Western Delaware Indian Nation, 1730–1795

Richard S. Grimes is currently adjunct faculty at La Roche College and Community College of Allegheny County.

• Acknowledgments000Introduction: To “Enjoy the Light of Heaven”000Chapter 1: “We Conquer’d You; We Made Women of You”: The Delawares as Women and the Six Nations–Pennsylvania Chain of Friendship 000Chapter 2: The Western Migration of the Delawares, 1730-1750000Chapter 3: “We, the Delawares of Ohio, Do Proclaim War against the English”: The Political Ascension of the Western Delawares, 1750-1756000Chapter 4: “We Are Now Men, and Not So Easily Frightened”: Western Delaware Identity during the Seven Years’ War000Chapter 5: “On Behalf of All Our Nation”: The Coming Together of the Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf 000Chapter 6: White Eyes, the Great Council, and the United Brethren: Peacemakers on the Muskingum, 1770–1776 000Chapter 7: The Quest for Nationhood: Delawares and the American Revolution000Chapter 8: “A nation . . . Shattered, Wrecked, and Severed”: The Demise of the Delaware New World Order, 1783–1795000Con

Grimes (adjunct, LaRoche College) offers an updated and deeply researched account of the Delaware Nation’s search for new homelands outside the boundaries of their ancestral territories in what is now Pennsylvania after 1730. While acknowledging the occasionally tragic character of this “diaspora,” Grimes also emphasizes the degree to which the Delawares’ movements represented “an optimistic pursuit” of novel political, economic, and military opportunities. The monograph reflects a gendered understanding of historical change, as Grimes narrates the Delawares’ transition to a “masculine-centered” culture in the trans-Allegheny west. Battling the convenient assignment by Colonial authorities of their subordinate status to the Six Nations of the Iroquois League, the Delawares articulated a position of nationhood for themselves in the realms of war and diplomacy from 1755 to 1795. The book’s conclusion carries the story into the 19th century, tracing the route that led the Western Delawares to Indian Territory. Bucking recent trends in scholarship, Grimes eschews the inclusion of “an uplifting end to the story,” opting instead to emphasize the degree to which the impositions of the US ultimately prevented the Western Delawares from achieving political cohesion in the trans-Mississippi West.Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries.