The First Turn, 1680-1720
Lesson 5: Native American Presence in Deerfield, Massachusetts

Activity 1
A. The Beaver Trade

1. Divide class into smaller groups and distribute a picture or two from the following list to each group:

a. Abenaki couple
b. Huron couple
c. Tee Yee Nee Ho Ga Row
d. "Philip, King of Mt. Hope"
e. Sash given to Stephen Williams by Arosen

Ask students to study the pictures carefully for evidence of items the Native Americans would have received in trade from the English. Make a list of these items on the board.
2. Ask: What else might the Indians want that they had never had before? What might they have given in trade to receive these new things? Add items they may have wanted to the list on the board and start a new list of things that could be traded to the English.
3. Give each student a copy of the broadside, "July 14th, 1703, Prices of Goods." Have the students check the items on their existing list of English items they recognized from the broadside.

a. According to the broadside, what are the Indian people trading to the English for these items?
b. If the Indian people had no beaver skins, what else might they use for trade? (corn, land)
c. Before the Native Americans met Europeans, they hunted only what they needed and no more. As you can see from the broadside, beaver pelts became the most popular trade item. With so many Europeans and Native Americans now wanting these pelts, what problems might arise? Eventually, the beaver population in New England was depleted. What could the Native Americans do to continue receiving European goods? (give up their land)

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Abenaki couple

Huron couple

"Tee Yee Nee Ho Ga Row"

"Philip, King of Mt. Hope"

photo of finger woven sash in Memorial Room

"July 14th, 1703, Prices of Goods"

Activity 2
B. The Deerfield Deed

1. Discuss with students what makes them want to stay in their home and "home area" or homeland. What is important to them about that space?
2. Now have them imagine that a stranger who is interested in their home area has approached them. The stranger doesn't speak English very well but he seems interested in staying around. He has asked them to put their mark on a document but they can't understand what that document says. They know that if they do sign, they will receive a new skateboard, a computer complete with all sorts of extra games, CDs of music they happen to like, and awesome new clothes. These are all things they'd really like and they are excited about them. Remind students of how much they understand of the document. The stranger does not speak their language and cannot explain it any further. Do they sign that document so that they can have all those great trade items? Why or why not?
3. Distribute the Deerfield deed. Have students examine the deed. Ask:

a. Can you make out any of the words? If so, list them.
b. Can you figure out what this document is about? If so, explain. If not, that is ok.

4. Now ask students to put themselves in the place of the Pocumtucks who were asked to sign this deed. Tell them they were chosen by the English to represent their whole village, whether their village saw them as leaders or not. They understand that by signing, their village will receive all sorts of new trade items such as wool cloth, glass beads, guns, and metal knives, axe heads and pots. Their village has never had these things before and they are excited about them. However, ownership is not a concept that their people understand, especially when it refers to land, and they cannot understand the deed at all. Do they sign the deed anyway? Why or why not? They can see that "Chauk" did sign the deed on behalf of his people. Because he did this, what might have happened?

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Dedham Grant Deed of Transfer of Pacomtuck land to Dedham residents

Activity 3
C. King Philip's War

1. Ask students to think back to the two previous lessons on trade and the Deerfield deed. Discuss the Indians' problems in dealing with the Europeans and why they might want to go to war against them.
2. Divide the class into smaller groups and assign each a nineteenth century source to read about one of the attacks from the list below:

• "Bloody Brook Massacre", from The History of Deerfield, George Sheldon, 1895, pgs. 100-103 (abridged)
• History of Deerfield, George Sheldon, 1895, pgs. 155-157, (Turners Falls Attack) (abridged)

3. Explain that these excerpts were written in the late nineteenth century and discuss how the views of the author were shaped by his time. Note that the late nineteenth century was a time when the United States was fighting various Native American groups to acquire their land and place the people on reservations. This author was also a direct descendant of the English settlers whom he discusses in his history, and he uses some family stories about the time period to support his point of view. This is likely to be one important source of his bias.
4. Ask each group to pretend to be modern journalists or reporters whose job is to create a shorter, more balanced oral report using other groups' (such as the French, Abenaki, or Kanien'kehaka) accounts and perspectives of what took place. Before students begin, discuss the meaning of the word "bias". As they prepare their presentations, ask them to make a list of words or phrases they chose not to include (because of the bias they carry) with notes on why they chose not to use the words.
5. Have each group give their report to the class. They should follow up their presentation with comments on their feelings toward the original excerpts.

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Bloody Brook Massacre

History of Deerfield

social studies notebooks

Activity 4
D. Colonial Wars

1. Provide a quick summary for the class discussing how these wars are different:

a. Read the background essay and refer to the Student Background Essay Relationship between the English, the French, and the Native People (part 1 of Lesson 4).
b. Explain to the students that between 1689 and 1763 there were a series of colonial wars known collectively as the French and Indian Wars. They are: King William's War, 1689-1697; Queen Anne's War, 1702-1713; King George's War, 1744-1748; the French and Indian War, 1754-1763. These wars were waged in North America between England and France and their respective Native American allies. The period between 1713 and 1744 was a time of relative peace when former enemies visited one another.

2. Circulate the "Colonial Wars Timeline Images" in random order throughout the class.
3. As a class, number the pictures in chronological order.
4. Discuss the pattern the pictures reveal. Group the items into three time periods on a chalkboard or a bulletin board under the following headings: a. 1689-1713 (first two colonial wars: King William and Queen Anne's) b. 1713-1744 (time of relative peace) c. 1744-1763 (last two colonial wars: King George's and French and Indian War)
5. Use the "Colonial Wars Timeline Images", which lists the items in sequential order to check your sequence and provide information for further discussion.

Questions to think about:

• Do all these items have to do with war?
• Do they all relate to the same war?
• Why might Native Americans have participated in these wars within the three time periods?

 

"Colonial Wars Timeline Images" (lists items in sequential order)

Images:
Ensign John Sheldon House
Old "Indian House" Door
The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion
Table of Losses
John Sheldon snow shoes
Sash
Shot pouch
A Sermon Preach'd at Mansfield
New England Captives Carried to Canada
Prisoner halter
Bars Fight
Memorabilia from the Bars Fight