TRIBAL HISTORY

Munsee Delaware Indian Nation-USA

Formerly the Munsee-Thames River Delaware Indian Nation,USA

updated 11-26-06

      Our ancestors may have been the first Native Americans to ever to taste alcohol; rum.     According to early Dutch historical writings., it is known that the first native to taste alcohol was a Munsee.     As the story goes, it was said that upon coming up the Delaware River, the Dutch explorers came upon a group of Indians that identified themselves as "Minnisink" or Munsees.     Eager to establish trading posts, the Dutch offered many "new" items to the Munsees.     Iron pots and tools, trade beads and colored materials and fabric in exchange for furs and food.     Upon their first experience with alcohol, it was written "that a few first partook and within minutes began stumbling around and then passed out.     Their friends and families thought at first that they had been poisoned and had died; then to their amazement they came to, and began singing and dancing around and asking for more in which the whole village soon was participating and proceeded to get quite drunk".     Early Dutch explorer-circa around late 1500's.

      By the mid 1600's after numerous battles with early Dutch dictators the Munsee then had to deal with the English who eventually ended up controlling the area around New York, New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.     For a period of about 25 years until 1690 our people sold off small parcels of land.

      At about this time we were joined once again by a remnant band of Shawnee.     This same band of Shawnee had visited the Munsee earlier that century and were introduced to the Dutch for trading of goods.     By 1690 both tribes knew the inevitable, the euros were here to stay.

     It was time to go.     We moved, with the Shawnee band to the south of the U.S.     We remained in north-west central Pennsylvania until about 1725.     At this time we were very close to the Iroquois lands and occasionally had skirmishes with them.     Some other Munsee and Delaware had been captured by them, but our band and the Shawnee avoided this fate.     It was then that we, after maybe 300 years, returned to the Ohio hill country in eastern Ohio.     The Shawnee continued south and west to central Ohio.     Over the next 30 years the rest of the Shawnee and Delaware were forced into Ohio and then Indiana, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. The "Absentee Shawnee" ended up in Texas only, like the Anadarko Delaware, to be moved to Oklahoma 1n 1877. The Anadarko went from Missouri to Texas and Mexico and never lived in Kansas and were not parties to the last Treaty with the Delaware (1866).     Like ours the remnant band Shawnee that left with us, stayed behind in Ohio as well.     Today that band of Shawnee are known as the "Shawnee Nation, United Remnant Band/East of the River Bands"tribes

     After the massacre at Gnadhutton and Showanbraun; which saw more then a hundred innocent woman and children massacred that were Christian Munsee converts in 1782 by Colonel William Crawford in his campaign of terror of Wyandotte and Delaware towns, many left the area of which we were living in present day Guernsey county.     Near this time, Chief White Eyes was said to have been killed while fighting as a patriot in 1778. Most Delaware of the times believed that he was more likely killed by the patriots.     Around 1780 a few of the Delaware and a few Mingo that were east of us at the time, decided it was time to go.     Because of a dispute between clans and fear of Crawford's Kentucky Renagades, White Eyes relatives left their village at "Bird's Run" and most left for Canada.     Birds Run was about two and a half miles north of the location our village the present day "Flatridge" and the village of "Indian Camp" about two miles to the south.    Ours and Indian Camp may have been the same at times as there is no accurate way to tell for sure how many were at any time as it was very mobile and we didn't use "set boundries".

     By 1784, ours and Indian camp, home to Captain Pipe's, Chief Little's (Munsee), and Chief Doughty's (Delaware) families had heard of a new Delaware village that they believed to be safer and began to slowly move there.     The village was called "Greentown" named after a British loyalist.     Situated on the "Black Fork Creek", it was about 60 miles to the northwest of their village near the present town of Perrysville of which the state of Ohio has erected a marker.     It is believed that a few families may have stayed or married settlers at our old village as late as 1828 and eventually evolved into mainstream society.

     Over the next thirty years Greentown grew to more then 150 dwellings.     It was quite a village with remnant bands of Delaware, Munsee, Mingo, Shawnee (probably "U.R.B.") and possibly even some Wyandotte.     It was a peaceful village by all accounts; but by the time of the "War of 1812" there was a concern that they might side with the British.     Our band had decided against neutrality and as did a few other Delawares, joined with Chief Tucumseh of the Shawnee and his followers and side with the British who assured Tecumseh that he would be supplied with sufficient food and ammunition to mount a good defense against the Americans, a fatal mistake.     Not only did they not provide the supplies, they didn't supply the back up and then locked us out of the fort as well when we tried to retreat causing, not only the death of the great Tucumseh, but to the death of Munsee and Delaware followers and other froms other tribes there.     The battle occurred near the Thames River ninety miles north of the Canadian - U.S. border near the town of Thamesville, Ontario.     Those of us who survived (Munsee Delaware) were escorted back to the U.S. possibly by a General Brock who called us "Thames River Munsee", thinking that we were from the band that was and still lives there. Our band changed its name to the "Munsee Delaware Indian Nation-USA" in 1997 to prevent confusion between the two separate nations.    By the time General Hull of the American forces surrendered to the British on August 16,1812, residents of Greentown were ordered removed to prevent them from aiding ours and other bands who decided to help the Britts.     The order to have them removed by September 1,1812, (this exact date may or may not be accurate as some believed we may have moved during a full moon so the exact date could, given the time, be determined if this actually is the case).     They were told that after the war they could return and Chief Armstrong of the Delaware was assured that the property would be inventoried and protected until peace ensued.    Some of the militia who "aided" in the removal stayed behind and burned the village and it was, for the most part abandoned after the war.     Some of the families that did return are ancestors of our band today and some still live in Ashland and Richland counties today.

     Over the next 150 years, although most of the Delawares and the Munsee were moved through Indiana, Missouri, Kansas (of which some stayed and some went to Oklahoma and some came back to Ohio to join friends and relatives), some never left at all!    However, by 1970, the band was becoming very mainstream and out of about 180 members in 1947 to less then 9 active members by 1970.     Over the last 30 years the band has had great success restoring and preserving the true Lenape heritage and traditions thanks to the few elders and the hard work of the tribe and of particularly their tribal chief of thirty-six years, William Little Soldier (Bungard - Vonasdale - Peters - Pipe - Elahtut - Prichett -  Ruark - Thomson (sic) and family members) who have helped preserve our culture.    In 1998, Chief Little Soldier purchased a small part of the old village cremonial land at Flatridge and returned it to his people.     We are at home once again!