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General Division—Tribes in the Central and Southern parts of New England—Tribes in the Northern parts—East of Lake Erie and south of Lake Ontario—Southern tribes.

At the period of the settlement of the English colonies in America, savage tribes of Indians were scattered over the country. In many respects, they possessed a similar character, usages, and institutions—a bond of affinity running through their several communities and tribes. As a race of men, they were distinct from all the races found in the old world. Their history was unknown, and to us, in these times, dates no farther back than to the period of European discovery here. They had, indeed, their traditions; but these, like the traditions of all other nations, are no farther entitled to credit than they are confirmed by appearance or probable conjecture. If the hypothesis be correct of the Asiatic origin of the Aborigines of America, by the way of Bherings straits, there would seem to be a probability in the general account given of their migration towards the east, and of their conquest of a more civilized race, then occupying the country. Such a race seems to have been once in existence, judging from the monuments and relics that have been occasionally found among us. They were called the Allegewi, and their more rude conquerors styled themselves the Lenape and the Mengwe, or the Iroquois. These seem chiefly to have divided the country between them, after they had expelled the Allegewi. The general name of the Delawares has since been given to the former, and their language, called by the French, the Algonquin. The Iroquois inhabited more the upper parts of the country, along the lakes and the St. Lawrence. The Lenape, or Delawares, extended themselves to the south and east.

When our fathers came to these shores, they found here the descendants of these savage conquerors. They were entirely uncivilized, having, probably, undergone no process of civilization, from the time of the migration of their ancestors to the Mississippi and the Atlantic slope. As distributed through the various parts of the thirteen original states, they may be mentioned, as to their confederacies or tribes, in the following order:

In the central and southern parts of New England there were five principal tribes: the Wampanoags or Pokanokets, the Pawtuckets, the Massachusetts, the Narragansets, and the Pequods. The Pokanokets were the first known to the English settlers. The territory inhabited by this tribe, was that which now constitutes the south-eastern part of Massachusetts and the eastern portion of Rhode Island. To the chief of this tribe, who was Massasoit, at the time of the English emigration, other smaller tribes were subject, dwelling principally on the adjacent islands. His residence, as also afterwards that of Philip his son, was at Montaup, now Mount Hope, in Bristol, Rhode Island.

The tribe of Pawtuckets occupied the land upon the Merrimack near its mouth, as their principal seat, though they extended themselves south until they came in contact with the Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts were found about the bay which bears the name of the tribe. They were bounded by the Pawtuckets on the north, and the Pokanokets on the south. Their head sachem held under his rule several smaller tribes, some of which were known by the name of the Neponsetts, the Nashuas, and the Pocumtucks. The acknowledged sovereign of the confederacy, at the time of the English settlement, was the widow of a powerful chief, styled sometimes the "Massachusett's queen." They were situated in a delightful region, where now stands the metropolis of New England, with its cluster of noble towns in the vicinity.

The tribe of the Narragansets held their chief seat on the island of the Canonicut, in the bay called after their name. Here, also, their grand sachem resided. They extended west of the Pawcatuck river, where they came into the neighborhood of the Pequods. The Pokanokets bordered them on the east. They occupied a beautiful country, and happily adapted to their mode of life, which was fishing and hunting. Their disposition was more mild and peaceable than usually appeared in the Indian character. When the English arrived in that region, they found there Canonicus, the grand sachem of the tribe, who proved a benefactor of Rhode Island.

The tribe of Pequods were seated in the eastern part of Connecticut, having the Narragansets on their eastern border. They were a fierce and warlike race. Their grand sachem, Sassacus, resided on the heights of Groton, near the river called by their name, now the Thames. Sassacus held the Mohegans subject to his authority. These were a tribe occupying the place where Norwich now stands. Uncas, the leader of the latter, joined the whites in their war with the Pequods. These several tribes, at the period referred to, were singularly diminished in number and power, on account of a wasting sickness, which had been sent among them a few years before.

In the northern portion of New England, roved the Indians whose general name was that of Tarenteens, or Abenakis. They inhabited the coast of Maine throughout, and extended into New Hampshire. Their character was ferocious, and the settlers suffered severely from their wars, murders, and depredations. Stealing in, at the dead of night, upon the villages or dwellings, they burned and plundered, indiscriminately, whatever came in their way—butchering men, women, and children, without mercy.

The five tribes, or nations, that spread out east of Lake Erie, and south of Lake Ontario, were the Iroquois, or Mengwe, who had become thus divided, in consequence of being pressed by the Hurons, and one or two other tribes, inhabiting the St. Lawrence. They were called the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks. They at length became a powerful race in their new abodes, and not only overcame the Hurons, but made war upon the Delawares, and were objects of dread far and near. The most warlike community of the whole was said to be the Mohawks. Their power and exactions reached east and south, to a great distance.

The Indians, in the southerly portion of the country, were of course earlier known to the English, than those already mentioned—this was true of the tribes at least that inhabited Virginia, of which there were more than forty in number, in 1607. The nucleus of an entire confederacy, inhabiting the territory from the sea-coast to the falls of the rivers, was the Powhatan nation. This confederacy included no less than thirty tribes, and the number of warriors was estimated at eight thousand. The chief of the same name, who figures so much in the history of Virginia, was the great sachem of the confederacy. The seat of the hereditary dominions was near the present site of the city of Richmond. Here the noble Pocahontas was born, and passed her early, uncultivated life.

The Indians who dwelt on the highlands, between the falls of the rivers and the mountains, were divided into two confederacies, not long after the arrival of the English. One division consisted of the Monahoaks, in the eight tribes, on the north. The other consisted of the Monacans, in five tribes, stretching on the south into Carolina. The latter went under the name of Tuscaroras, and connected with the Iroquois.

Of the Indians in the southern extremity of the country, the principal confederacies were the Creeks, whose locality was mostly in Georgia—the Cherokees, who inhabited the mountainous back country—and the Choctaws and Chickasaws, who dwelt in the region between the mountains and the Mississippi. Two or three other tribes occupied particular localities, which need not be indicated.[16]