book 4, chapter 6-21.

See, also, above: MUSKHOGEAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Senecas; their name.

"How this name originated is a 'vexata quæstio' among Indo-antiquarians and etymologists. The least plausible supposition is, that the name has any reference to the moralist Seneca. Some have supposed it to be a corruption of the Dutch term for vermillion, cinebar, or cinnabar, under the assumption that the Senecas, being the most warlike of the Five Nations, used that pigment more than the others, and thus gave origin to the name. This hypothesis is supported by no authority. ... The name 'Sennecas' first appears on a Dutch map of 1616, and again on Jean de Laet's map of 1633. ... It is claimed by some that the word may be derived from 'Sinnekox,' the Algonquin name of a tribe of Indians spoken of in Wassenaer's History of Europe, on the authority of Peter Barentz, who traded with them about the year 1626. ... Without assuming to solve the mystery, the writer contents himself with giving some data which may possibly aid others in arriving at a reliable conclusion. [Here follows a discussion of the various forms of name by which the Senecas designated themselves and were known to the Hurons, from whom the Jesuits first heard of them.] By dropping the neuter prefix O, the national title became 'Nan-do-wah-gaah,' or 'The great hill people,' as now used by the Senecas. ... If the name Seneca can legitimately be derived from the Seneca word 'Nan-do-wah-gaah' ... it can only be done by prefixing 'Son,' as was the custom of the Jesuits, and dropping all unnecessary letters. It would then form the word 'Son-non-do-wa-ga,' the first two and last syllables of which, if the French sounds of the letters are given, are almost identical in pronunciation with Seneca. The chief difficulty, however, would be in the disposal of the two superfluous syllables. They may have been dropped in the process of contraction so common in the composition of Indian words--a result which would be quite likely to occur to a Seneca name, in its transmission through two other languages, the Mohawk and the Dutch. The foregoing queries and suggestions are thrown out for what they are worth, in the absence of any more reliable theory."

_O. H. Marshall, Historical Writings, page 231_

See above: IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY, and HURONS, &c.

See, also, PONTIAC'S WAR,

For an account of Sullivan's expedition against the Senecas,

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1779 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER).

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Shacaya.

See above: ANDESIANS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Shahaptian Family.

See above: NEZ PERCÉS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES Shastas.

See above: SASTEAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Shawanese, Shawnees, or Shawanoes.

"Adjacent to the Lenape [or Delawares--see above], and associated with them in some of the most notable passages of their history, dwelt the Shawanoes, the Chaouanons of the French, a tribe of bold, roving, and adventurous spirit. Their eccentric wanderings, their sudden appearances and disappearances, perplex the antiquary, and defy research; but from various scattered notices, we may gather that at an early period they occupied the valley of the Ohio; that, becoming embroiled with the Five Nations, they shared the defeat of the Andastes, and about the year 1672 fled to escape destruction. Some found an asylum in the country of the Lenape, where they lived tenants at will of the Five Nations; others sought refuge in the Carolinas and Florida, where, true to their native instincts, they soon came to blows with the owners of the soil. Again, turning northwards, they formed new settlements in the valley of the Ohio, where they were now suffered to dwell in peace, and where, at a later period, they were joined by such of their brethren as had found refuge among the Lenape."

_F. Parkman, The Conspiracy of Pontiac, chapter 1._

"The Shawnees were not found originally in Ohio, but migrated there after 1750. They were called Chaouanons by the French and Shawanoes by the English. The English name Shawano changed to Shawanee, and recently to Shawnee. Chaouanon and Shawano are obviously attempts to represent the same sound by the orthography of the two respective languages. ... Much industry has been used by recent writers, especially by Dr. Brinton, to trace this nomadic tribe to its original home; but I think without success. ... We first find the Shawano in actual history about the year 1660, and living along the Cumberland river, or the Cumberland and Tennessee. Among the conjectures as to their earlier history, the greatest probability lies for the present with the earliest account--the account given by Perrot, and apparently obtained by him from the Shawanoes themselves, about the year 1680--that they formerly lived by the lower lakes, and were driven thence by the Five Nations."

_M. F. Force, Some Early Notices of the Indians of Ohio._

"Their [the Shawnee's] dialect is more akin to the Mohegan than to the Delaware, and when, in 1692, they first appeared in the area of the Eastern Algonkin Confederacy, they came as the friends and relatives of the former. They were divided into four bands"--Piqua, properly Pikoweu, Mequachake, Kiscapokoke, Chilicothe. "Of these, that which settled in Pennsylvania was the Pikoweu, who occupied and gave their name to the Pequa valley in Lancaster county. According to ancient Mohegan tradition, the New England Pequods were members of this band."

