HISTORIC SPOTS IN DELAWARE S.P. MOORE

HISTORIC SPOTS IN DELAWARE

SEWELL P. MOORE

EARLY INDIANS OF DELAWARE

The State of Delaware is rich in Indian lre and relics but the appreciation of these is spoilt for the most of us by the amount of confusion in names and locations. Historian have given different names to the same tribes which is unavoidable since the Indians themselves were known by different names in different languages. One would need to spend an effort of going through histories to make a clear picture of the time of early settlers.

It is necessary to forget the prehistoric people which were driven away by the Indians before the discovery of America. We do not know if they were another nation of Red Man or an entirely different kind of people. First imagine a horde of Red Men swarming East from across the Mississippi which might have been sudden or gradual. They took up the eastern part of Canada and America, except, the south most lands of America. Florida and the extreme southern area were inhabited by an entirely different nation of Indians. Iroqois settled the North and East Canada, a region around the Great Lakes. The southern nation, Algonquins, held the east coast , St Lawrence River to the Carolinas. There was no central control and each nation had many smaller nations. The Algonquins are known to have been a race, other than a nation.

Delaware concerns itself with the Algonquins Nation tribes of Lenni Lenapes, who held territory from Hudson River to the Potomac.Leadership was loose, mostly ruled by Lenni Lenape Chiefs, who were the most intelligent and domestic, the 'original people' , the Grandfathers. This nation was divided into Tribes, much like our States.

Delaware Indians, a name given three tribes of Indians of the region, needs to be forgotten, as it was the name given by the settlers, not the Indians.

Unamis or 'Turtle People' , the most progressive and intelligent of the Lenni Lenape Nation, were fishermen, planters, and hunters, with lands from the junction of the Lehigh and Delaware rivers down to the middle of Delaware on Delaware., the most prominent in Delaware history. They had very little occasion to make war in the territory of Delaware.

The Minsi, or 'Wolf People', friendly with the Unamis, occupied a crescent shaped tract from the northern part of the Delaware River to a tip that spread out in Cecil County Maryland, through to Christiana Creek, surrounding the Unamis. Although little of their territory was in Delaware they were important , being warriors, as guards and protectors to other tribes below them.

The last tribe, Unalachtgoe, 'Turkey People' , on lands now of Kent, Sussex and the rest of the peninsula, were peaceful and domestic, carried on farming and domestic arts to a high development and were good hunters and fishermen. They considered themselves to be a separate nation and divided into smaller tribes with strong leadership.

Source: Wilmington Delaware News Journal Saturday September 20 1930 : Abstract