valley of that river to the falls above the present city of Albany, and were the inost northern tribe of the Algonkin family in New York, but who finally (about 1630) retired over the Highlands east of them into the valley of the Housatonict ; (2) the various New Jersey tribes-Sankhikans, Rari- tans, Hackinsacks, Navisinks and others, some of whom were branches, clans or sub-tribes of the great Lenâpé tribet ; (3) the Lenâpés proper, or Lenni Lenâpés, or Delawares, on the Delaware River and its branches ; (4) the Nanticokes, occupying all the territory between Chesapeake

*"History of the Indian Tribes of the United States" (edition of 1857), page 673.

+ "Evidently, most of the tribes of Massachusetts and Connecticut were comparatively recent offshoots of the parent stem on the Hudson-supposing the course of migration had been eastward."-Brinton.

Į Many families of this tribe chose to live by themselves, fixing their abodes in villages and taking a name from their location. Each of these bands had a chief, who, however, was in a measure subordinate to the chief of one of the sub-tribes or to the head-chief of the tribe. See page 103, post ; also, Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, Second Series, V : 81.

102

Bay and the Atlantic Ocean except the southern extremity, which appears to have been under the control of the Powhatan tribe of Vir- ginia ; (5) the small tribe called the Conoys, Kanawhas or Ganaweses, whose towns were on the tributaries of the Potomac and Patuxent rivers.

Of all the Algonkin stock the Delawares were for many genera- ations the most numerous and powerful. The proper tribal name of these Indians was and is Lenâpé ("â" as in far, "é" as "a" in mate). They called themselves Lenni Lenâpé, meaning "true, or manly, men."* Heckewelder, t in one of his books, states that he well remembers "when they thought the whites had given thein the name of 'Delawares' in derision ; but they were reconciled to it on being told that it was the name of a great white chief, Lord de La Warre. As they are fond of being named after distinguished men, they were rather pleased, consider- ing it as a compliment." According to their tradition, as preserved in the writings of Heckewelder, they resided at a very early day in a far western part of the American continent. Having determined to migrate eastward, they set forth in a body on a journey that lasted several years. In due time they came to the river now known as the Mississippi, where they fell in with the Mengwes (later known as the Iroquois), who had likewise migrated from a distant region. It was then that the Lenâpés and Mengwes combined to make war, successfully, on the Alleghans-as previously mentioned. This war lasted inany years, during which the Lenâpés lost a great number of their warriors. Event- nially, the conquerors divided the country between themselves-the Mengwes making choice of the lands in the vicinity of the great lakes, and on their tributary streams, and the Lenâpés taking possession of the country to the south. The two nations resided peaceably in this country for a long period of time, when some of the most enterprising huntsmen and warriors of the Lenâpés journeyed to and crossed the swamps and mountains far to the eastward, and continued to advance until they had come to the shore of the ocean. Then they discovered the great rivers, many years later named the Delaware, Hudson, Susque- hanna and Potomac. After a long absence these explorers returned to their nation and reported what they had seen ; whereupon the Lenapés began to emigrate to the new territory, but at first only in small bands. They settled along the rivers mentioned, making the Delaware the center of their possessions.

At a much later date, according to the traditions common to all the Algonkin tribes, special dignity and authority were assigned the Lenâpés. Forty tribes, it is said, looked up to them with respect, and they took first place as the "grandfathers" of the family, while the other tribes were called "children," "nephews" and "grandchildren." A Lenâpé traditiont sets forth that, many hundred years before white men came to America, a treaty of friendship was made by the Lenâpés with other Indian nations, and in memory of this event there was presented to the chief of the Lenâpés a wampum belt with a copper heart in the center of it. This remarkable belt was seen and acknowledged by

* See "Report on Indians in the United States at the Eleventh Census." page 297 : "Transactions of the Buffalo (N Y.) Historical Society," III : 102, 103; Schoolcraft's "History of the Indian Tribes of the United States, " page 177.

+ See pages 42, 81 and 100, ante.

# See "Report on Indians in the United States at the Eleventh Census," page 298.

103

William Penn, afterwards by various British generals, later by General Washington, and from that time down to about the year 1841 by every Indian tribe in the North and . East. It was understood to be still in existence as late as 1858. In presenting this belt at a grand council the Lenâpé chief would always hold it out and ask if any one could detect any change in the heart. Thereupon it would be passed from one chief to another and from one brave to another, and then returned, and each chief would respond that the heart had remained unchange- able and true ; although the sinews that held the wampum might have become rotten from age and had to be replaced with new ones, and although a wampum might have fallen off-whereby a figure in the belt was changed-the heart was always just the same. After exhorting for a time on the subject they would renew their bonds of friendship, smoke the pipe of peace and depart.

When first discovered by the whites the Lenapés were living on the banks of the Delaware in detached bands under separate sachems. On a map published at Amsterdam in 1659 they are represented as occupy- ing the valley of the Delaware from its source to its mouth, extending westward to the Minquas, or Susquehannocks,* and eastward, under the names of various local and totemic clans or bands, t across the entire area of New Jersey to the Hudson. The nation was divided into three sub-tribes or clans, as follows: (1) The Minsi, Munsee, Monsey or Minisink, "the People of the Stony Lands," whose totemnic device was the Wolf; (2) the Unami, Wonamey or Wanamie, "the Down-river People," whose totemnic device was the Turtle, or Tortoise ; (3) the Unalachtigo, "the Tide-water People," whose totemic device was the Turkey.

