Peoples of the River Valleys by Amy C. Schutt

Author:Amy C. Schutt
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780812203790
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

The Delaware Grandfathers

As war threatened to break out again, key Delaware leaders sought to place themselves at the center of negotiations to prevent further hostilities and to obtain security for their people. They continued to draw upon memories of Delawares’ friendship with Pennsylvania to underscore their nation’s role as alliance builders and mediators. When war did come in 1774, with the conflict known as “Dunmore’s War,” leading Delawares, including Netawatwees and White Eyes, struggled to resolve differences between Indians and the British. Although they did not have the support of all Delawares, they were instrumental in constructing a vision that the Delawares were a people with a particular peacemaking mission.

It was difficult, however, for Delawares to claim a central role in diplomacy if the Six Nations and Sir William Johnson held authority over Delawares’ affairs. Still unwilling to relinquish their affairs to negotiations between Johnson and the Six Nations in Iroquoia, Delawares called now for a “Council Fire at Fort Pitt.” In a message that Killbuck carried to Philadelphia, they invoked tradition in justifying this meeting place in the west: “There was formerly a Council Fire in these middle Provinces, kept by your and our forefathers, but we perceive that fire is almost extinguished, and we desire now that it may be renewed, that we may meet together as our forefathers used to do, and strengthen our Friendship.” Delawares thus disputed the need to go to Iroquoia with their concerns, and they later argued that they could bypass Johnson. When Pennsylvania’s governor tried to convince Netawatwees that the Delawares needed to deal with Johnson on a matter, the sachem replied, “I cannot agree to what you then recommended to me of going to Sir William Johnson to consult him upon that Business.” Philadelphia, Netawatwees stated, was “where we … used to do all our Business with our Brethren the English.”31

As they summoned memories of their “forefathers” and their connections with Pennsylvania, Delawares employed words similar to those heard at Fort Pitt in 1765, when Delawares had claimed a special role as “the first Nation that met the Quakers when first they came to Philadelphia.” During the years after Pontiac’s War, Delaware leaders planned to strengthen their position in the Ohio Country through an alliance with Pennsylvania. Furthermore, they seemed to believe that they could draw upon their historic connection with the Quakers to cement this alliance. Some Indians (probably Delawares) cited an affiliation with Quakers seemingly as part of religious revitalization efforts. Ohio Country Indians, it was reported in 1768, “were constructing a large meeting house,” where Native preachers planned to hold forth with teachings that they linked to Quaker beliefs. Delaware leaders associated with Netawatwees’s group around Gekelemukpechunk made overtures to the Friends. In spring 1771, Killbuck and his son Gelelemend traveled to Philadelphia, requesting a Quaker preacher and a schoolteacher. About a year later Delawares renewed this request with a message carried to Philadelphia by the Delaware Joseph Peepy.32

The claim to having a distinctive friendship with Pennsylvania and

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