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Digital Paxton: Digital Collection, Critical Edition, and Teaching Platform

Visit of Pontiac and the Indians to Major Gladwin

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1. Indian Man and Woman Eating (1585) An Indian man and woman eating; on rush mat, eating maize from a large round flat dish Watercolour over graphite, touched with white, bodycolour and gold. Inscribed in brown ink: "Theire sitting at meate " and in graphite: "20." For an introduction to this group of drawings by John White and a list of abbreviations used in the Literature at the end, see curatorial comment for 1906,0509.1.1, the title page inscription to the album. The following text is taken from K. Sloan, 'A New World: England's First View of America' (London, BM Publications, 2006), no. 24, pp. 144-5: The man in this watercolour is dressed like the old man of Pomeiooc (no. 19), but is showing the shaved side of his head, an ear ornament similar to the Priest's (no. 14) and a feather, which may indicate that he is younger. The woman is also young and her skin apron also seems to rise up her back and front to join on her shoulder which is covered by her hand. She is not tattooed as the other women are and her beads are not elaborate; the couple are probably not as high-ranking as the others depicted by White. They are sharing a meal, probably of hulled corn (soaked until the skins come off and then boiled until they puff up), on a wooden platter, seated on a reed mat similar to the ones shown in both village scenes. In his engraving de Bry added a significant number of artefacts to this scene which are not mentioned by Harriot in the caption but are referred to in his main text, and include a gourd for carrying water, a tobacco pouch and clay pipe, walnut, fish, corn and shell, perhaps the invention of the engraver and intended to indicate the contents of their dish, as assumed from Harriot's main account.The most significant comment appended to this image by Harriot is that the Indians ate 'soberly' and did not overindulge as he implies the English tended to do, and were healthier and longer-lived as a result. Engraved by Theodor de Bry in "America," pl. XVI: 'Their sitting at meate. 'Lit.: LB 1(21); Quinn, pp. 429-30; ECM 41; PH&DBQ 44(a); PH 41; Rountree, p. 51; Kupperman 2000, pp. 159-65
2. Indian Village of Pomeiooc (1585)
3. Indian Village of Secoton (1585) Bird's-eye view of village with huts, lake or river, fire, fields and ceremony Watercolour over graphite, heightened with white (oxidised). Inscribed in black ink with notes and in graphite "7." For an introduction to this group of drawings by John White and a list of abbreviations used in the Lit. at the end, see curatorial comment for 1906,0509.1.1, the title page inscription to the album. The following text is taken from K. Sloan, 'A New World: England's First View of America' (London, BM Publications, 2006), no. 8, pp. 110-11: The two towns recorded by White, Secotan and Pomeiooc, represent the two main types found in the area - palisaded (similar to a type found in Florida to the south) and open, as represented here. They contained a few dozen houses at most around a central open space with no rigid plan. The towns were sited near the coast or inland waterways for fishing and transportation. Soil near water was also richer and thus better for growing corn; but rainfall in the summer in this area is not reliable enough to guarantee several harvests every year (and the time of White's visits has been documented as a time of drought), and the people also hunted and gathered wild herbs and plants, carefully recorded for their medicinal, food and commercial properties by Harriot. They did not occupy their towns all year round or always return to the same site. Corn cultivation was relatively new to the inhabitants (introduced around AD 900) but they had developed a way of growing it in mounds surrounded by beans which gave nitrogen to the soil and increased the yield - far greater than the European method of ploughing and planting alone in rows. Maize was used in a variety of ways and provided a good proportion of their food (see no. 00). The houses were made of bark or reed mats, which could be lifted for ventilation. The roofs were rounded for greater stability and the various shapes of the buildings seen here are probably indicative of different functions, with closed structures for storage and ceremonial purposes and open-sided houses for living spaces, especially in the summer. They were mainly for sleeping and storage, with a central hearth used for cooking and smoking fish. There were sheds providing shelter from sun or rain for drying frames and for carrying out group work, although none is visible in White's views. White took most care here in depicting the activities of the people in the town: guarding the corn, which he indicates was sown in three stages (so it was ready for harvest from late July until September); 'sitting at meate'; their place 'of solemne prayer'; the 'Tombe of their Herounds'; and the 'Ceremony in their prayers' around posts carved with faces, while others rest on the sides. Some detail was lost through water damage to the drawing, but Harriot's accompanying written account has led de Bry to add further details including a hunting scene and plots of tobacco, sunflowers and pumpkins, and he has tidied up the scene considerably to make neat pathways and gardens rivalling those of an English country house. Engraved by Theodor de Bry in 'America', 1590, Pt. 1, pl. XX.Lit.: LB 1(6); Quinn, pp. 420-23; ECM 36; PH&DBQ 38(a); PH 36; Kupperman 1980, pp. 45-6; Rountree & Turner, pp. 14-22.
4. Indian Man and Woman Eating (1590)
