University Press Copublishing Division / Lehigh University Press
Pages: 354
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9½
978-1-61146-224-1 • Hardback • October 2017 • $136.00 • (£105.00)
978-1-61146-226-5 • Paperback • March 2020 • $51.99 • (£40.00)
978-1-61146-225-8 • eBook • October 2017 • $49.00 • (£38.00)
Richard S. Grimes is currently adjunct faculty at La Roche College and Community College of Allegheny County.
Acknowledgments000
Introduction: To “Enjoy the Light of Heaven”000
Chapter 1: “We Conquer’d You; We Made Women of You”: The Delawares as Women and the Six Nations–Pennsylvania Chain of Friendship 000
Chapter 2: The Western Migration of the Delawares, 1730-1750000
Chapter 3: “We, the Delawares of Ohio, Do Proclaim War against the English”: The Political Ascension of the Western Delawares, 1750-1756000
Chapter 4: “We Are Now Men, and Not So Easily Frightened”: Western Delaware Identity during the Seven Years’ War000
Chapter 5: “On Behalf of All Our Nation”: The Coming Together of the Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf 000
Chapter 6: White Eyes, the Great Council, and the United Brethren: Peacemakers on the Muskingum, 1770–1776 000
Chapter 7: The Quest for Nationhood: Delawares and the American Revolution000Chapter 8: “A nation . . . Shattered, Wrecked, and Severed”: The Demise of the Delaware New World Order, 1783–1795000
Conclusion: “That We Might Again Be One People”000
Notes 000
Bibliography 000
Index 000
“<break>”Map 1: Linguistic Areas of the Delawares (Lenape-Munsee Groups) 000
Map 2: Primary Indian Towns 000
Map 3: Western Delaware Indian Towns in the Ohio Territories000
Figure 1∙1 Tishcohan, Delaware chief000
Figure 1∙2 Lapowinsa, Delaware chief 000
Figure 2∙1 “Chiefs of the Delaware Indians at Allegaeening”000
Figure 4∙1 John Armstrong, “Plan of Expedition to Kittanning” 000
Figure 4∙2 Robert Griffing, Post and King Beaver at Fort Duquesne000
Figure 5∙1 Robert Griffing, Preparing to Meet the Enemy000
Figure 7∙1 Robert Griffing, The Peace Maker000
Grimes (adjunct, LaRoche College) offers an updated and deeply researched account of the Delaware Nation’s search for new homelands outside the boundaries of their ancestral territories in what is now Pennsylvania after 1730. While acknowledging the occasionally tragic character of this “diaspora,” Grimes also emphasizes the degree to which the Delawares’ movements represented “an optimistic pursuit” of novel political, economic, and military opportunities. The monograph reflects a gendered understanding of historical change, as Grimes narrates the Delawares’ transition to a “masculine-centered” culture in the trans-Allegheny west. Battling the convenient assignment by Colonial authorities of their subordinate status to the Six Nations of the Iroquois League, the Delawares articulated a position of nationhood for themselves in the realms of war and diplomacy from 1755 to 1795. The book’s conclusion carries the story into the 19th century, tracing the route that led the Western Delawares to Indian Territory. Bucking recent trends in scholarship, Grimes eschews the inclusion of “an uplifting end to the story,” opting instead to emphasize the degree to which the impositions of the US ultimately prevented the Western Delawares from achieving political cohesion in the trans-Mississippi West.
Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries.
— Choice Reviews
Richard Grimes has produced a comprehensive analysis of the rise of the western Delaware Indian nation . . . . No other work delves into this process as deeply or develops the implications of Delaware westward migration as effectively. It's an illuminating and important chapter in the larger story of native migration and reconstruction in the late eighteenth century.— Daniel P. Barr, Professor of History, Robert Morris University