An important family of the Algonquian nation, also called Lenni-Lenapes, or “men.”
When the Europeans found them, they were dwelling in detached bands, under separate sachems on the
Delaware River.
The
Dutch traded with them as early as 1613, and held friendly relations with them; but in 1632 the
Dutch settlement of Swanendael was destroyed by them.
The
Swedes found them peaceful when they settled on the
Delaware.
This family claim to have come from the west with the Minquas, to whom they became vassals.
They also claimed to be the source of all the Algonquians, and were styled “grandfathers.”
The
Delawares comprised three powerful families (Turtle,
Turkey, and
Wolf), and were known as Minseys, or Munsees, and Delawares proper.
The former occupied the northern part of
New Jersey and a portion of
Pennsylvania, and the latter inhabited
lower New Jersey, the banks of the
Delaware below
Trenton, and the whole valley of the Schuylkill.
After the conquest of New Netherland, the
English kept up trade with the Delawares, and
William Penn and his followers bought large tracts of land from them.
They were parties on the
Indian side to the famous treaty with
Penn.
At that time the Indians within the limits of his domain were estimated at 6,000 in number.
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The
five Nations (q. v.) conquered the Delawares, and called them “women” in contempt; and when, at the middle of the eighteenth century, the latter, dissatisfied with the interpretation of a treaty, refused to leave their land, the Five Nations haughtily ordered them to go.
Commingling with warlike tribes, the Delawares became warlike themselves, and developed great energy on the war-path.
They fought the Cherokees, and in 1773 some of them went over the mountains and settled in
Ohio.
As early as 1741 the Moravians had begun missionary work among them on the
Lehigh, near
Bethlehem and
Nazareth, and a little church was soon filled with Indian converts.
At the beginning of the
French and Indian War the Delawares were opposed to the
English, excepting a portion who were led by the Moravians; but in treaties held at
Easton, Pa., at different times, from 1756 until 1761, they made peace with the
English, and redeemed themselves from their vassalage to the
Six Nations (q. v.). They settled on the
Susquehanna, the
Christian Indians apart.
Then another emigration over the mountains occurred, and they planted a settlement at
Muskingum, O. These joined
Pontiac, and besieged
Fort Pitt and other frontier posts, but were defeated in August, 1763, by
Colonel Bouquet, and their great chief,
Teedyuscung, was killed.
Their towns were ravaged, and the Moravian converts, who were innocent, fled for refuge to
Philadelphia.
These returned to the
Susquehanna in 1764, and the
Ohio portion made peace at
Muskingum the same year, and at
Fort Pitt in 1765.
The remainder in
Pennsylvania emigrated to
Ohio, and in 1786 not a Delaware was left east of the
Alleghany Mountains.
Moravian missionaries went with their flocks, and the
Christian Indians increased.
The pagans kept upon the war-path until they were severely smitten in a drawn
Battle at Point Pleasant, in 1774.
The
Delawares joined the
English when the
Revolutionary War broke out, but made peace with the
Americans in 1778, when a massacre of ninety of the
Christian Indians in
Ohio by the
Americans aroused the fury of the tribe.
Being almost powerless, they fled to the
Huron liver and
Canada.
Under the provisions of a treaty in 1787, a small band of Delawares returned to the
Muskingum, the remainder being hostile.
These fought
Wayne, and were parties to the treaty at
Greenville in 1795.
The scattered tribes in
Ohio refused to join
Tecumseh in the
War of 1812, and in 1818 they ceded all their lands to the
United States, and settled on the
White River, in
Illinois, to the number of 1,800, leaving a small remnant behind.
They finally settled in
Kansas, where missions were established among them, and they rapidly increased in the arts of civilized life.
In the
Civil War, the Delawares furnished 170 soldiers for the
National army.
Having acquired land from the Cherokees in the
Indian Territory, they now occupy the Cooweescoowee and
Delaware districts; numbered 754 in 1900; are considered the traders and business men of the
North American Indians; and still keep up their totemic distinction of Turtle,
Turkey, and
Wolf families.
