Red Brethren: The Brothertown and Stockbridge Indians and the Problem of Race in Early America

294 Pages·2015·9.142 MB·English

by  David J. Silverman

Red Brethren

Red Brethren
the
brothertown and
stockbridge indians
and the problem of race
in early america
•
David J. Silverman
Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London
Copyright © 2010 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book,
or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing
from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press,
Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
First published 2010 by Cornell University Press
First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2015
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Silverman, David J., 1971–
Red brethren : the Brothertown and Stockbridge Indians and the
problem of race in early America / David J. Silverman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8014-4477-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-5017-0075-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Brotherton Indians—History. 2. Brotherton Indians—Religion.
3. Stockbridge Indians—History. 4. Stockbridge Indians—Religion.
5. New England—Race relations—History. 6. New England—History—
Colonial period, ca. 1600–1775. 7. New England—History—1775–1865. I. Title.
E99.B7S56 2010
974'.03—dc22
2010013373
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suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books.
Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers
that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers.
For further information, visit our website at
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.
Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Paperback printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Abbreviations xi
Prologue: That Overwhelming Tide of Fate 1
1. All One Indian 11
2. Converging Paths 30
3. Betrayals 70
4. Out from Under the Burdens 89
5. Exodus 107
6. Cursed 125
7. Red Brethren 149
8. More Than They Know How to Endure 171
9. Indians or Citizens, White Men or Red? 184
Epilogue: “Extinction” and a “Common Ancestor” 211
Notes 219
Index 271

Acknowledgments
I managed the personal and professional challenges of writing this book with the
generous financial support of several institutions, the collegiality of my scholarly
community, and the love of family and friends. My gratitude extends wide and
deep.
I began this project during a year as Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the
American Antiquarian Society; two years later, the AAS invited me back for a
month-long stay. As ever, the AAS was the ideal incubator for my work. Two
other research grants were also critical to this work in its initial stages: one, from
the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium, allowed me to visit the
Massachusetts Historical Society, the Rhode Island Historical Society, the Con-
necticut Historical Society, and the Mystic Seaport Museum; another, from the
American Philosophical Society’s Phillips Fund for the Study of Ethnohistory,
sent me to the Special Collections of the Hamilton College Library. Later, sev-
eral timely summer grants from George Washington University enabled me to
visit a host of archives in the Northeast and Midwest: the Special Collections of
the Haverford College Library, the New-York Historical Society, the New York
Public Library, the New York State Archives, the Onondaga County Historical
Association, the Special Collections of the Cornell University Library, the Spe-
cial Collections of the Vassar College Library, the Newberry Library, the Indi-
ana Historical Society, the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Connecticut State
Archives, the Special Collections of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Re-
search Center, the Indian and Colonial Research Center (Mystic, Connecticut),
the Beinecke Library of Yale University, the Rauner Library of Dartmouth Col-
lege, the Harvard University Archives, the Phillips Library of the Peabody Essex
Museum, the Congregational Library (Boston), the Boston Public Library, the
Stockbridge (Mass.) Public Library, the Stockbridge Town Clerk’s Office, and
the National Archives of the United States. I thank the staff at all these institu-
tions for their courteous assistance. I finished writing this book during a year of
academic leave funded by an Oscar Handlin Fellowship from the National En-
dowment of the Humanities and a semester sabbatical from George Washington
viii AAcckknnoowwlleeddggmmeennttss
University. I owe special thanks to my department chairmen, Tyler Anbinder
and William Becker, for going to bat for me time and time again and to the G.W.
administration for its support of my research.
I vetted the ideas for this book at several conferences, in a handful of ar-
ticles, and in stimulating exchanges with colleagues. I presented portions of my
work to audiences at the annual meetings of the Omohundro Institute of Early
American History and Culture, the Organization of American Historians, the
American Historical Association, and the American Studies Association. I am
indebted to commentators Nancy Shoemaker, Seth Mallios, Joel Martin, and
William Hart, and the audiences at these sessions, for their constructive criti-
cism. I also discussed portions of this book with the seminar of the Johns Hop-
kins University Department of History, the Washington Area Early American
Seminar, Harvard University’s Atlantic History Seminar, and, not least, several
of my classes at G.W. I benefited tremendously from the feedback I received at
these sessions. Articles related to this project passed through the unparalleled
editorial process of the William and Mary Quarterly and a riveting symposium of
scholars working on Indian Mission History gathered together by Mark Nicho-
las and Joel Martin. In these contexts, I received the counsel of Daniel Mandell,
Rachel Wheeler, Tracy Leavelle, Mark Nicholas, Hillary Wyss, Douglas Winiar-
ski, and Scott Casper, among many others. Perhaps the most essential advice of
all came from Wyss, Winiarski, and Jon Parmenter, in their responses to a draft
of my first four chapters. I feel fortunate to have such generous and knowledge-
able friends.
Members of the Brothertown, Stockbridge, and Mohegan Indian communi-
ties have profoundly shaped this book. Caroline Adler of Brothertown, Cindy
Jungenberg of Stockbridge, and Melissa Tantaquidgeon-Zobel of Mohegan
all provided invaluable comments on the first full draft. Adler has unfailingly
answered my many queries ever since, and Tantaquidgeon-Zobel also helped
me to secure the image of the story box which opens chapter two. On my vis-
its to Wisconsin, I received warm hospitality from Adler and Dennis DeGrass
of Brothertown, Dorothy W. Davids and Ruth A. Gudinas of Stockbridge, and
the Stockbridge-Munsee Educational Committee. Numerous other people from
these communities have shared their thoughts with me in passing. I hope my
work does justice to the legacies of their ancestors.
Permissions to reproduce the illustrations for this book came from the Bow-
doin College Museum of Art, Connecticut Historical Society, Hood Museum of
Art at Dartmouth College, Mohegan Tribe, and Wisconsin Historical Society.
Acknowledgments ix
William Keegan, my cartographer, was a pleasure to work with in the design of
the maps.
It would take a poet to express the ways in which my family has sustained me
throughout this project. Aquinnah and Bela Silverman are my inspirations, and
Julie Fisher is my strength. I will forever associate this book with their loving
encouragement. My parents, Richard and Julia Silverman, have come through
for me time and time again when I have needed them most. I dedicate this book
to them as a modest but heartfelt memorial of my love and gratitude.