Praying Indian is a 17th-century term referring to
Native Americans of
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
,
New York,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, and
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
who converted to Christianity either voluntarily or involuntarily. Many groups are referred to by the term, but it is more commonly used for tribes that were organized into villages. The villages were known as
praying towns
Praying towns were a settlements established by English colonial governments in New England from 1646 to 1675 in an effort to convert local Native Americans to Christianity.
The Native people who moved into these towns were known as Praying I ...
and were established by missionaries such as the
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
leader
John Eliot and
Jesuit missionaries who established the
St. Regis and
Kahnawake
The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (french: Territoire Mohawk de Kahnawake, in the Mohawk language, ''Kahnawáˀkye'' in Tuscarora) is a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Queb ...
(formerly known as Caughnawaga) and the missions among the
Huron
Huron may refer to:
People
* Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America
* Wyandot language, spoken by them
* Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec
* Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...
in western
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
.
Early history
![John Eliot Leading Indians in Prayer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/John_Eliot_Leading_Indians_in_Prayer.jpg)
In 1646, the
General Court of Massachusetts
The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, w ...
passed an "Act for the Propagation of the Gospel amongst the Indians." It and the success of
Reverend John Eliot and other missionaries preaching Christianity to the New England tribes raised interest in England. In 1649, the
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...
passed an ordination forming "A Corporation for the Promoting and Propagating the Gospel of
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
in New England," which raised funds to support the cause.
Contributors raised approximately £12,000 to invest in the cause, to be used mainly in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony and in
New York. Eliot received financial aid from the corporation to start schools to teach the Native Americans. The Indian nations involved appear to have included the
Massachusett
The Massachusett were a Native American tribe from the region in and around present-day Greater Boston in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name comes from the Massachusett language term for "At the Great Hill," referring to the Blue Hills ...
and the
Nipmuc
The Nipmuc or Nipmuck people are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who historically spoke an Eastern Algonquian language. Their historic territory Nippenet, "the freshwater pond place," is in central Massachusetts and nearby part ...
.
On October 28, 1646, in Nonantum (now
Newton), Eliot preached his first sermon to Native Americans in their
Massachusett language
The Massachusett language is an Algonquian language of the Algic language family, formerly spoken by several peoples of eastern coastal and southeastern Massachusetts. In its revived form, it is spoken in four communities of Wampanoag people ...
in the
wigwam
A wigwam, wickiup, wetu (Wampanoag), or wiigiwaam (Ojibwe, in syllabics: ) is a semi-permanent domed dwelling formerly used by certain Native American tribes and First Nations people and still used for ceremonial events. The term ''wickiup' ...
of
Waban
Waban (16041685) was a Native American of the Nipmuc group and was thought to be the first Native American convert to Christianity in Massachusetts.
Life
Waban was born about 1604 at Musketaquid, near the present town of Concord. While there i ...
, the first convert of his tribe. Waban later offered his son to be taught in the ways of the European colonists and served as an interpreter. Eliot translated the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
into the Massachusett language and published it in 1663 as
Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God
The ''Eliot Indian Bible'' ( alq, Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God; also known as the ''Algonquian Bible'') was the first translation of the Christian Bible into an indigenous American language, as well as the first Bible publishe ...
. By 1675, 20% of New England's Natives were living in
Praying Towns
Praying towns were a settlements established by English colonial governments in New England from 1646 to 1675 in an effort to convert local Native Americans to Christianity.
The Native people who moved into these towns were known as Praying I ...
.
Christian Indian Towns were eventually located throughout Eastern and Central Massachusetts and included
Littleton (Nashoba),
Lowell (Wamesit, initially incorporated as part of
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...
),
Grafton (Hassanamessit),
Marlborough
Marlborough may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
** Marlborough College, public school
* Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England
* The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England
Austral ...
(Okommakamesit),
Hopkinton (Makunkokoag),
Canton (
Punkapoag),
Mendon-Uxbridge (Wacentug), and
Natick
Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...
. Only Natick has retained its original name. Praying Indian Towns started by Eliot extended into Connecticut and included Wabaquasset (Senexet, Wabiquisset), six miles west of the
Quinebaug River
The Quinebaug River is a river in south-central Massachusetts and eastern Connecticut, with watershed extending into western Rhode Island. The name "Quinebaug" comes from the southern New England Native American term, spelled variously , , etc ...
in present-day
Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...