_D. G. Brinton, The Lenape and their Legends, chapter 2._

_D. G. Brinton, The Shawnees and their Migrations (History Magazine, volume 10, 1866)_.

{103}

"The Shawanese, whose villages were on the western bank [of the Susquehanna] came into the valley [of Wyoming] from their former localities, at the 'forks of the Delaware' (the junction of the Delaware and Lehigh, at Easton), to which point they had been induced at some remote period to emigrate from their earlier home, near the mouth of the river Wabash, in the 'Ohio region,' upon the invitation of the Delawares. This was Indian diplomacy, for the Delawares were desirous (not being upon the most friendly terms with the Mingos, or Six Nations) to accumulate a force against those powerful neighbors. But, as might be expected, they did not long live in peace with their new allies. ... The Shawanese [about 1755, or soon after] were driven out of the valley by their more powerful neighbors, the Delawares, and the conflict which resulted in their leaving it grew out of, or was precipitated by, a very trifling incident. While the warriors of the Delawares were engaged upon the mountains in a hunting expedition, a number of squaws or female Indians from Maughwauwame were gathering wild fruits along the margin of the river below the town, where they found a number of Shawanese squaws and their children, who had crossed the river in their canoes upon the same business. A child belonging to the Shawanese having taken a large grasshopper, a quarrel arose among the children for the possession of it, in which their mothers soon took part. ... The quarrel became general. ... Upon the return of the warriors both tribes prepared for battle. ... The Shawanese ... were not able to sustain the conflict, and, after the loss of about half their tribe, the remainder were forced to flee to their own side of the river, shortly after which they abandoned their town and removed to the Ohio." This war between the Delawares and Shawanese has been called the Grasshopper War.

_L. H. Miner, The Valley of Wyoming, page 32._

See, also, above, ALGONQUIAN FAMILY, and DELAWARES

See, also, PONTIAC'S WAR; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1765-1768;

For an account of "Lord Dunmore's War",

See OHIO (VALLEY): A. D. 1774.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Sheepeaters (Tukuarika).

See below: SHOSHONEAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Sheyennes.

See above: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Shoshonean Family.

"This important family occupied a large part of the great interior basin of the United States. Upon the north Shoshonean tribes extended far into Oregon, meeting Shahaptian territory on about the 44th parallel or along the Blue Mountains. Upon the northeast the eastern limits of the pristine habitat of the Shoshonean tribes are unknown. The narrative of Lewis and Clarke contains the explicit statement that the Shoshoni bands encountered upon the Jefferson River, whose summer home was upon the head waters of the Columbia, formerly lived within their own recollection in the plains to the east of the Rocky Mountains, whence they were driven to their mountain retreats by the Minnetaree (Atsina), who had obtained firearms. ... Later a division of the Bannock held the finest portion of Southwestern Montana, whence apparently they were being pushed westward across the mountains by Blackfeet. Upon the east the Tukuarika or Sheepeaters held the Yellowstone Park country, where they were bordered by the Siouan territory, while the Washaki occupied southwestern Wyoming. Nearly the entire mountainous part of Colorado was held by the several bands of the Ute, the eastern and southeastern parts of the State being held respectively by the Arapaho and Cheyenne (Algonquian), and the Kaiowe (Kiowan). To the southeast the Ute country included the northern drainage of the San Juan, extending farther east a short distance into New Mexico. The Comanche division of the family extended farther east than any other. ... Bourgemont found a Comanche tribe on the upper Kansas River in 1724. According to Pike the Comanche territory bordered the Kaiowe on the north, the former occupying the head waters of the Upper Red River, Arkansas and Rio Grande. How far to the southward Shoshonean tribes extended at this early period is not known, though the evidence tends to show that they raided far down into Texas, to the territory they have occupied in more recent years, viz., the extensive plains from the Rocky Mountains eastward into Indian Territory and Texas to about 97°. Upon the south Shoshonean territory was limited generally by the Colorado River ... while the Tusayan (Moki) had established their seven pueblos ... to the east of the Colorado Chiquito. In the southwest Shoshonean tribes had pushed across California, occupying a wide band of country to the Pacific."

_J. W. Powell, Seventh Annual Report., Bureau of Ethnology, pages 109-110._

"The Pah Utes occupy the greater part of Nevada, and extend southward. ... The Pi Utes or Piutes inhabit Western Utah, from Oregon to New Mexico. ... The Gosh Utes [Gosuites] inhabit the country west of Great Salt Lake, and extend to the Pah Utes."

_H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States,