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1 2017-08-15T16:29:47+00:00 Lisa Brooks fec693e828c406419bf2b9fc046e7ea8bc7558cb 6 1 Waves on Lake Champlain after a storm plain 2017-08-15T16:29:47+00:00 Lisa Brooks fec693e828c406419bf2b9fc046e7ea8bc7558cbThis page is referenced by:
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2017-05-29T18:40:59+00:00
Dispersal from Schaghticoke
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Contributed by Griffin Harris
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2019-05-28T18:47:28+00:00
Though many Native people from the Connecticut River valley made their way to Schaghticoke in the years following King Phillip’s war, the village was by no means a permanent safe haven. Indeed, the same forces that drove peoples to the north and west– war, pestilence and persecution – continued to affect those gathered at Schaghticoke, influencing their movements well into the middle of the 18th century. Native people’s knowledge of the trails and rivers that crisscrossed Wabanaki territory made their movement throughout that northern region relatively easy. Use of these highways also meant that people rarely had to stay in one place for long; as there were many places accessible to them, Native people could make choices, dependent on their specific needs, or the specific threats facing them.
While some made their way all the way north to the mission towns in French Canada, others joined with the sovereign Wabanakis living near Lake Champlain. From places like Missisquoi and Winooski, warriors, many of whom had been for a time at Schaghticoke, raided colonial towns along the Connecticut River throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
The English worried much about Native dispersals from Schaghticoke, and were particularly concerned over the prospect of Natives coming under the influence of the French. Beginning in the 1670s, Governor Andros of New York tried hard not only to maintain peace among Indian groups near Schaghticoke and Albany, but tried also to encourage natives not to head north. Better to maintain the Schatightoke Indians as allies, thought Andros, then to allow them to become agents of the French. Of course, such a view ignored much of Native people’s own sovereignty – indeed, many who left New York allied themselves neither with the French nor the British, seeking to make livings for themselves within the Wabanaki heartland to the east. Some even headed far west, all the way to the Great Lakes region.
Regardless of his view’s legitimacy, Andros set a precedent for enacting policies aimed at keeping Natives in and around Schaghticoke, including banning the enslavement of Indians, as the following excerpt from New York’s Colonial documents shows. This declaration was made in 1679, right after King Phillip’s War.Councill Minutes; Indians Declared Free and Not Slaves
At the Councell held in New York December 5th 1679“Resolved, That all Indyans here, are free & not slaves, nor can bee forct to bee servants, Except such as been formerly brought from the Bay of Campechio & other foreign parts, but if any shall bee brought hereafter within the space of six months, they are to bee dispose as soone as may bee out of the Government, but after the Exparacoon of six months, all that shall bee brought here from those parts shall bee free…
…All Christian Servants that shall be brought into this government shall bee recorded att ye Secretarys office att importation by the Masters of Vessels or others that shall bring them, & they have liberty to assigne them to another, for the time specifyde in their Indentures, & no such servant be reassigned or transferred over to serve his time with another, without the Consent or Approbacon of the next Court of Sessions or Juresdiction, at the great distance of the time of Fourts, by the Appropacon of two Justices of peace, one being president or first Justice of said Riding or Corporacon to bee recorded in ye respective place & transmitted to the office of Records.” [1]
In 1691, The New York colony commissioned the construction of Fort Half Moon at the mouth of the Mohawk River, building it specifically for the Natives of Schaghticoke, in exchange for their promised residence.
Not all were convinced to stay, however, and not all made their way north. Some were drawn from Schaghticoke to the safe and exceptionally fertile lands to the east, as far as the Wabanaki homelands of Norridgewock, on the Kennebec River, and Namaskonti, on the Sandy River, where alluvial valleys provided rich soil, in which crops of corn, bean and squash (known collectively as “The Three Sisters”) could be grown with great reliability.
