Day and night cannot dwel…

Day and night cannot dwell together. The Red Man has ever fled the approach of the White Man, as the morning mist flees before the morning sun. However, your proposition seems fair and I think that my people will accept it and will retire to the reservation you offer them. Then we will dwell apart in peace…. It matters little where we pass the remnant of our days. They will not be many. A few more moons; a few more winters and not one of the descendants of the mighty hosts that once moved over this broad land or lived in happy homes, protected by the Great Spirit, will remain to mourn over the graves of a people once more powerful and hopeful than yours. But why should I mourn at the untimely fate of my people? Tribe follows tribe, and nations follows nation, like the waves of the sea. It is the order of nature, and regret is useless. Your time of decay may be distant, but it will surely come, for even the White Man whose God walked and talked with him as friend with friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We will see….

…And when the last Red Man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the White Men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe, and when your children’s children think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone. At night when the street of your cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will thron with the returning hosts that once filled and still love this beautiful land. The White Man will never be alone.

….

 

Chief Seattle’s Speech Delivered in 1854 to the Governor of the Washington Territory; Variations Available in the Public Domain

The Lacrosse Ruse of 1763

Defining what it means to be “English,” on a June day in 1763 British Major George Etherington, commandant of Fort Michilimackinac, happily allowed himself to be caught unaware. Why? The Native Americans had kindly invited him to watch a friendly match of lacrosse between two of their tribes and being British he donned his funny little white-whig while leaving his weapons at home.

He then gathered most of the garrison to watch with him. According to the major’s accounts written later, they left the gates open and their weapons back in the fort. Etherington cheered for the Ojibwe along with the two chiefs of that tribe, Minweweh and Madjeckewiss After all, the major had bet that the Ojibwe would win. [Link]

Those who are mildly steeped in frontier wars probably know what follows. The British NCOs and conscripts were massacred mercilessly. The officers were used as ransom and anyone who was French was sent packing (presumably, for the same reason that Pontiac sometimes allowed women and children to live).

The next time you want to watch a lacrosse game, keep an eye on the exits!