, the largest of the three northeastern Connecticut praying towns.
The towns had a location that served as an outlying wall of defense for the colony, a function that came to an end in 1675, during
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...
. Praying Indians offered their service as scouts to the colonists in Massachusetts but were rejected by the Puritans in Boston. Instead, Praying Indian residents were first confined to their villages and were thus restricted from their farms and unable to feed themselves. Many were confined on
Deer Island in
Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States.
History
...
.
John Eliot and many others in the Plymouth Colony tried to prevent it,
but it is reported that it became dangerous in Massachusetts to talk positively any Native Americans, which likely contributed to the initial successes of the Indian rebellion.
The order for removal was passed in October 1675, and by December, well over 1,000 Christian Indians had been brought to the island, where many died during the winter due to the harsh conditions. The survivors were released in 1676.
After the war, in part because of the loss of life, the General Court of Massachusetts disbanded 10 of the original 14 towns in 1677 and placed the rest under the supervision of colonists,
[Praying Towns, Blackwell Reference Online](_blank)
/ref> but some communities survived and retained their religious and education systems.[Goddard, Ives and Kathleen J. Bragdon (eds.) (1989) Native Writings in Massachusett. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. P. 14.]
Praying Indians of Dedham
In the mid-17th century Reverend John Eliot and a group of praying Indians from Dedham, Massachusetts won a lengthy court battle and were awarded the title to the of land in the town that is now known as Natick
Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...
.
The dispute, which lasted from 1651 to 1665 and flared up again sporadically in the years afterward, centered on the Indians' use of a tract of land along the Charles River. They claimed to have an agreement to use the land for farming with the Town Fathers, but Dedham officials objected to them.
Eliot had converted many of the native people in the area to Christianity and taught them how to live a stable agrarian life. He converted so many that the group needed a large portion of land on which to grow their own crops. The law was on the side of the town, Elliot made a moral argument that the group had a need for land of their own.
The case eventually went before the General Court, which granted the land in question to the Indians and, in compensation for the land lost, gave another piece of land in what is today Deerfield, Massachusetts
Deerfield is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. Settled near the Connecticut River in the 17th century during the colonial era, the population was 5,090 as of the 2020 census. Deerfield is part of the Springfield, Massachu ...
, to the Dedham settlers. The town's actions in the case were characterized by "deceptions, retaliations, and lasting bitterness" and harassed its native neighbors with petty accusations even after the matter had been settled.
American Revolutionary War
There are several narratives regarding Native American history that are greatly underrepresented. A significant number of Praying Indians fought for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. During the war, the vast majority of those Indians had been completely assimilated into their surrounding Christian communities and had fewer significant ties to other Native communities.[Hall, Robert D. Jr. (2004-02-08), "Praying Indians in the American Revolution]
Needham Historical Society
They fought in entirely integrated units, unlike the African-American soldiers who fought for their country from the Revolutionary War to World War II.[Quintal, George Jr. (2004), ''Patriots of Color – 'A Peculiar Beauty and Merit','' National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. ]
There is no evidence of official discrimination towards Native American soldiers. They received equal pay and treatment as compared to their white counterparts. That is a direct contrast to unit segregation in the Civil War, for instance. African-American soldiers fought in segregated units, such as the 54th Massachusetts Regiment
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the second African-American regiment, following the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry ...
under Col. Robert Gould Shaw. They were initially paid less than their white counterparts. Soldiers of Native American origin fought in several significant battles during the Revolutionary War such as Bunker Hill, Battle Road, Trenton, and Saratoga. The number of Praying Indian soldiers was likely over 100, but an entirely accurate count is hard to come by.
Unlike other Native groups such as the Iroquois Confederacy, the Praying Indians were cohesive and steadfast in their support for the colonists. The Iroquois Confederacy had several factions, most of which supported the British during the Revolutionary War, but some decided to fight with the colonists. That inevitably led to clashes involving previously aligned groups, when Native tribes on the opposite sides of the conflict met on the field of battle. For example, the Battle of Oriskany on August 6, 1777, saw Loyalist Seneca soldiers fighting against colonially-aligned Oneidas.
