Fluent Essays

Reflection post  and  Response 9 9 4 | N A T I V E A M E R I C A N E L O Q U E N C E 1. The text is from John Dunn Hunter, Memoirs of a Captivity among the Indians of North Amer i ca (1823), edited by Richard Drinnon (1973). TECUMSEH In 1846 the historian Henry Trumbull called Tecumseh (1775?–1813) “the most extraordinary Indian that has appeared in history.” In 1961 the historian Alvin Josephy echoed Trumbull in denominating Tecumseh “the Greatest Indian.” These high estimates are noteworthy in part because Tecumseh was unwaveringly hos- tile to the white Americans who relentlessly encroached on the lands of his people, the Shawnees, in areas of the Old Northwest Territory, pres ent- day Ohio and Indiana. In the Treaty of Fort Wayne in 1809, the Shawnees— despite the opposition of Tecumseh and his charismatic brother, Tenkswatawa, known as the Prophet— ceded huge tracts of land to the United States. In response Tecumseh attempted to or ga nize a multitribal re sis tance to the Americans. A turning point came in 1811, when William Henry Harrison (1773–1841), then governor of the Indiana Territory, decisively defeated the Prophet’s forces at Tippecanoe (near pres ent- day Lafayette). (In 1840, Harrison would be elected president of the United States, with James Tyler as his vice president, running on the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler too!”) Tecumseh was not pres ent at the battle. The defeat left the Prophet’s followers disillusioned, and Tecumseh had no further success in bringing the tribes together in re sis tance. He fought on the side of the British in the War of 1812 and was killed at the Battle of the Thames, in southern Ontario. The brief speech printed here derives from the captivity narrative of John Dunn Hunter, published in 1823. Hunter, born about 1802, was taken captive by Osage Indians when he was no more than two or three years old and lived among them until about 1816. He claimed to have heard Tecumseh speak to the Osages in 1811 or 1812. Although Tecumseh’s visit to the Osages has not been substantiated, it is quite pos si ble that he spoke to them and that the young and impressionable John Dunn Hunter was there. This bicultural composite was crafted by Hunter, who wrote that he was deeply moved by the words of “this untutored native of the forest . . . as no audience . . . either in ancient or modern times ever before witnessed.” Speech to the Osages1 When the Osages and distinguished strangers had assembled, Tecumseh arose; and after a pause of some minutes, in which he surveyed his audi- ence in a very digni"ed, though respectfully complaisant and sympathizing manner, he commenced as follows: Brothers— We all belong to one family; we are all children of the Great Spirit; we walk in the same path; slake our thirst at the same spring; and now affairs of the greatest concern lead us to smoke the pipe around the same council "re! Brothers— We are friends; we must assist each other to bear our burdens. The blood of many of our fathers and brothers has run like water on the ground, to satisfy the avarice of the white men. We, ourselves, are threat- ened with a great evil; nothing will pacify them but the destruction of all the red men. T E C U M S E H : S P E E C H T O T H E O S A G E S | 9 9 5 Brothers— When the white men "rst set foot on our grounds, they were hungry; they had no place on which to spread their blankets, or to kindle their "res. They were feeble; they could do nothing for themselves. Our fathers commiserated their distress, and shared freely with them what ever the Great Spirit had given his red children. They gave them food when hun- gry, medicine when sick, spread skins for them to sleep on, and gave them grounds, that they might hunt and raise corn. Brothers, the white people are like poisonous serpents: when chilled, they are feeble and harmless; but invigorate them with warmth, and they sting their benefactors to death. The white people came among us feeble; and now we have made them strong, they wish to kill us, or drive us back, as they would wolves and panthers. Brothers— The white men are not friends to the Indians: at "rst, they only asked for land suf"cient for a wigwam; now, nothing will satisfy them but the whole of our hunting grounds, from the rising to the setting sun. Brothers— The white men want more than our hunting grounds; they wish to kill our warriors; they would even kill our old men, women, and little ones. Brothers— Many winters ago, there was no land; the sun did not rise and set: all was darkness. The Great Spirit made all things. He gave the white people a home beyond the great waters. He supplied these grounds with game, and gave them to his red children; and he gave them strength and courage to defend them. Brothers— My people wish for peace; the red men all wish for