It may seem counter-intuitive that Native people fleeing the violence and persecution of the English should settle fairly close to the English settlements of eastern Maine. However, in this region, near the Kennebec and the Penobscot rivers, political and military power was still largely in the hands of Wabanaki people. From the 1670s to the 1740s, the English attempted, only sometimes successfully, to ratify treaties with Wabanaki leaders. Tensions often arose, however, when the wording of those treaties framed Natives as the submissive actors. Supported by an extensive network of intertribal alliances, and often reinforced and supplied by New France, the Wabanakis on the coast and in the northern interior knew well that they held positions of strength. In 1677, toward the end of King Philip’s War, one Wabanaki leader, Mogg, sent a message to Massachusetts via the captive Francis Card, saying, “we [the Wabanaki] are owners of the country and it is wide and full of [Indians] and we can drive you out.”[2] Forty years later, during a 1717 treaty council, Wiwurna, the Wabanaki speaker from Norridgewock told Massachusetts Governor Samuel Shute:We now return Thanks that the English are come to Settle here, and will Imbrace them in our Bosoms that come to Settle on our Lands . . . [but] we desire there may be no further Settlements made. We shan't be able to hold them all in our Bosoms. [3]
[1] Berthold Fernow, ed., Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York (Albany, NY: Weed, Parsons & Co., 1881), 13:537.[2] “Declaration of Francis Card,” Documentary History of the State of Maine (Baxter Manuscripts), James Phinney Baxter, ed., (Portland: Maine Historical Society, 1900), 2nd series, 6: 150-1.[3] See Emerson Baker and John Reid, “Amerindian Power in the Early Modern Northeast: A Reappraisal,” The William and Mary Quarterly 61:1 (2004), 89. For interpretation of this statement in relation to traditional ecological knowledge and resource management see Lisa T. Brooks and Cassandra M. Brooks, “The Reciprocity Principle and Traditional Ecological Knowledge.” -
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2017-05-29T18:40:41+00:00
The Journey North: from Ktsi Mskodak to Ktsitekw
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Contributed by Maggie King
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2017-08-15T16:44:28+00:00
The party that traveled “from Wachusett” returned to the great meadow of Ktsi Mskodak with sachems and “four score” women and children. Word also traveled back to Ashpelon that “Stebbins was run away.” According to Stockwell, some of the Indians who had remained at Ktsi Mskodak “spoke of burning” the remaining captives or “biting off [their] fingers,” perhaps as punishment or as a warning which would invoke fear in the other captives; but instead Ashpelon told them that “there would be a court” where “all would speak their minds.” Ashpelon spoke last, rejecting any proposals to attack the captives. [1]
At the same time, conflict arose after “some of the Indians” had “fallen upon Hadley” again and were apprehended by settlers. The Indians were released upon an agreement that they would return to meet with the English “to make further terms.” This prompted an intertribal council on how to proceed in dealing with the English. The stakes were high—camped at the “long wigwam” the party had traveled far enough from English intrusion, but colonial militia continued to send scouting parties. They could comply or refuse to negotiate: “Ashpelon was much for it, but the Wachusett sachems, when they came were against it.” Weighing in, the “Wachusett sachems,” who may have included Wattanummon (a Penacook who captured Stephen Williams in a later raid on Deerfield in 1704), proposed to “meet the English, indeed, but there fall upon them and take them.” The council at the “long wigwam” reveals the ways in which new bonds of kinship and pan-Indigenous alliances were fostered between communities from Wabanaki to Narragansett. With Ktsi Mskodak serving as a crucial place of gathering far enough beyond colonial reach, “a Narriganset,” “country Indians belonging to Nalwatogg,” “Wachusett sachems,” and “about four score” of their women and children, an autonomous refugee band committed to the continuance and survival of its people had begun to evolve.[2]
After camping at Ktsi Mskodak “three weeks together” the party continued north “to a place called “Squawmaug River” (see M'sqawmagok River on map)—fishing grounds known to the party for its abundant salmon—roughly “200 miles above Deerfield.” [3] The party was too late in the season for salmon so they “parted into two companies,” some going one way, others going another, and continued on to traverse Askaskwigek Adenak, the Green Mountains.[4] There were dozens of routes that ran to and from Betowbakw (Lake Champlain) over the Askaskwigek Adenak and through the various waterways of Native inland spaces to the Kwinitekw, making access easy to raid English settlements in the Kwinitekw Valley. One trail in particular was so commonly used by raiding parties and captives alike that it later became known as the “Indian Road.”[5] Ashpelon’s original raiding party of twenty-six, augmented by the addition of the “four score” Indians “from Wachusett” and surrounding areas that had returned to Ktsi Mskodak, prompted the party to split at the base of the Askaskwigek Adenak range.[6] With many women (some of whom were expecting) and children on the journey north, those who were physically capable would take the more rugged trail for hunting, perhaps moving through contemporary "Smuggler's Notch," while the others would take a less strenuous course, perhaps along trails following the Winooski River. The company that climbed the mountain trails trekked “eight days” through snow and rain over “a mighty mountain.” Stockwell noticed that “all the water” on the mountain began to “run northward.” The group Stockwell traveled with “wanted provision,” but “at length” reconnected with the others at the northern base of the mountain.[7]