The Praying Indians never saw such a split. They had extremely close ties to both the Puritan clergy that established the Praying towns, as well as non-Native peoples that lived among them. Despite continued seizure of Native lands, the various Praying Indian communities realized that their continued survival could be ensured only by close ties to their communities. Support of a distant government would only alienate themselves from those who were in proximity.
In particular, Praying Indians from Natick and Ponkapoag (now Canton) served in large numbers.[Tortora, Daniel J. (2016), "Indian Patriots from Eastern Massachusetts: Six Perspectives," ''Journal of the American Revolution'' ''Annual Volume 2016,'' pp. 283–290.] The borders of Natick have since changed and includes parts of what was Needham, Dedham.
The first significant engagements Praying Indians participated in were the Battles of Battle Road and Bunker Hill. Approximately five out of the estimated 21 Native Americans at Battle Road were from Praying Indian communities, and out of the estimated 103 Native Americans at Bunker Hill, about 10 were Praying Indians from the Natick area (primary source confirmation of service histories has numbers that are significantly less). As a result of the unit integration in the Continental Army, most cases had no real concentration of Praying Indians in a single unit. Praying Indians served in dozens of distinct units throughout the Revolutionary War. The Battle of King's Bridge in the Bronx, where both Daniel Nimham, the last sachem of the Wappinger
The Wappinger () were an Eastern Algonquian Munsee-speaking Native American people from what is now southern New York and western Connecticut.
At the time of first contact in the 17th century they were primarily based in what is now Dutches ...
and his son Abraham were killed alongside some 60 members of the Stockbridge Militia is a notable exception.
Soldiers of Praying Indian origin
Historian George Quintal Jr. discusses Revolutionary war veterans who were Native American, African-American, and other minority groups in his book ''Patriots of Color: ‘A Peculiar Beauty and Merit’''. A sampling of histories of Praying Indian soldiers is found below.
James Anthony was born in Natick and initially served for eight months in 1775 in the regiment of Col. Jonathan Ward and in the company of Capt. James Mellen. He later re-enlisted for three years from 1777 to 1780 in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment under Col. William Shepherd, serving in Capt. Reuben Slayton's company. The unit fought at Saratoga and was present at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777. Anthony was discharged 14 March 1780.
Joseph Paugenit Jr. (Mashpee Wampanoag) was born in Framingham and was baptized in Natick in 1754. His father, Joseph Sr., fought during the French and Indian War. He served in the company of Capt. Thomas Drury under the command of Col. John Nixon, and fought at Bunker Hill. He later re-enlisted in the Col. Thomas Nixon's fourth Regiment in New York and fought at the Battles of Harlem Heights and White Plains. After his second discharge he re-enlisted a second time, once again under Col. Thomas Nixon. He fought at the Battle of Saratoga and was reported as deceased soon after, likely as the result of wounds sustained during the battle or from contracting smallpox.
Alexander Quapish (Wampanoag, 1741–1776), born in Wampanoag territory in Yarmouth, Massachusetts
Yarmouth ( ) is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 23,793 at the 2010 census.
The town is made up of three major villages: South Yarmouth, West Yarmou ...
, enlisted in Dedham in 1775. He served as a member 13th Massachusetts Regiment of Col. Jonathan Brewer. He took ill in November 1775 and died in Needham in March 1776. Michael Bacon cared for him in his last days and conducted his burial. Quapish's remains were disinterred and donated to the Warren Anatomical Museum
The Warren Anatomical Museum, housed within Harvard Medical School's Countway Library of Medicine, was founded in 1847 by Harvard professor John Collins Warren, whose personal collection of 160 unusual and instructive anatomical and pathological ...
. Under NAGPRA
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Pub. L. 101-601, 25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq., 104 Stat. 3048, is a United States federal law enacted on November 16, 1990.
The Act requires federal agencies and institutions that ...
, the Mashpee Wampanoag and Nipmuc Nation were able to return his remains to the Pond Street Burial Ground in Needham (now Natick).
Samuel Comecho served in the Battle of Bunker Hill under the command of Capt. Benjamin Bullard in Col. Jonathan Brewer's regiment. Born in Natick, Comecho enlisted for eight month's service and his unit held the line at Bunker Hill between the redoubt and the rail fence. He re-enlisted on the first day of 1776 in Col. Asa Whitcomb's regiment and served in Capt. William Hudson Ballard's company in the Canadian theater. It was reported that he died on March 14, 1776. The cause of death was likely smallpox.
