This gruesome episode in Queen Anne’s War became famous among English Americans as a case study in the nature of frontier warfare. Deerfield, a small community of nearly 300 at the confluence of the Connecticut and Deerfield Rivers (just south of present-day Vermont), stood at the edge of the New England frontier. In February 1704 a force of French regular soldiers, coureurs de hois, and their Native American allies descended upon the town, killing 44 men, women, and children and capturing another 109. Twenty-one captives died on the journey north to Canada.
After nearly three years of captivity, John Williams, the town’s minister, returned home to write The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion (1707), which became a bestseller and was republished in several editions. Williams recounted his experiences as a captive, the killing of two of his children and his wife, and his struggles against the Catholic priests who worked to convert him and his children. In the end, he and his sons returned with their faith secure. His daughter Eunice, however, chose to remain in Canada. Like 29 other captives, principally young children, she made her life with her father’s enemies.
Further reading: John Demos, The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America (New York: Knopf, 1994); Richard I. Melvoin, New England Outpost: War and Society in Colonial Deerfield (New York: Norton, 1989).
—Michael C. Batinski
Dekanawideh (Deganawideh, Dekanahwidah)
(1550?-1600?)
Dekanawideh, the “Peacemaker,” was a legendary Haudenosaunee (“People of the Longhouse,” or Iroquois) who introduced the Law of Great Peace to the warring Haudenosaunee tribes and prompted the confederation of the Five Nations—Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca (the TusCARORA joined about 1722). The name Dekanawideh (Deganawidah) is variously translated as “setting his teeth together” and “two river currents flowing together.” Little about this legendary figure is certain. Concurrent but not clearly fixed, the dates of the Iroquois confederation and Dekanawideh range from the mid-14th century to the early 17th century. Likewise, Dekanawideh’s origin and heritage are variously explained: He was a Huron, an Onondaga adopted by the Mohawk, a healing spirit, a holy man born of a virgin mother, or the reincarnated Good Twin of Iroquois creation myth.
Apart from these differences, Dekanawideh is a cru-cial figure in Iroquois history and in U. S. history as well. Surviving versions of Dekanawideh’s story share a basic narrative in which the visionary consoles Hiawatha (Hayonhwatha), a noble Mohawk who mourns the losses caused by interminable warfare. After teaching Hiawatha the Rituals of Condolence, Dekanawideh communicates his vision of Great Peace (Ka-yah-ne-renh-ko-wah) and presents the great white WAMPUM belt (Ska-no-dah-ken-rah-ko-wah) and the eagle feather (Ska-weh-yeh-seh-ko-wah). Dekanawideh and Hiawatha pacify the war despot Tadodahoh by combing snakes from his hair and initiate him as the first Firekeeper of the Confederacy. Hiawatha travels from tribe to tribe professing Dekanawideh’s plan, which includes the Tree of Great Peace (Ska-renj-heh-se-go-wah) and detailed procedures for the annual Confederate Council meeting around the council fire. The council consists of fifty chiefs (Rodiyaner), each appointed by female clan leaders of his respective tribe. Today, the League of Six Nations continues to function according to Dekanawideh’s code. Some recent scholarship argues for a direct Iroquois influence in shaping U. S. democracy and constitutional government.
Further reading: Colin G. Calloway, First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History (Boston: Bedford, 1999); Bruce E. Johansen, Native America and the Evolution of Democracy (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1999).
—Keat Murray
De Lancey, James (1703-1760) lawyer, politician An important New York politician and judge, James De Lancey, whose family were French Huguenots who immigrated to New York after the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes, inherited a great merchant fortune from his father. He attended law school in England before returning to New York to practice law. Named to the New York Supreme Court in 1731, he was elevated to chief justice by Governor William Cosby, who needed De Lancey’s political support to use the Supreme Court as a court of exchequer for the colony. In that position De Lancey presided over the John Peter Zenger case, in which he attempted to protect the governor by disqualifying Zenger’s attorneys until faced with the impeccable Andrew Hamilton. As leader of the free-trade political faction, De Lancey supported currency expansion and the primacy of the colonial legislature over the governor, a position that led to problems with Governor William Clinton’s plans for defending the colony in 1743. Clinton’s plans would have alienated merchants key to De Lancey’s faction by replacing them with government commissioners.
Despite this, De Lancey presided over the Albany Congress in 1754, promising the Iroquois Indians that their land would never be seized without compensation. In 1755 he parted with his own political faction over a land tax and the colony’s policies in the Seven Years’ War. Instead, he allied himself to William Johnson, the powerful Clinton-appointed agent to the Iroquois. So displeased was De Lancey with Massachusetts governor William Shirley’s prosecution of the war that he successfully petitioned the government in London to have him removed. During the war De Lancey also spearheaded the establishment of King’s College (now Columbia University) as a publicly supported but officially Church of England institution, defying the powerful Presbyterian Livingston faction.
De Lancey continued to serve as chief justice until his death in 1760. His son, James De Lancey, continued his political policies and was a prominent Loyalist during the American Revolution, leading to the confiscation and forfeiture of the De Lanceys’ substantial estates and fortune.
Further reading: D. A. Story, The De Lanceys: A Romance of a Great Family (London: T. Nelson, 1931).
—Margaret Sankey
World History