5. The Town of Pomeiooc (1590) Bird's-eye view of a native American village enclosed by a circular palisade of poles. Eighteen buildings made of small bent poles covered with mats and/or bark surround a central fire with native Americans (some holding rattles) gathered around it. Outside the palisade are a field of corn (maize), sunflowers, and a pond from which three figures get water. The engraving is after a watercolor by John White. Hariot's text and key identify one building as the king's dwelling and another as a temple. The pond outside the village was dug as a source for water. Platforms within the buildings may be for sleeping and /or eating. The village can be located between present-day Lake Landing and Wyesocking Bay. Theodor De Bry's America. Part I. English.
6. The Town of Secota (1590) Bird's-eye view of a native American village. Buildings of pole and mat construction are dispersed in the landscape and surrounded by fields of crops. Crops include corn (maize), tobacco, sunflowers, and pumpkins. Human activities include hunting deer, guarding a field, tending a fire, eating, and dancing. Includes a ceremony involving dancing in a circle formed by posts with human faces carved into them. The engraving is after a watercolor by John White. Secoton may have been located on the south side of the Pamlico River, near Bonnerton, North Carolina. Theodor De Bry's America. Part I. English.
7. Virginia (1624)
8. Susquehannock Fort (1671)
9. Penn Wampum Belt (1682 Shackamoxon treaty)
10. Kort beskrifning om provincien Nya Swerige uti America (1702)
11. Lenape Indian (1702)
13. The Middle Colonies of North America (1714) This map, intended to promote German emigration to the English colonies, first appeared in Homann's Atlas Novus in 1714. From 1730 onward, this map appears with the line, "Cum Privilegio Sac. Maes. Majest." in the cartouche. It was published until 1804. Germantown Teutsche Statt, now Germanna, was a German mining community established by Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood in 1714. The native American figure in the cartouche is derived from the Susquehannock warrior in John Smith's map of Virginia.
14. Conestoga Manor (1717)
16. Map of the land between the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers, June 7, 1719 "Oversize map in Plexiglass case. The map is related to the boundary dispute between New York and New Jersey. The New York commissioners suspected that the northwestern station of the 1686 line was not on the northernmost branch of Delaware river. The New York commissioners evidently shared this suspicion. They sent Captain John Harrison to the branches of the Delaware on June 30, 1719. Harrison was to ""sett out from Minisinks' Island [the terminus on Delaware river fixed in 1686] and go the Indian path to Susquehanna river, and go up Susquehanna river till you meet the Indian path that comes from thence to the Indian town in Delaware called Cashieghtonk. (The New Jersey Archives, vol. 4, 391) Harrison's survey field book dated June 28 -July 8 is at the New Jersey Historical Society. (Stevens Family papers, box 40, folder 2). ""Protracted by a Scale of 5 miles in a inch."" Watermark: Shield / Post Horn Wendelin Riehel (WR 4) / K.J.K. Cf. Gravell, Foreign Watermarks, # 396 (IKM). Unpublished. "
17. Map of the Delaware River, ca. 1735 This manuscript map was probably drawn for a 1732 deed. Nicholas Scull, the first deputy surveyor for Philadelphia (1719) and Bucks County (1733); handled land disputes in Delaware Water Gap; he was was part of the surveying that precipitated the Walking Purchase. He later served as the Philadelphia County sheriff (1744-1746) and the province's Surveyor General (1748), author of published maps of Philadelphia region; member of the Junto; fluent in the Lenape language.
18. Peace Medal (1757) Presentation medal with the bust of King George II on the obverse and, on the reverse, a Quaker holding a peace pipe at a council fire with an Indian. Duffield, a clockmaker, engraved the die; the silversmith Richardson struck it. It was the first peace medal made in America. Benjamin Franklin and members of the Friendly Association would distribute these medals to Native Americans as tokens of goodwill. Inscription: "LET US LOOK TO THESE MOST HIGH WHO BLESSED OUR FATHERS WITH PEACE. 1757."
19. Habit of a Delaware Indian (1757)
20. Mr. Peter Williamson in the Dress of a Delaware Indian (1759) Williamson wrote of his capture by a professional gang in Aberdeen, Scotland, his sale in America, and subsequent capture by the Delaware Indians. He successfully prosecuted his kidnappers, compiled the first city directory of Edinburgh, established the first penny post there and he kept a tavern where he was known as Indian Peter. The details of his account have been questioned by scholars, but his narrative was popular at the time and served as a model for other captivity narratives. The British and French, realizing the esteem with which Indians held the pipe, began to manufacture metal trade hatchet pipes or tomahawk pipes in the eighteenth century. This image may have been copied from Pierre-Francois-Xavier de Charlevoix, A voyage to North-America, Paris, 1744; see also image in Charlevoix, Voyage, Dublin, 1766.
21. Disposition of the Pennsylvania Troops (1764)
22. Cantonment of His Majesty's Forces in N. America (1766)
23. A Delaware Indian with his Tomahawk (1766) Portrait of a native American of the Delaware Indians. Wearing a feathered headdress, wampum belt, gorget, and moccasins and carrying a gun or musket and a scalping knife, the man smokes a hatchet pipe and stands before a group of dancers and men paddling a canoe. The British and French, realizing the esteem with which Indians held the pipe, began to manufacture metal trade hatchet pipes or tomahawk pipes in the eighteenth century. Source title: [Journal d'un voyage fait par ordre du roi dans l'Amerique Septentrionale. English] A voyage to North-America: undertaken by command of the present King of France...