Legacy
The sacrifices made by Praying Indians and other minority groups during the Revolutionary War have never been properly celebrated. It was not until the 20th century that these veterans were first recognized. The town of Natick installed a monument to Native American veterans of the Revolutionary War in 1900, which still stands today on Pond Street near Natick Center. However, it was not until Needham historian Robert D. Hall Jr. that their final resting places were properly honored. Hall and volunteers placed grave markers and American flags in a Needham cemetery to honor these veterans in 2003.
Self-government
The Praying Indian communities were able to exercise self-government and to elect their own rulers (sachem
Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...
s) and officials, to some extent exhibited continuity with the pre-contact social system, and used their own language as the language of administration of which a wealth of legal and administrative documents has survived. However, their self-government was gradually curtailed in the 18th and 19th centuries, when their languages also became extinct around. During that period, most of the original "Praying Towns" eventually declined because of epidemics and the communal land property of others passing out of native control. The Indian-inhabited areas were eventually transformed into "Indian districts."
21st century
Descendants of the Praying Indians from Natick
Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...
have organized as the Praying Indian Tribe of Natick, currently under the leadership of Rosita Andrews or Caring Hands from Stoughton, Massachusetts
Stoughton (official name: Town of Stoughton) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 29,281 at the 2020 census. The town is located approximately from Boston, from Providence, Rhode Island, and from Cape ...
, who received her title of chief from her mother. The Praying Indian members live within a radius of around Stoughton. According to Caring Hands, in 2011 there were just under 50 members of Natick Praying Indians. On 11 August 2012, members of the tribe celebrated a public service in Eliot Church, South Natick, the site of the original church of the Praying Indian town of Natick, for the first time after almost 300 years.
Further reading
Several books and journal articles have been written about this topic. One of the most extensive overviews of Praying Indians in the Revolutionary War, which includes service and life histories, is George C. Quintal's ''Patriots of Color - 'A Peculiar Beauty and Merit'.'' Additionally, Daniel J. Tortora, Associate Professor of History at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, wrote an article titled "Indian Patriots from Eastern Massachusetts: Six Perspectives" in the ''Journal of the American Revolution''. This work details six different Indians of Eastern Massachusetts origin who fought in the Revolutionary War, including several with Praying Indian roots.
Jean M. O'Brien's ''Disposession by Degrees: Indian Land and Identity in Natick, Massachusetts 1650-1790'' and Daniel R. Mandell's ''Behind the Frontier: Indians in Eighteenth-Century Eastern Massachusetts'' are both extensive volumes that delve into Native American life in Massachusetts. For historical context, Kathryn N. Gray's ''John Eliot and the praying Indians of Massachusetts Bay: communities and connections in Puritan New England'' is an excellent overview. ''Forgotten patriots: African American and American Indian patriots in the Revolutionary War: a guide to service, sources, and studies'' by Eric G. Grundset provides a comprehensive overview of historical methodologies used when studying this and similar topics.
See also
* Moravian Indians
*Mission Indians
Mission Indians are the indigenous peoples of California who lived in Southern California and were forcibly relocated from their traditional dwellings, villages, and homelands to live and work at 15 Franciscan missions in Southern California and ...
*Indian Reductions
Reductions ( es, reducciones, also called ; , pl. ) were settlements created by Spanish rulers and Roman Catholic missionaries in Spanish America and the Spanish East Indies (the Philippines). In Portuguese-speaking Latin America, such re ...
*Stockbridge Indians Stockbridge may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Stockbridge, Edinburgh, a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland
* Stockbridge, Hampshire
* Stockbridge, West Sussex
* Stockbridge Anticline, one of a series of parallel east–west trending folds in th ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Praying Indians
Natick Praying Indians
Natick History
Praying Indians
Indian Converts Collection
Nipmuck Nation website
Interactive maps of the Praying Villages (Christian mission communities)
Native American history
Native American Christianity
History of the Thirteen Colonies
Pre-statehood history of Massachusetts
Christian terminology
History of Dedham, Massachusetts
Assimilation of indigenous peoples of North America
Christianization