peace: but where the white people are, there is no peace for them, except it be on the bosom of our mother.2 Brothers— The white men despise and cheat the Indians; they abuse and insult them; they do not think the red men suf"ciently good to live. The red men have borne many and great injuries; they ought to suffer them no longer. My people will not; they are determined on vengeance; they have taken up the tomahawk; they will make it fat with blood; they will drink the blood of the white people. Brothers— My people are brave and numerous; but the white people are too strong for them alone. I wish you to take up the tomahawk with them. If we all unite, we will cause the rivers to stain the great waters with their blood. Brothers— If you do not unite with us, they will "rst destroy us, and then you will fall an easy prey to them. They have destroyed many nations of red men because they were not united, because they were not friends to each other. Brothers— The white people send runners3 amongst us; they wish to make us enemies, that they may sweep over and desolate our hunting grounds, like devastating winds, or rushing waters. Brothers— Our Great Father, over the great waters, is angry with the white people, our enemies. He will send his brave warriors against them; he will send us rides, and what ever else we want—he is our friend, and we are his children. Brothers— Who are the white people that we should fear them? They cannot run fast, and are good marks to shoot at: they are only men; our 2. The earth. 3. Messengers. 9 9 6 | W A S H I N G T O N I R V I N G fathers have killed many of them: we are not squaws, and we will stain the earth red with their blood. Brothers— The Great Spirit is angry with our enemies; he speaks in thun- der, and the earth swallows up villages, and drinks up the Mississippi. The great waters will cover their lowlands; their corn cannot grow; and the Great Spirit will sweep those who escape to the hills from the earth with his terrible breath. Brothers— We must be united; we must smoke the same pipe; we must "ght each other’s battles; and more than all, we must love the Great Spirit: he is for us; he will destroy our enemies, and make all his red children happy. WASHINGTON IRVING 1783–1859 Washington Irving had an unusually long and varied career, publishing his "rst satirical essays in 1802, when he was nineteen, and his last book, a "ve- volume life of George Washington, just a few months before he died at age seventy- six. Celebrated by Americans for his contributions to a burgeoning national lit er a ture, Irving also became the "rst American writer of the nineteenth century to achieve an international literary reputation. He created two of the most popu lar and enduring "gures in American culture, Rip Van Winkle and Sleepy Hollow’s Ichabod Crane, who "gure in paintings, comic books, plays, "lms, and other media. Although he was regarded as a genial and comic writer, Irving regularly addressed darker and more complex themes of historical transformation and personal disloca- tion. His innovative travel sketches blurred the line between the personal essay and "ction, and he is considered one of the “inventors” of the modern short story. Dur- ing a time in which there were no international copyright agreements, he managed to secure simultaneous British and American copyrights for his work. His canny understanding of the literary marketplace helped him to become the "rst American who was able to support himself solely through his writing. Irving was born in New York City on April 3, 1783, the last of eleven children of a Scottish- born father and English- born mother. He read widely in En glish lit er a ture at home, modeling his early prose on The Spectator, a daily paper published in 1711– 12 by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. Among the many other writers he delighted in were Shakespeare, Oliver Goldsmith, and Laurence Sterne. His brothers enjoyed writing poems and essays as companionable recreation, and, inspired by their example, he wrote a series of satirical essays on the theater and New York soci- ety under the pseudonym “Jonathan Oldstyle.” Nine of these essays were published in his brother Peter’s newspaper, the Morning Chronicle, during 1802–03. When Irving showed signs of tuberculosis in 1804, his brothers sent him abroad for a two- year tour of Eu rope. On his return in 1806, he studied law with Josiah Hoffman, a former New York State attorney general, and he was admitted to the bar soon afterward. More impor tant for his literary career, he and his brother William (along with William’s brother- in- law, James Kirke Paulding) started a satirical mag- azine, Salmagundi (the name of a spicy hash), which ran from 1807 to 1808 with poems, sketches, and essays on a range of topics. In 1808 Irving began work on A