In the early 1800s, Indigenous peoples in Southern New England were entering their third century of struggle against invasion, disease, war, and racism. Meanwhile, White observers in the same period either ignored or relegated them to the past. Town histories and novels like James Fennimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans began to refer nostalgically to the “disappearance” of the region’s first inhabitants.
These assumptions and attitudes obscured the continuous and ongoing presence of Native American people in the region. Although the dominant culture often rendered them invisible, legal documents, family histories, account books, and other records reveal their presence. Many continued to move through their homelands in response to occupational opportunities and seasonal rhythms. Traveling ancient routes enabled them to maintain kinship ties and reaffirmed their connections to the land. Others settled permanently in small reserves or enclaves. Still others worked, lived, and married into White and African American communities.
William Apes (1798-1839) was a Pequot writer and orator. His writings, orations, and activities provide a rare glimpse of life among the Indigenous people of Southern New England in the early 1800s. Apes stood out as an advocate for his people’s rights in a period of discrimination and abuse. In 1836, he delivered his “Eulogy on King Philip.” It defied traditional White interpretations of Metacom’s (King Philip’s) War (1675-1676) and the Wampanoag leader for whom it was named.
English settlers and their descendants viewed Metacom as a savage rebel who led the bloodiest war ever fought on American soil. They celebrated his death, and English illustrations of his last moments show him face down in the mud.
William Apes, in contrast, portrayed Metacom as a patriot who died for his country. In a deliberate contrast to English descriptions, Apes depicted his death as a noble and tragic scene. For Apes, Metacom’s War highlighted the racism and legal injustices he and other Indigenous people continued to experience in their own day. Even as Apes wrote this scathing indictment of English colonial policy, the United States government endorsed the removal of Indigenous peoples in Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama. This policy forced thousands of Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creek people from their homes. Like his other writings and orations, Apes’ eulogy and its frontispiece publicized the plight of Indigenous people and the daily injustices they suffered.