25. Penn's Treaty with the Indians (1771-72) Commissioned by Thomas Penn, son of Pennsylvania's founder, this painting depicts a legendary meeting between William Penn and members of the Lennie Lenape tribe at Shackamaxon on the Delaware River. Honoring his patron's and his own Quaker heritage, West employed a Neoclassical style to suggest both visual and political harmony. By depicting the three factions that shaped Pennsylvania for most of the eighteenth century - Native Americans, Quakers, and merchants - united in the act of settlement, West created a powerful symbol of peace. Although the scene is allegorical rather than historical, the image has become an icon of American history.Benjamin West was the first American-born artist to earn acclaim outside his homeland. West was born in Springfield (now Swarthmore), Pennsylvania, and his early artistic promise encouraged Philadelphia's leading citizens to finance his training in Rome. Subsequently, in 1763 West traveled to London and never returned to the Colonies. His acclaim as a painter of historical scenes attracted the attention of King George III. West was appointed official history painter to the king and was a founder and later was elected president of the Royal Academy. Well aware that, as an American, he was a novelty, West used this mystique to his advantage, claiming that he had learned color mixing from Native Americans. He greatly contributed to American art in his role as teacher and advisor to the many early American artists who came to London to study with him.
26. Penn's Treaty with the Indians (1775)
27. Plan of the City and Environs of Philadelphia (1777)
28. The Course of the Delaware River from Philadelphia to Chester (1778)
29. Plat of the Seven Ranges of Townships (1814)
30. Penn's Treaty with the Indians (1820) This engraving was taken from Benjamin West's painting which was commissioned by Thomas Penn in his effort to retain the proprietorship government of Pennsylvania. It shows William Penn's peace conference with representatives of the Leni Lenape or Delaware tribes under the great elm at Shackamaxon. The image in the print is reversed from the painting which is in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Cf. 05-135. Series edited by Giulio Ferrario. The title page identifies the illustrator as Giuseppe Erba Odescalchi. Image placed horizontally on page.
31. Washington Residence and Philadelphia Barracks View showing the house, also known as the Robert Morris House, built circa 1767-1768 at 526-530 Market Street, resided in by the president during construction of the executive mansion on Ninth Street. The walled garden adjacent the residence and the neighboring Sheaff's Wine Store (512 Market) are also visible. Includes pedestrian traffic of two men with canes. The residence burned in 1780 and was demolished in 1803. View showing the barracks built in 1757 in Northern Liberties for the quartering of British soldiers. Infantrymen drill across from a soldier presiding over a cannon in the courtyard of the buildings. The Barracks extended between Second, Third, Tammany, and Green streets and were razed soon after the American Revolution. Plate published in John F. Watson's Annals of Philadelphia...(Philadelphia: E.L. Carey & A. Hart, 1830), opp. p. 361. Residence view reproduced in Edward Lawler Jr.'s "The President's House In Philadelphia: The Rediscovery of a Lost Landmark." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (January 2002), pp. 5-95.
32. Penn's Treaty with the Indians (c. 1830-1835)
33. Events in Indian history: beginning with an account of the origin of the American Indians, and early settlements in North America, and embracing concise biographies of the principal chiefs and head-sachems of the different Indian tribes, with narratives a
34. Massacre of the Conestogas (1841) Events in Indian history: beginning with an account of the origin of the American Indians, and early settlements in North America, and embracing concise biographies of the principal chiefs and head-sachems of the different Indian tribes, with narratives and captivities ... also an appendix containing the statistics of the population of the U. States, and an Indian vocabulary. Illustrated with eight fine engravings.
35. Colored Lithograph of William Penn's Treaty with the Indians (1845) Print after the Benjamin West painting (1771) showing the treaty made at the village of Shackamaxon (i.e. Penn Treaty Park, Kensington) on the Delaware River. Penn, surrounded by his delegates, negotiates with the Delaware Indian chief near a giant elm tree. Crates of goods are sat upon and displayed by the English delegation. Native Americans, including a translator and a woman breast-feeding her baby, participate in and watch the negotiations. Also shows brick residences being built in the background. River depicted on left.
39. Paxton Presbyterian Church Paxton Presbyterian Church, Paxtang, Harrisburg, Pa. Congregation formed around 1732. This building erected 1740 is the oldest Presbyterian church in continuous use in Pennsylvania. An historic spot closely identified with early Colonial history and the American Revolution. Chapel erected in 1905, enlarged 1923. Marker shows location of early log church. Postcard produced by the Albertype Company, which operated between 1890 and 1952.
40. Visit of Pontiac and the Indians to Major Gladwin
41. Coaquannock Map (1934)