The Minsis lived in the mountainous region at the head-waters of the Delaware, above the "Forks," or junction of the Lehigh River. "That they were the most vigorons and war-like of the Lenape is indi- cated by many evidences; and they were probably the strongest in numbers. From their holds in the mountains they reached north-east- ward to the banks of the Hudson, and on that river joined hands with the Mohegans, another tribe of the Algonkin family."- The territory of the Unamis lay on the right bank of the Delaware, and extended from the Lehigh Valley southward. To this, the "Turtle" clan, the Lenâpés ascribed the greatest dignity, "for they shared with peoples of the Old World the myth that a great tortoise, first of all created beings, bore the earth upon its back. Thus, by their totem, the Unamis had precedence, and in time of peace their sachem or chief, wearing a diamond-marked wampum belt, was chief of the whole tribe." The Unalachtigos had their principal seat on the affluents of the Delaware, near where the city of Wilmington now stands.

The Rev. John Campanius, in his "History of New Sweden,"t writing of the Lenâpés about the year 1645, says :

* See page 38.

+ See foot-note, page 101.

{"New Sweden," which comprehended certain parts of the present States of Delaware and Pennsyl- vania, was the first permanent settlement by white men on the Delaware Bay and River on either side. This Swedish colony had a lifetime of but seventeen years-1638 to 1655 ; "yet it was of large importance. because it was the actual and systematic beginning of the life of white people on the west bank of the Delaware. Out of it came the first planting of Pennsylvania. A year before William Penn was born the Swedes had already begun the settlement of the State which was to bear his name."

Campanius, the author mentioned above, was minister of the Church in New Sweden from 1643 to 1648, when he returned to Sweden. September 4, 1646, at what is now Tinicnm, Delaware County, he dedicated the first house for Christian worship erected within the present limits of Pennsylvania.

104

"They make their bows with the limb of a tree, of about a man's length, and their bow-strings out of the sinews of animals ; they make their arrows out of a reed, a yard and a-half long, and at one end they fix in a piece of hard wood of about a quarter's length, at the end of which they make a hole to fix in the head of the arrow, which is made of black flint-stone, or of hard bone or horn, or the teeth of large fishes or animals, which they fasten in with fish glue in such a manner that the water can- not penetrate ; at the other end of the arrow they put feathers. They can also tan and prepare the skins of animals, which they paint afterwards in their own way. They make much use of painted feathers, with which they adorn their skins and bed-covers, binding them with a kind of network, which is very handsome, and fastens the feathers very well. With these they make light and warm clothing for themselves; with the leaves of Indian corn and reeds they make purses, mats and baskets, and everything else that they want. * * They make very handsome and strong mats of fine roots, which they paint with all kinds of figures ; they hang their *

walls with these mats, and make excellent bed-clothes out of them. The women spin thread and yarn out of nettles, hemp and some plants unknown to us. Governor Printz* had a complete set of clothes, with coat, breeches and belt, made by these barbarians with their wam- pum, which was curiously wrought with figures of all kinds of animals. * *

LENÂPÉ INDIAN FAMILY. From Campanius' "New Sweden."

"They make tobacco-pipes out of reeds about a man's length ; the bowl is made of horn, and to contain a great quantity of tobacco. They generally present these pipes to their good friends when they come to visit them at their houses and wish them to stay some time longer ; then the friends cannot go away without having first smoked out of the pipe.t They make them, other- wise, of red, yellow and blue clay, of which there is a great quantity in the country ; also of white, gray, green, brown, black and blue stones, which are so soft that they can be cut with a knife. * * * Their boats are made of the bark of cedar and birch trees, bound to- gether and lashed very strongly. They carry them along wherever they go, and when they come to some creek that they want to get over they launch them and go whither they please. They also used to make boats out of cedar trees, which they burnt inside and then scrap- ed off the coals [charred wood] with sharp stones, bones or mussel-shells."

Charles Thomson (for fifteen years Secretary of the Colonial Con- gress), who, about the years 1756-'60, had unusual opportunitiest for studying the institutions, manners, etc., of the Lenâpés, left among his manuscripts a fragmentary "Essay upon Indian Affairs"-written about 1763-from which the following paragraphs have been taken : "They [the Lenapés] were perfect strangers to the use of iron. The instruments with which they dug up the ground were of wood, or a stone fastened to a handle of wood. Their hatchets for cutting were of stone, sharpened to an edge by rubbing, and fastened to a wooden handle. Their arrows were pointed with flint or bones. What clothing they wore was of the skins of animals took in hunting, and their ornaments were principally of feathers. They all painted or daubed their faces with red. The men suffered only a tuft of hair to grow on the crown of the head ; the rest, whether on the head or face, they prevented from growing by constantly plucking it out by the roots, so that they always appeared as if they were bald and beardless. Many were in the practice of marking their faces, arms and breasts by pricking the skin with thorns and rubbing the parts with a fine powder made of coal [charcoal], which, penetrating the punctures, left an indelible stain or mark, which remained as long as they lived. The punctures were made in figures, according to their several fancies.

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A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. I, Part 13

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851-1922; Smith, Ernest Gray Publication date: 1909-1930 Publisher: Wilkes-Barre : Raeder Press Number of Pages: 734

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851-1922; Smith, Ernest Gray
Publication date: 1909-1930
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre : Raeder Press
Number of Pages: 734