The party stayed “a great while” on the banks of the Wintekw (see map; also known as the Lamoille River) at a site “half a day’s journey off” Betowbakw (see map; also known as Lake Champlain) to “make canoes,” which would allow them to “go over the lake.” As the group was to set the canoes upon the great Betobakw at the mouth of the Wintekw, they hunted a moose and stayed “till they had eaten it all up.” While at last paddling the lake, a “great storm” developed, but the skill of the paddlers who had surely navigated these waters before, were able to pull the others to an island.[8]
Stockwell noted that upon the island the party held a ceremony, discerning, as he reported, that the storm would “cast...away” an English expedition that was “coming” toward them from the western shore, which included “Benjamin Wait and another man” who were attempting to rescue their pregnant wives and children. [Link to ODZIOHO: create new sub-page, with image and Judy’s story] Unbeknownst to Stockwell at the time, Benjamin Waite and Stephen Jennings, with intelligence from Stebbin’s report, sought funding and support from Major John Pynchon to intercept Ashpelon’s party. They enlisted a Mohawk guide and were traveling up the western shore of Betowbakw. Storms prevented the party from making considerable progress; together they “lay to and fro upon certain islands” for a few more weeks. Eventually, they made their way up to Quebec, hoping to negotiate the release of the English taken at Deerfield and Hatfield.[9]
Ashpelon’s party also advanced/ moved toward Quebec, traveling by foot over the ice of Bitawbagw River/Richelieu River, and “met with some Frenchmen” on one of the islands on the north end of Betowbakw, engaging in exchange. Stockwell, suffering from frostbite, was offered “a bit of biscuit as big as a walnut” that had come from “the Frenchman.” “Six miles from Chambly” two runners left to send word ahead to the French town. Stockwell’s condition being weak, he was at times carried by sled by one of the Native men. Following the runners, they arrived at Chambly “about midnight.”[10]
Stockwell stayed at several French homes at Chambly for several weeks’ time, visited by Indians and French alike. Ashpelon’s party likely camped at a gathering place outside of Chambly where they could easily trade, hunt, and negotiate about the captives’ ransom as it proved more advantageous for the group to create dwelling spaces on the periphery of colonial centers; Stockwell noted that the “French, as the Indians said, loved the English better than the Indians.” While New France was often more amicable and diplomatic in its relations with Native people, the French were largely invested in the growth of their empire. Despite it being a seemingly progressive province, ideologically, the French did not consider Native peoples their equals. Stockwell stayed most of the time in Chambly with a French bachelor who offered to purchase his release, “but could not for the Indians asked a hundred pounds.”[11]
The group, at this point consisting of at least some of the original party, headed for Sorel, on Ktsitekw (St. Lawrence River)—the final stop on Ashpelon’s journey where the captives were eventually ransomed for 200 pounds. The party did not stay directly at Sorel; rather they gathered at “a place two or three miles off where the Indians had wigwams.”[12] Again, creating inland settlements on the outer boundaries of colonial settlements was a strategic move that created a sovereign space where refugee bands could live, talk, and counsel freely with one another.
[1] “Stockwell’s Relation,” 42.[2] “Stockwell’s Relation,” 41-2. “Letter from Major John Pynchon,” 53; “Narrative of Benoni Stebbins,” 57. See also Evan Haefeli and Kevin Sweeney, “Watanummon’s World: Personal and Tribal Identity in the Algonquian Diaspora c. 1660-1712” in Papers of the Twenty-fifth Algonquian Conference, ed., William Cowan (Ottawa: Carlton University, 1994), 212-224.[3] “Stockwell’s Relation,” 42-3. Evan Haefeli and Kevin Sweeney cite Marge Bruchac in a footnote for the spelling of M’skwamagok (an Abenaki fishing place on the Wells River). “Squawmaug” may have been Stockwell’s phonetic spelling.[4] Calloway, Western Abenakis, 27.[5] “Stockwell’s Relation,” 42. See also Evan Haefeli and Kevin Sweeney, Captors and Captives: The 1704 French and Indian Raid on Deerfield (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2005), 129.[6] “Stockwell’s Relation,” 43. Hafeli and Sweeney suggest that this would have placed Stockwell close to Mount Hunger and Mount Mansfield, the highest peak in the Askaskwigek Adenak range (footnote 29). It is possible, as Marge Bruchac reasoned in personal conversation, that any mountain would have seemed “mighty” to Stockwell, an inexperienced traveler in the North Country (Maggie King, personal conversation with Marge Bruchac, Amherst, MA, July 23, 2015).[7] “Stockwell’s Relation,” 43.[8] “Stockwell’s Relation,” 43.[9] “Stockwell’s Relation,” 43-4. CHECK pg#: Haefeli and Sweeney footnote.[10] “Stockwell’s Relation,” 44-5.[11] “Stockwell’s Relation,” 45.[12] “Stockwell’s Relation,” 46.