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Neolin and Pontiac's Rebellion 16 Jenn Androsky image_header 2019-10-02T10:51:04-07:00
This lesson will focus on the Neolin Prophetic Vision. Students should be familiar with the roles and effects of Native Peoples with the Seven Years' War. This lesson can be used to introduce events that preceded the Paxton Boy's massacres and help students understand the context of the massacres. This lesson can be followed by a more extensive lesson on Pontiac's Rebellion and the use of Ghost River and Digital Paxton.

Lesson Objectives:
- Students will be able to explain the Purpose, Point of View, Context and Audience of a visual and written document.
- Students will be able to form an argument on the success of Neolin's message.
- Students will be able to explain Neolin's message.
Grade Level: 9-12 AP US History

Standards: AP US History Key Concept Outline:
- 2.1 III B - Interactions between European rivals and American Indian populations fostered both accommodation and conflict. French, Dutch, British and Spanish colonies allied with and armed American Indian groups, who frequently sought alliance with Europeans against other American Indian groups.
- 3.1 I C - After the British victory, imperial officials' attempts to prevent colonists from moving westward generated colonial opposition, while native groups sought to both continue trading with Europeans and resist the encroachments of colonists on tribal land.
- 3.3 I A - Various American Indian groups repeatedly evaluated and adjusted their alliances with Europeans, other tribes, and the U.S., seeking to limit migration of white settlers and maintain control of tribal lands and natural resources. British alliance with American Indians contributed to tensions between the U.S. and Britain.
Historical Background: Bryan Rindfleisch, "Pontiac's Rebellion."

