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Delaware Indian Tribe
When first discovered by the whites, the Delaware were living on the banks of
the Delaware, in detached bands under separate sachems, and called themselves
Renappi a collective term for men or, as it is now written, Lenni Lenape. In
1616 the Dutch began trading with them, maintaining friendly relations most of
the time, and buying so much of their land that they had to move inland for game
and furs. Penn and his followers, succeeding, kept up the trade and bought large
tracts of land, bat the Indians claimed to have been defrauded and showed a
reluctance to move. They then numbered about 6,000. With the assistance of the
Indians of the Six Nations the authorities compelled the Delaware to retire. At
the beginning of the Revolution there were none east of the Alleghanies. By
treaty in 1789 lands were reserved to them between the Miami and Cuyahoga, and
on the Muskingum. In 1818 the Delaware ceded all their lands to the Government
and removed to White River, Missouri, to the number of 1,800, leaving a small
number in Ohio. Another change followed eleven years after, when 1,000 settled
by treaty on the Kansas and Missouri Rivers, the rest going south to Red River.
During the late civil war they furnished 170 soldiers out of an able bodied male
population of 201.
In 1866 sold their land to the railroad which ran across it, and buying land of
the Cherokees, settled where the main body now resides, small bands being
scattered about among the Wichita and Kiowa.
In 1866, by a special treaty, they received and divided the funds held for their
benefit, took lands in severalty, and ceased to be regarded as a tribe. They
have given up their Indian ways and live in comfortable houses. Many of them are
efficient farmers and good citizens. They are becoming so incorporated with
other tribes that there has been no late enumeration made of them as a whole.
During the late war they numbered 1,085.
List of illustrations
181-2. Black Beaver.
Photo (off site)
Is a full-blood Delaware. Has travelled very extensively through the mountains,
serving at one time as a captain in the United States Army. Has a large farm
under cultivation, and lives in a very comfortable manner, having good,
substantial frontier buildings. He commenced life as a wild Indian trapper,
until, becoming familiar with almost all of the unexplored region of the West,
and being a remarkably truthful and re liable man, he was much sought after as a
guide, and accompanied several expeditions in that capacity. His life has been
one of bold adventure, fraught with many interesting incidents, which, if
properly written out, would form an interesting and entertaining volume. Batty.
186. Great Bear
Photo (off site)
- Other Delaware Indian
Resources
Photographs of North American Indians
Descriptive Catalogue, Photographs Of North American Indians. United States Geological Survey
of the Territories, 1877 by W. H. Jackson, Photographer of the Survey,
F. V. Hayden, U. S. Geologist.
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