Post by chicheman on Jun 18, 2012 6:53:11 GMT -5
Interview with Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman),
Dewey Herald Record, p. 12, August 17, 1983.
Nora Thompson Dean, Dewey, full blood Delaware (Lenape) explains the move of her people into the Cherokee Nation and their disappointment at not having land of their own. She says very soon after their arrival and settlement, mostly in what is now Washington County, a young man, the only son of his widowed mother, went to see about their horse and failed to return.
A search was begun and he was found dead with two Osage arrows crossed on his chest. This was a sign they were willing to go on the warpath if the Delaware wanted to do so.
This was a most serious development. Only a few years prior to this time it would have meant immediate war between the tribes. It could not be ignored by Lenape chiefs. Discussions were held with the Osage. It appeared the Delaware boy might have been killed and the challenge of the crossed arrows made without the knowledge of Osage leaders. The Osage leaders offered to give a Smoke for the Delawares.
The narrator is so familiar with tribal history that she speaks in the first person of events as she continues, " We were so weary with fighting. We had been oppressed by the whites, and in all the moves we had made across the country other tribes had always fought with us. There were less than 1,000 of us left and we were tired of fighting. We just wanted to live in peace, so our chiefs accepted the Osage offer of a smoke.
The smoke was a ceremony where leaders of both tribes smoked the peace pipe in the center of a very large circle made up of the members of the two groups. Then to indicate their willingness to accept the decision of their chief and live at peace with each other, individuals crossed the circle delivering a gift to a member of the other tribe. These gifts were not small items, but articles of great value. Touching Leaves added, "My father had a good saddle horse he rode for years that was a gift of an Osage at a smoke."
The ceremonies lasted all day and all night, and always included very large dinners, smoking the peace pipe, gift giving, and a little bit of dancing. The next year the Delawares gave the Smoke for the Osages, and prepared all the food and gave the gifts. The Delaware-Osage Smokes continued annually, with the tribes alternating in hosting the other, ending when Mrs. Dean was very small. "I'm not sure of the year the last Smoke was held,"she says, "But I remember it was in the bend of Post Oak Creek near where the highway now crosses it north of Dewey."
(Since this smokes were "ending when Mrs.Dean was very small",
they must have lasted well into the early 1900´s, because Mrs. Dean was born in 1907. chicheman)
Dewey Herald Record, p. 12, August 17, 1983.
Nora Thompson Dean, Dewey, full blood Delaware (Lenape) explains the move of her people into the Cherokee Nation and their disappointment at not having land of their own. She says very soon after their arrival and settlement, mostly in what is now Washington County, a young man, the only son of his widowed mother, went to see about their horse and failed to return.
A search was begun and he was found dead with two Osage arrows crossed on his chest. This was a sign they were willing to go on the warpath if the Delaware wanted to do so.
This was a most serious development. Only a few years prior to this time it would have meant immediate war between the tribes. It could not be ignored by Lenape chiefs. Discussions were held with the Osage. It appeared the Delaware boy might have been killed and the challenge of the crossed arrows made without the knowledge of Osage leaders. The Osage leaders offered to give a Smoke for the Delawares.
The narrator is so familiar with tribal history that she speaks in the first person of events as she continues, " We were so weary with fighting. We had been oppressed by the whites, and in all the moves we had made across the country other tribes had always fought with us. There were less than 1,000 of us left and we were tired of fighting. We just wanted to live in peace, so our chiefs accepted the Osage offer of a smoke.
The smoke was a ceremony where leaders of both tribes smoked the peace pipe in the center of a very large circle made up of the members of the two groups. Then to indicate their willingness to accept the decision of their chief and live at peace with each other, individuals crossed the circle delivering a gift to a member of the other tribe. These gifts were not small items, but articles of great value. Touching Leaves added, "My father had a good saddle horse he rode for years that was a gift of an Osage at a smoke."
The ceremonies lasted all day and all night, and always included very large dinners, smoking the peace pipe, gift giving, and a little bit of dancing. The next year the Delawares gave the Smoke for the Osages, and prepared all the food and gave the gifts. The Delaware-Osage Smokes continued annually, with the tribes alternating in hosting the other, ending when Mrs. Dean was very small. "I'm not sure of the year the last Smoke was held,"she says, "But I remember it was in the bend of Post Oak Creek near where the highway now crosses it north of Dewey."
(Since this smokes were "ending when Mrs.Dean was very small",
they must have lasted well into the early 1900´s, because Mrs. Dean was born in 1907. chicheman)