Materials:
1. Henry Davenport Northrop, "Visit of Pontiac and the Indians to Major Gladwin" (1901)
2. Robert Navarre, "An Account of Neolin's Prophetic Vision" (1763)
3. Document Analysis Handout
Procedure:
1. Hand out or project the image of "Visit of Pontiac and the Indians to Major Gladwin." Have students take a minute to look at the image write down what they see in it. Suggest they break it down into quadrants and look at all parts of the image. Push the students to write down more than 10 things.
2. Have students share what they see in the image with a partner and then get some responses from the class.
3. Then divide the class into groups of 3-4 assign each group one aspect of extended analysis of; Purpose, Audience, Context and Point of View. Give the group a couple minutes to discuss and formulate a response to their assigned extended analysis. Including why. Students should be given the date of the image ca.1760.
4. Hand out the Neolin document. Based on time can use the long or shorten version. Have them read it and complete the graphic organizer important phrases portion.
5. Have students compare their important phrases portion with their group.
6. Then get a class response of a few.
7. Have students then complete the second part critical thinking questions together.
8. Have different groups share responses to different questions.
9. Once students have completed get a quick sharing on questions with different groups sharing responses from different questions.
10. Based on students responses discuss Pontiac's Rebellion or have a teacher lead lecture.
Assessment: Have students write a thesis statement responding to the FRQ question: To what extent was Neolin successful in achieving his vision? This can be turned in as an exit slip.

Extensions:
- Outline or write a full FRQ.
- Discuss different possible answers to this question.
- Come back to this question in the lead up to the War of 1812 and compare and contrast Neolin and Tenskwatawa.
This lesson was created during the 2019 Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Teacher Seminar, "Native Peoples, Settlers, and European Empires in North America, 1600-1840" (July 28-August 3, 2019). You may also download a printable version of this lesson.
Interpreting Conflict through Political Cartoons 6 Peter Gaynor image_header 2019-10-02T10:51:38-07:00
This lesson will examine the An Indian Squaw King Wampum Spies political cartoon and then begin to extrapolate the schisms between the Paxton Boys, Native Peoples, and Pennsylvania Government, and by extension British Crown. This lesson will help students connect the Proclamation of 1763 and Pontiac's War to the growing mistrust between colonial settlers and their government as we head into the Revolutionary Era.

Lesson Objectives:
- Students will read through and contextualize an 18th century political cartoon.
- Students will use the document to connect existing historical ideas they have learned.
- Students will create their own political cartoon that they think most accurately portrays their understanding.
Grade Level: Grade 8

Standards:
- D2.His.1.6-8: Analyze connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts.
- D2.His.6.6-8: Analyze how people's perspectives influenced what information is available in the historical sources they created.
Historical Background:

Excerpt from Will Fenton, "Introduction."
In December 1763, a mob of settlers from Paxtang Township murdered 20 unarmed Susquehannock Indians in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A month later, hundreds of ‘Paxton Boys' marched toward Philadelphia to menace and possibly kill more refugee Indians who sought the protection of the Pennsylvania government. While Benjamin Franklin halted the march just outside of Philadelphia in Germantown, supporters of the Paxton Boys and their critics spent the next year battling in print.

The Paxton Boys accused the Conestoga Indians of colluding with the Ohio Country Lenape and Shawnee warriors who were attacking Pennsylvania's western frontier, a charge that had no basis in fact. Their opponents accused the Paxton Boys of behaving more savagely than the Indians they had killed.

The pamphlet war that followed in 1764 was not so different from the Twitter wars of today. Pamphleteers waged battle using pseudonyms, slandering opponents as failed elites and racial traitors. At stake was much more than the conduct of the Paxton men. Pamphleteers staked claims about colonization, peace and war, race and ethnicity, masculinity and civility, and religious association in pre-Revolutionary Pennsylvania.

