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Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois,
or Six Nations and History of the Tuscarora
Indians
Introduction
"A book about Indians!"
who cares anything about them?
This will probably be the exclamation of many who
glance on my little page. To those who know nothing concerning
them, a whole book about Indians will seem a very prosy affair,
to whom I can answer nothing, for they will not proceed as far
as my Preface to see what reasons I can render for the seeming
folly.
But to those who are willing to listen, I can say that
the Indians are a very interesting people, whether I have made
an interesting book about them or not.
The Antiquarian, the Historian, and the Scholar, have
been a long time studying Indian character, and have given
plenty of information concerning the Indian, but it is all in
ponderous volumes for State and College libraries, and quite
inaccessible to the multitude those who only take up such book
as may be held in the hand, sitting by the fire, still remain
very ignorant of the Children of Nature who inhabited the
forests before the Saxon set his foot upon our shores.
There is also a great deal of prejudice, the
consequence of this ignorance, and the consequence of the
representations of your forefathers who were brought into
contact with the Indians, under circumstances that made it
impossible to judge impartially and correctly.
The Histories which are in the schools, and from which
the first impressions are obtained, are still very deficient in
what they relate of Indian History, and most of them are still
filling the minds of children and youth, with imperfect ideas. I
have read many of the Histories, and have longed to see refuted
the slanders, and blot out the dark pictures which the
historians have wont to spread abroad concerning us. May I live
to see the day when it may be done, for most deeply have I
learned to blush for my people.
I thought, at first, of only giving a series of Indian
Biographies, but without some knowledge of the government and
religion of the Iroquois, the character of the Indians could not
be understood or appreciated.
I enter upon the task with much distrust. It is a
difficult task at all times to speak and to write in foreign
language, and I fear I shall not succeed to the satisfaction of
myself, or to my readers.
My title will not be so attractive to the American ears, as if
it related to any other unknown people. A tour in Arabia, or
Spain, or in India, or some other foreign country, with far less
important and
interesting material, would secure a greater number of readers,
as we are always more curious about things afar off.
I might have covered many pages with "Indian
Atrocities," but these have been detailed in other histories,
till they are familiar to every ear, and I had neither room nor
inclination for even a glance at war and its dark records.
The Author
Index
Preface
To animate a kinder
feeling between the white people and the Indians, established by
a truer knowledge of our civil and domestic life, and of our
capabilities for future elevation, is the motive for which this
work is founded.
The present Tuscarora Indians, the once powerful and
gifted nation, after their expulsion from the South, came North,
and were initiated in the confederacy of the Iroquois, and who
formerly held under their jurisdiction the largest portion of
the Eastern States, now dwell within your bounds, as dependent
nations, subject to the guardianship and supervision of a people
who displaced their forefathers. Our numbers, the circumstances
of our past history and present condition, and more especially
the relation in which we stand to the people of the State,
suggest many important questions concerning our future destiny.
Being born to an inauspicious fate, which makes us the
inheritors of many wrongs, we have been unable, of ourselves, to
escape from the complicated difficulties which accelerate our
decline. To make worse these adverse influences, the public
estimation of the Indian, resting, as it does, upon the
imperfect knowledge of their character, and infused, as it ever
has been, with the prejudice, is universally unjust.
The time has come in which it is no more than right to
cast away all ancient antipathies, all inherited opinions, and
to take a nearer view of our social life, condition and wants,
and to learn anew your duty concerning the Indians.
Nevertheless, the embarrassments that have obstructed our
progress, in the obscurity which we have lived, and the
prevailing indifference to our welfare, we have gradually
overcame many of the evils inherent in our social system, and
raised ourselves to a degree of prosperity. Our present
condition, if considered in connection with the ordeal through
which we have passed, shows that there is the presence of an
element in our character which must eventually lead to important
results.
As I do not profess that this work is based upon
authorities, a question might arise in the breast of some
reader, where these materials were derived, or what reliance is
to be placed upon its contents. The credibility of a witness is
known to depend chiefly upon his means of knowledge. For this
reason, I deem it important to state, that I was born and
brought up by Tuscarora Indian parents on their Reservation in
the Town of Lewiston, N.Y. From my childhood up was naturally
inquisitive and delighted in thrilling stories, which led me to
frequent the old people of my childhood's days, and solicited
them to relate the old Legends and their Traditions, which they
always delighted to do. I have sat by their fireside and heard
them, and thus they were instilled upon my young mind. I also
owe much of my information to our Chief, John Mt. Pleasant. I
have also read much of Indian history, and compared them with
our Legends and Traditions.
The Author.
This site
includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes
reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These
items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be
interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes
implied . Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations and History of the Tuscarora Indians
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