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| Bias-Free Letters Written by Native
Include Death of Seider by Jatra
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February 22, 1770
The day had desirable and most displeasing moments. There were not many
sick, I dare say two were ill. The weather was blistering cold. I tried
to keep warm next to the fire. Some children came to me with skin the
men had cut off of a deer with an Ulu. Thank you, I said, but they were
gone. There was not much to eat, but we had deer and a whole bear to
harvest on. The deer spoiled in the cedar basket under the ground. The
other two wigwams are larger in size and people, but there was the same
amount of food. There were little servings for everybody.
As I was healing the sickened people of the tribe, I heard a
conversation through the wigwam's matted walls. A small child of young
age had been struck in the chest and eye by a musket. I had come out of
the wigwam to ask the young hunters if the story was reliable. The
young men said yes. We went there to trade but everybody was fighting.
As one boy picked up a stone he was fired at by a man in a shattered
window. The boy hadn't lived far. He tried to get to his home when his
mother ran out crying and held him in her arms. She was on her
knees
where the cold, red snow bestowed her. I had wanted to help, but I knew
he’d been dead from the round.
I am getting a little ill myself, but it is not to bad. It is just
little coughing. In some time I myself am going into town for some
items. I am going to be escorted by some men to the town.
I am thinking of the other tribes. They haven't attacked in a while.
Usually I would be happy, but I am thinking there is something wrong.
Sometimes I would hear them at dusk, but there is only silence.
February 28, 1770
I had stumbled onto the sound of a thousand men walking in unison. Then
I went out over the hills, not too far west of the town, to see what
was happening. I saw thousands of residents. It was as if they were a
swarm. They were walking as if they had practiced this route. Leading
the gathering was a small coffin. I suspect it was the young boy.
Christopher Seider was the name. He had not die long ago. I did not
know if all of the residents knew the young boy, but somehow, he had
united them.
I am feeling worse, but better then all the others. There are less
provisions everyday, because the men in the tribe are getting worse. I
have to go into town to get herbs that I need. Two men will accompany
me due to safety. There are little marks in the skins of others. Their
faces turned pale as if they were already had been deceased. All night
I can hear the coughing of the sick. The same epidemic is happening in
the town.
I had gone to the other tribe to see if they are all right. We despise
them, but I do not know why, I just cared. They were almost all ill,
yet a few were not. There was the same illness over there also. I
welcomed them to our tribe because ours had more members to take care
of them. Hoping that the others were as inviting as I was, I brought
them over to our tribe. It will take them some time to like them , but
I know they will.
March 18, 1770
This was the day I was going down to the town. I brought a Noohkik to
hold the items in. When I was walking down to the place they call the
Granary, where there is a grave and many piddling tents, I heard
muskets being fired. First one, then many more, bellows of people,
church bells, and the words “fire, fire.” The company I was with
scurried back to the tribe but I stayed because the shots were not
close to us. I went to get a closer look to a building called the Town
House. There were people in red, perhaps eight of them scattered
everywhere, and more of the residents attacking the men in red. The
residents called them Lobsterbacks or Redcoats. Five of the residents
laid injured, bleeding, or dead. One man in red shouted ”cease fire,
cease fire.”
Hours later the men were sent to prison and then the court indicted
them eight days later. Walking to Long Wharf I got the items I needed.
I had gone back home to treat the sick. Many mere were sick when I got
back to the tribe. The men and I had to raise another wigwam to part
the sick and the healthy. There were more marks on the people. I am
believing its the white skins that established this problem. There is
no possible way to end this epidemic.
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Historical Reference:
American Indian
Clothing and Regalia. 3 April, 2006.
<http://www.native-land-usages. org/clothing.htm>.
Daily life in 1621.
6 April, 2006.
<http://teacher.scholastic.com/thanksgiving/Plymouth/daily.htm>.
Prindle, Tara. Native
American Technology and Art. 3 April, 2006.
<http://www.nativetech.org/stone/ground/index.htm>.
Wolfson, Elveyn. From
Abenaki to Zuni: A Dictionary of Native American Tribes. Canada:
Walker Publishing Company.
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