Excerpt from Jane Merritt, "Paxton Boys." Colonization and Settlement, Third Edition, 2017.
The Paxton Boys mostly came from the Scots-Irish immigrant communities established along the Pennsylvania frontier in the 1720s. Some had ties to local militia groups in Lancaster County and Northampton County, west and north of Philadelphia, and many fought Indians during the 1750s when hostile Delaware and Shawnee attacked isolated frontier plantations that had been built on disputed territory claimed by both cultures. After the Seven Years' War Scots-Irish settlers feared the continued presence of Native Americans in the region and, making no distinction between allies and enemies, took out their anger on a peaceful Indian community nearby. The initial attack came on December 14, 1763, when a group of armed men from Paxton township in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, marched on Conestoga Manor, killing and scalping six of the Christian Indians living on the small reserve of land. A few weeks after the original attack, 50 or 60 armed men on horseback attacked the surviving Conestoga Indians who had been placed under protective custody in the jailhouse at Lancaster.

The Pennsylvania governor and other Pennsylvania leaders, including Benjamin Franklin, condemned the actions of the Paxton Boys as being more ‘savage' than those of the Indians they hated. The colonial government did not criticize the brutal murder of Indian people but instead worried that poor white frontier inhabitants had challenged their authority and feared that they would continue to do so. Indeed, by early 1764 nearly 250 "Paxton Volunteers," as they called themselves, gathered and headed for Philadelphia intending to kill several hundred Indians under the protection of the Moravians and Pennsylvania government. Benjamin Franklin and a small militia force stopped the group in Germantown, just short of their goal, but a pamphlet war quickly ensued that explicated the grievances of the frontier inhabitants. Through satirical verse, cartoons, and pointed prose the largely Presbyterian Scots-Irish group questioned the loyalties, morality, and masculinity of politically powerful Quakers in the provincial assembly. Matthew Smith and James Gibson, the most vocal of these pamphlet authors, complained that the largely Quaker assembly had refused to help frontier settlers during the war with funds for a militia and protective forts. Instead, those in power had used public monies and private donations to assist Indians, such as the Delaware, who, with Quaker support, claimed rights to land in eastern Pennsylvania. Still, the Paxtons' ultimate complaints revolved around issues of relative political power and their own place within the British Empire. They contended that frontier inhabitants in the western counties of Pennsylvania had less political representation in the provincial assembly than did the smaller eastern counties and that the legal justice system did not extend into their isolated communities. The Paxtons, demanding that the British treat them as equal subjects, took out their anxieties on the Conestoga Indians, who they thought did not deserve recognition or protection from the Pennsylvania government.

Whether or not the Paxton Boys' actions came from a nascent nationalism, the massacre and its aftermath set a precedent for Indian-white relations on the American frontier. After 1763 the level of "Indian-hating" dramatically increased. Other groups of frontier vigilantes, patterned on the Paxton Boys, attacked peaceful Indian communities in the Ohio Valley during the Revolutionary War. In turn, very few Native American groups allied themselves with colonists against Great Britain.

Materials:
- Historical Background (above)
- James Claypoole, An Indian Squaw King Wampum Spies
- Lee Francis, Weshoyot Alvitre, and Will Fenton, Ghost River: The Fall and Rise of the Conestoga. Albuquerque: Red Planet Books and Comics, 2019.
- Political Cartoon Graphic Organizer (Handout)
Procedure:
1. For homework, have students read the Historical Background (above).
2. At the start of class, ensure that the students have a framework for the political cartoon.
  1. In small groups, have students put events in chronological order.
  2. As a class, have students discuss their annotations.
  3. Individually, have students read an excerpt from Ghost River to help frame or better understand the events associated with the historical Background.
3. Introduce political cartoons as primary source documents. Reinforce the understanding that this cartoon was engraved in the context of the 1764 pamphlet war.
4. Project An Indian Squaw King Wampum Spies and open the transcription.
  1. Have students to list what they see. Record observations on the board.
  2. Break students into small groups and provide the link to the transcription
5. Provide students with the Political Cartoon Graphic Organizer and have them to fill it out as best as they can.
6. After students finish, review their interpretations.
7. Have students discuss the power dynamics between the groups living in Pennsylvania and the English Crown.
Assessment and Extensions: Ask students to create their own cartoon that they feel accurately portrays the conflict in Pennsylvania in 1764.

This lesson was created during the 2019 Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Teacher Seminar, "Native Peoples, Settlers, and European Empires in North America, 1600-1840" (July 28-August 3, 2019). You may also download a printable version of this lesson.