The New Student's Reference Work/Delawares

Delawares, a tribe of the great Algonquin family of Indians, were found by the whites in detached bands, under chiefs or sachems, dwelling on the Delaware River, and calling themselves Lenapes. The Dutch, the Swedes and the English all traded with them peaceably. William Penn bought large tracts of their lands. The Delawares claimed that they were cheated in this walking-treaty, as it was called, and at first were not going to remove. But the Pennsylvanians called on the Six Nations for help, who haughtily ordered the Delawares, as women, to retire. They at this time were composed of three clans, those of the Turtle, the Turkey and the Wolf. From this time they kept splitting into bands and changing their homes. The Ohio, Muskingum, Miami, parts of Canada, the White River of Missouri, the Red River and the Kansas were successively homes of the Delawares. Most of them now are on the Verdigris River, on lands bought from the Cherokees. The Delawares fought at Braddock's defeat, took part in the wars of Pontiac, helped the Miamis in the defeat of St. Clair in 1791, fought against the Sioux, and in the Civil War sent most of their warriers to join the north. The early Swedish settlers attempted to Christianize them; but the best work among them was done by the Moravians, beginning in 1741. In 1866 the United States government allowed them to become citizens, which they chose to do, their lands and money held by the government being divided among the members of the tribe. Tammany, the name adopted by the well-known political society of New York city, was an early Delaware chief. The Delawares now number about 1,000.