The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1852-03-06
For The Cecil Wing.
EASTERN SHORE INDIANS.

The tribe oflnlan, who peorlr1 all the lower
par, OF Delaware, as well as the Eastern Shore
OF Maryland, were the Naniicoi-<, having a
common origin with the Dcuwarrs. Mr.. Heck
ewclrr says. he hal the history ofthem from
White, one OF their chiefs. The Nan,lcokcs
preferred seeking living by fishing and trap
ping along the rivers and bays, to pursuing wild
game in the forest: they wherefore detached them
selves and sought the most convenient places for
their purpose. In process OF time they became
very numerous, ard divided into seperatr bodies,
distinguished by different names. The Cana
sprung from them, and settled en- the shore OIL
the Potomac AMI Susquchanno, where they lived
when the white people first settled in virginia;
bat they removed on thSr account. and settled
further up the SnSquehanna, not ar from where
John Harris afterwards esta oIisltd ferry. iIar-
ri>bur..}
The main branch, or Nanticokcs proper, We're
then living in what is now called the Eastern
Shore of Mar land. AT length the white peo-
pie crowded so much upon them, thai the, NOV
ed to the large fats at Wyoming. Whites tribe
resided there until the Revolutionary War, when
they went 10 a place nearer the British, whose
part they had taken. Nothing, said White,
could equal the decline of his tribe since the
white people came INTO the coun,ry-from
spirituous liquors, small pox. and other causes.
The emigration Of the Naniicokes from Mary
land was we'll known 10 the "Society of United
Brethren" At the time when the people were
beginning their settlement at the Forks of the
Delaware, the Rev. Christian Pyrl;eus noted
down in his memorandum book s'that on the 2lst
day of May l7As, number of the Nsnticokes
from Maryland passed by Shamokin in ten canoes
on their way to Wyoming"
The Nanticokes had the singular custom Of
removing the bones of their deceased friends
from the burial place, TO place of deposit in
the country they dwell in. In earlier times
they were known to go from Wyoming and
Chemeuk, (Chcnanco,) to fetch the bones of
their dead from the Eastern Shore OF Maryland,
even when the bodies were in pntrid state, so
that they had 10 take off the flesh and scrape The
bones clean, before they could carry them along.
we'll remember says Mr.. Hecke elder seeing
them pass along through Bethlehem, belwe en-
the years 1850 and 1850, loaded with such bones,
and they caused very disagreeable stencil.
Their national name according to White their
chief, was Nantego, signiiying hde-rater people,
or "a-shore settlers. In the year 1885 this tribe
had so dwndled away that their whole body
who came together to see their old chief, White,
then residing with the Christian Indians on the
Huron river north Of Detroit, did not amount to
so men.
These Indians included among their enemies
all kinds of savage beasts, aud believed they
could understand all that was said to them. In
illustration of this fact Mr.. Heckewelder relates
the following story. Delaware hunter once
shot huge bear. and broke his back bone. The
animal fell. and set up a most plaintivs cry,
something like that Of panther when he i,
hungry. The hunter instead of giving him an.
other shot, stood up close to him, and addressed
him in these words: "Hark ye! bear; you are a
coward, and no warrior as you pretend to be-
Were you a warrior you would show i, by your